UGANDA: Sporadic clashes in war-ravaged north

[ This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations]

KAMPALA, 1 Oct 2004 (IRIN) - Three days of sporadic fighting in war-ravaged northern Uganda between government forces and rebels of the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) suggests that the situation in the region is still fragile, religious leaders told IRIN.

On three occasions this week, the Ugandan army has fought battles with LRA groups that reportedly crossed over from Sudan on Monday. The groups were reportedly led by LRA leader, Joseph Kony.

The Army spokesman, Maj Shaban Bantariza, said the army battled with one of the groups on Wednesday morning in Okidi hills of Gulu District. The battle claimed 11 rebel lives. Twelve other rebel fighters were "captured, including Kony's three year old son", while the army said it had "suffered no casualties".

But Joseph Garner, a Catholic Priest from Kitgum town near the Sudan border, told IRIN on Thursday by phone: "Out here it is disastrous and we don't recognize what the government is talking about. We still have reports of road ambushes, abductions and brutal killings in Kitgum."

Retired Anglican Bishop of Northern Uganda, Baker Ochola, whose wife was killed by the rebels in 1997, acknowledged that in the past two months there have been less LRA activities in Gulu district, but added the situation remained insecure with abductions, road ambushes and some killings of civilians in the districts of Kitgum and Pader.

"The developments in the past two days suggest that we are not yet out of danger," he said. "Our people are still in camps where they cannot venture out farther away in the villages to till their gardens."

Ochola, who is deputy head of the Acholi Religious Leaders Peace Initiative - a multi-faith platform advocating a peaceful resolution to the 18-year conflict - questioned how the rebels could cross over the border, which he said, has a large military presence.

On the other hand, security sources said the frontier was porous and hard to police.

"We have flushed them [the rebels] out of their bases in southern Sudan," Bantariza said. "They have decided to cross over back here, but we are not giving them any space to rest that is why we engaged them immediately they reentered."

The army spokesman in northern Uganda, Lt Paddy Ankunda, told IRIN on Thursday that the army had engaged Kony's main group in the area of Alamonyong, some 50 km northwest of Gulu town, killing eight rebel fighters including Maj Okot Odek, a senior ADC to the rebel leader.

"We found them hiding in the jungles and used the infantry and helicopter gunship, killing eight while two of our soldiers were injured. We recovered an assortment of arms and took six of Kony's wives and his nine-year old son captive," Ankunda said on the phone from Gulu.

The LRA started fighting the government in northern Uganda in 1988. Its political objectives remain unclear, with its leaders saying they want to replace the Ugandan government with another based on the biblical Ten Commandments. At least 1.6 million people have been driven from their homes and an estimated 20,000 children abducted, being forced to fight for the rebels or serve as sexual slaves.

Various efforts to end the war through peaceful means have failed so far, although religious leaders insist that the war can be settled peacefully. The Uganda government, however, favors a military solution to the conflict.

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