9 May 2003
Gulu — The Ugandan government is urging against all non-essential travel across the country's northern border after a fresh outbreak of the deadly Ebola virus killed 45 people in southern Sudan.
In particular, residents of Kitgum province - the region with the longest and most porous border with Sudan - have been warned that frequent trips between the two countries carry the risk of spreading the virus to Uganda.
The deaths occurred in Ikoto, a small town about 45 km north of the Ugandan border with Sudan and 126 km from Gulu - northern Uganda's largest town and scene of the last recorded Ebola outbreak in the country, in which over 200 people died out of 487 infected.
Kitgum district chief Nahaman Ojwee confirmed that the government has been alerted and is taking measures to prevent the virus spreading through the trade routes operating between Kitgum and the Sudanese region of the Emotong Mountains, whose ranges merge into Uganda's Agoro hills.
"It caused panic and immediate measures have been taken to avoid it spreading into Uganda from across the common border," he told IRIN.
He denied that the border had been closed, saying no-one was being forcibly prevented from crossing.
"We haven't sealed it off," he said. "We are just asking people to move very carefully."
There are also fears that Ugandan soldiers stationed in locations across the Emotong mountains - as part of "Operation Iron Fist" to destroy Lord's Resistance Army rebel bases in Sudan - could become infected and bring the virus back into Uganda.
The nearest Ugandan border post with Ikoto is Agoro - a major trading centre which exports large quantities of goods into Sudan.
"The people of Kitgum depend on cattle which is moved freely across the border," Ojwee said. "They also trade a lot of liquor, millet, used clothes, paraffin, oil and other commodities. With the likely suspension of trading activity at Akilok, Lokuming and Agoro markets [on the border], the livelihood of these people will be severely damaged."
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