Entebbe — THE People's Redemption Army (PRA) is one of the foreign-armed groups operating in eastern DR Congo, the United Nations Mission in DRC (MONUC) has said.

While responding to questions from journalists moments after meeting President Yoweri Museveni, the Special Representative of the UN Secretary General for the DR Congo, Mr William Lacy Swing, said PRA forms part of an estimated 2,000 armed Ugandan rebels in eastern and north- eastern DR Congo.

"We have always recognised the presence of many Ugandan rebel groups like the ADF (Allied Democratic Forces) and PRA is there. I cannot give their numbers at the moment, but they are part of an estimated 2,000 Ugandan rebels," Swing told journalists yesterday at Imperial Resort Beach Hotel Entebbe.

William Swing, Kofi Anan's Special Representative to the Congo, is the highest-ranking UN officer to acknowledge the existence of PRA.

Government has since 2002 insisted PRA exists and has in the recent past arrested and jailed suspected PRA fighters.

Prior to this, the government had accused opposition leader Col. Dr Kizza Besigye of having links with PRA. Besigye has consistently denied any links with the group more so its existence, calling it a creation by the government to discredit him.

The existence or absence of PRA has remained largely an issue of debate between government officials and the opposition.

To beef up Mr Swing's revelations, an internal briefing on foreign armed groups in DRC by MONUC dated September 6, copies of which Daily Monitor has seen, the UN force puts the strength of PRA between 300-400 men. It says the PRA operates between Mahagi and Kpandroma and that the force has "moved to Berunda and has now joined ADF/NALU in North Kivu."

The Monuc document also states that PRA has links with the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) but adds, "There is no significant evidence that the PRA represents any significant threat to Uganda's stability".

Monuc documents also name Besigye as the "political leader of the PRA". It also says Besigye is " known for his business ingenuity".

Besigye has vehemently denied having any links with PRA and in the past accused the government of conjuring up the rebel group to claim the opposition is planning to wage an armed struggle against the Museveni government.

Museveni did not comment on the issue of the PRA in the press briefing. He, however, told journalists that he had earlier written to the permanent members of the UN Security Council and offered four options they could consider to flush out dissident groups from eastern Congo.

Four options

According to Museveni, the four options are; strengthening the mandate of Monuc to enable it engage the armed groups in combat rather than escort, engaging a third party in form of a mercenary force as was the case with East Timor in using Australian mercenaries, facilitating a strong co-operation of affected countries like Uganda, Rwanda and DR Congo under UN supervision and engaging the African Union as was the case in Burundi recently. "Otherwise what I shall not accept is to sit there without a solution at all," Museveni said adding, "or to sit there with a weak solution that cannot help the process."

The head of the UN Security Council delegation, Mr Jean-Marc de La Sablierre, acknowledged receipt of Museveni's letter by the Security Council.

"We are now studying it and we shall soon respond," Jean-Marc said.

Museveni and the UN Security Council delegation held a closed-door meeting for three hours before allowing in the press for a question and answer session.

Jean-Marc said in the meeting, they briefed Museveni on the situation in the eastern DR Congo in relation to the Lord's Resistance Army, discussed co-operation of the UN and Uganda and what they had seen in the region.

Museveni said Monuc was doing a commendable job in DR Congo by taking charge of the situation inside, but not along the border.

"On the border situation, we are still having dialogue with them. We had a good dialogue. So let us wait for the results of this dialogue," Museveni said.

He was, however, tightlipped on what exactly this dialogue entailed.

A source privy to the deliberations, who preferred anonymity due to the sensitive nature of the meeting, told Daily Monitor the President reiterated his call for a joint operation of countries like Rwanda and Uganda under Monuc supervision to deal with the military problems in eastern DRC.

The source said Museveni was mindful of the fact that the UN Security Council may not give a carte blanc to the Uganda People's Defence Forces or Rwandan Patriotic Army without supervision or strong guidelines because of previous mischief the two forces have been involved in the past on Congolese soil.

The source also intimated that Museveni was concerned about the arms infiltration to the groups in eastern DR Congo and suggested that the UN sets up surveillance to check this.

"He advised that they set up radar in the area since most arms come in by air," said the source.

"He (Museveni) also said physical air and marine surveillance systems would also act handy in checking this."

Asked to comment on the recent attacks by LRA rebels on foreigners in northern Uganda, Museveni said those were attacks by a handful of rebel remnants thrown in disarray by the UPDF.

"I will ask the army leadership there to issue guidelines to the foreigners on movement. They should not have easy movement without escort," Museveni said. He said he was sorry about the death of a Briton, Steve Willis, who was killed by the LRA on Tuesday.

Jean-Marc decried the situation in northern Uganda describing it as an issue of concern. "A lot of progress has been done but there is a humanitarian situation," he said.

"My understanding is that the UN relief food supply team is escorted, which is not the case with other groups, maybe because they don't ask for it or there is no capacity," Jean-Marc added.

The Security Council delegation is touring the Great Lakes region to assess the security situation.

Before arriving in Uganda, they were in Burundi and the DR Congo capital Kinshasa. After Uganda they travelled to Kigali from where they were expected to fly to Dar-es-Salaam.