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Uganda: UPDF Arrests Fourteen Congolese Rebels
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New Vision (Kampala)
19 May 2008
Posted to the web 20 May 2008
Kampala
THE UPDF captured 14 armed insurgents from renegade Congolese rebel leader Laurent Nkunda's group as they crossed into western Uganda, the army spokesman said yesterday.
The arrests followed an attack near the trading centre of Bunagana in Kisoro district last week, where the army killed two rebels.
Nkunda has been fighting the Congolese army in the eastern North Kivu region despite a peace deal, signed in January.
"The 14 rebels, all of them belonging to Nkunda's group, were arrested in the last two weeks after illegally crossing into Uganda with military equipment," said army spokesman Maj. Paddy Ankunda.
"They claim they don't know where the border is. But they were found two kilometres inside Uganda."
The army believes that the motive is partly criminal. "We killed two of them last Tuesday who had laid an ambush to rob people returning from the market."
There might be another reason for Nkunda's men to cross into Uganda.
Among those arrested and currently held in the UPDF Second Division headquarters is a lieutenant who was recruiting people in Mbarara, Ankunda said.
"We are going to parade them in Mbarara on Wednesday and they will be handed over to the authorities in eastern Congo through the diplomatic channels."
Since 2007, a total of 84 Congolese rebels have been arrested by the UPDF, 52 of whom were handed over to the Congolese authorities, he added.
The arrests are part of a Tripartite Plus agreement, comprising the countries of the Great Lakes region, to eliminate threats from armed groups operating from across each others' borders.
President Yoweri Museveni and his Congolese counterpart, Joseph Kabila, also signed two bilateral agreements confirming their commitment to eliminate the so-called negative forces.
"Regarding the issue of negative forces responsible for insecurity and destruction in the two countries and the sub-region, the two presidents renewed their firm determination to end these threats," the leaders said in a statement on May 11.
However, Kinshasa has failed to take action against Ugandan rebel groups, particularly the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), which has its base in Garamba National Park in eastern Congo.
"The Congolese army and MONUC (the UN peacekeeping force in Congo) have been preparing to take action against the LRA. We are yet to see in practical terms the results of their preparations," Ankunda said.
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In an earlier agreement, signed in September 2007, Kabila had committed himself to "formulate an action plan to neutralise the negative forces, particularly the LRA and ADF, which shall become effective by January 2008."
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