Authorities in South Sudan yesterday began investigating security operatives cited in Tuesday's gun raid on Lefori Sub-County in Moyo District as Uganda re-opened Afoji border post closed earlier over the incident.

Mr Ernest Onge, the principal liaison officer for the Government of South Sudan in Kampala, said preliminary findings show that the attackers were policemen - and not soldiers as earlier reported. "This problem is going to be addressed through dialogue and the truth will be established," he said, adding: "We have excellent bilateral relations with Uganda. Our people have intermarried; we have cousins and nieces on both sides. This is blood relation to sustain."

There has been a ruckus in Moyo District since Tuesday's incursion during which seven armed men reportedly forced Ugandan farmers in Gwere Parish to uproot their premature crops and "leave Sudan land."

A flurry of diplomatic efforts to damp down rising emotions got underway in Kampala yesterday with planned urgent cross border meeting between officials of Central Equatoria State, home to the errant policemen, and a follow up inter-ministerial dialogue.

Internal Affairs State Minister Mathias Kasaija told Parliament that the government is aware of the Moyo upheaval and would "urgently engage our counterparts in South Sudan to solve the matter peacefully."

He was responding to criticism by Mr Hassan Fungaroo, the MP for Obongi Constituency in Moyo District, that the government had failed to protect their voters against harassment by Sudanese, many of who have lived happily as refugees here for more than two decades.

Earlier in the day, Afoji border post that demonstrators shut on Tuesday was opened under UPDF and police watch after graders hired by Uganda Revenue Authority removed trees felled to block the international thoroughfare.

Traders, however, appeared held back by fears of possible reprisal attacks on either side. Shops in Moyo town that are run by Sudanese nationals remained closed for the second day yesterday.

The UPDF 409 Brigade Commander, Lt. Col. Martin Ndyanabo, addressed agitated residents in Moyo town, warning them against engaging in lawless acts of revenge. "I condemn the incident in strong terms. You may think nothing has been done but matters are being solved at the highest level," he said.

Information Minister Kabakumba Masiko, at a separate press conference in Kampala, rushed out government assurances that Uganda "shall continue pursuing a policy of good neighbourliness." "I call upon everybody to remain calm. Any apparent border dispute will be resolved by the Governments diplomatically," she said.

The spokes person of the Sudanese traders in Moyo, Mr Alfred George Jame, said after the public rally that they plan a follow up "sensitisation meeting" in Kajo Keji Township of Central Equatoria State to strike a "common understanding." He said most traders are still worried Moyo residents could pounce on them if they opened their shops.