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Africa Subsaharan

LRA seen heading to Central African Republic

2008-02-13

Hundreds of Ugandan rebels have left an assembly point on the Sudan-Congo border and were heading towards the Central African Republic (CAF), a senior Sudanese official said on Tuesday. Uganda said the movement of Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) rebels could be a violation of a truce agreement. It is the second time in a year that the LRA has been seen moving towards a CAF region controlled by a local rebel group. The LRA rebels appeared to be shifting camp from the Ri-Kwangba an assembly point, Joseph Ngere, the deputy governor of Western Equatoria Province said. "We have seen hundreds of LRA rebels, children, the elderly and fighters moving westwards in the direction of Central African Republic (CAR), they have been moving for the last two days," he told Reuters via satellite telephone. Uganda, which has been in talks with LRA representatives for 20 months, said the rebels could put themselves at risk. "If the LRA has left Ri-Kwangba, they should know that that is tantamount to a violation of the agreement and wherever they go they will not be safe," Ugandan army spokesman Captain Paddy Ankunda said. Under a truce signed in August 2006, the LRA was meant to assemble in Ri-Kwangba -- as part of efforts to end a two-decade conflict that has killed tens of thousands. A spokesman for the LRA, which gained notoriety for mutilating victims and abducting children, dismissed the report as government propaganda.

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Africa Horn

AU peacekeepers attacked in Mogadishu

2008-01-02

(SomaliNet) Somali insurgents launched multiple attacks late Sunday, attacking the Ugandan peacekeepers and leaving eight Somali civilians dead, the Monitor reports. A contingent of Ugandan troops stationed in the city's strategic junction K4, near Mogadishu Airport came under fire late Sunday but the AU Peacekeeper's spokesman Captain Paddy Ankunda said no one was hurt. "We fought them off. No one was hurt," Captain Ankunda said. In separate incidents, insurgents also attacked bases of Ethiopian troops at the main Mogadishu Stadium with mortar shells. A mortar killed eight members of a family at a refugee camp on Sunday in the latest fighting between Islamist-led rebels and country's interim government, witnesses said. Over the past two weeks, the small central African nation of Burundi dispatched close to 200 peacekeepers to the Somali capital Mogadishu and is expected to have an 800-strong battalion there by January. Burundi eventually plans on sending 1,700 troops to the war-torn Horn of Africa nation, to reinforce the 1,600-strong contingent from Uganda, the first African country to contribute troops to the AU peacekeeping mission.

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Africa Horn

Burundi peacekeepers arrive in Somalia

2007-12-24

MOGADISHU - Around 100 Burundian soldiers arrived in Somalia on Sunday as part of an African Union peacekeeping force trying to stabilise the war-torn country, an AU official said. The tiny central African country has pledged to deploy a total of 1,700 soldiers to Somalia to join some 1,600 Ugandan soldiers based in the volatile capital Mogadishu. ‘About 100 Burundian soldiers, part of the African peacekeeping mission in Somalia, have arrived in Mogadishu today,’ said Captain Paddy Ankunda, the spokesman of the AU contingent. ‘I believe every boot on the ground will change the situation and we hope other contries contributing solders will take the same path as Burundi and will deploy their forces soon,’ he told AFP. The pan-African bloc plans to deploy up to 8,000 peacekeepers to the Horn of African nation, torn apart by internecine war for the past 16 years. West African military powerhouse Nigeria is also to send soldiers in the next two or three months.

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Africa Horn

AU forces patrol through Mogadishu

2007-05-03

(SomaliNet) The African Union peacekeepers from Uganda have today for the first time patrolled the Somalia capital Mogadishu particularly in the areas ruined by the recent fighting between the Ethiopian forces and the local insurgents. Hundreds of heavily armed Ugandan soldiers with armored vehicles started patrolling from the main Mogadishu airport and were welcomed by residents. Captain Paddy Ankunda, the spokesman for the AU peacekeeping mission in Somalia told reporters in Mogadishu that the mission was to build confidence between the Somalis in the city and the AU forces who will take over the security responsibility of the capital in the near future. “Today, we have visited the areas where hit by the worst fighting between the Ethiopian forces and its rivals in Fagah, Towfiq, Huriwaa and Yaqshid neighborhoods,” said Ankunda. In recent days, the officials of the AU forces in Mogadishu have been involving in activities to attract the people in the capital as strong anti Ethiopian sentiment already there for their military invasion. On Monday, Paddy Ankunda, said they had reached an agreement with the interim government top officials to some key points including that the insurgents will be given safety if they lay down weapons.

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