Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Bangui (Agenzia Fides)- Ten members of the Ugandan army were killed at the end of May in the south east of the Central African Republic by Sudanese Janjaweed pro-government militia. The news was made public on 13 June by General Aronda Nyakairima, head of the Ugandan armed forces.
For some years now the Ugandan army has deployed a contingent in Central Africa to find members of the rebel Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), which, to escape capture, split into small groups and spread out over north-east D.R. Congo, south-east Central Africa and south west Sudan.
General Nyakairima affirmed that on 27 May, at Djema, Ugandan troops were ambushed by a band of about 400 armed men riding donkeys. In the shootout ten Ugandan soldiers, including a few officers, were killed. According to General Nyakairima, the ambush may have been laid by a band of Janjaweed, a generic term used for pro-government militia operating in Darfur, the western region of Sudan and the scene of a bloody civil war since 2003. The Sudanese militia probably penetrated the Central African territory to hunt and collect food and then return to Sudan.
The Ugandan general said the LRA lacks the capacity to attack the Ugandan army and that the rebel leader, Joseph Kony, runs from one hideout to the next, concerned only with his own safety.
Nevertheless the LRA continues to sack villages in Central Africa, Congo and in Sudan, in search of food and more recruits (usually children). The most recent LRA attack in Central Africa was registered on 9 June when the rebels sacked the village of Fodé and abducted some thirty villagers mostly women and children.
The ambush on the Ugandan soldiers, the perpetrators of which are still unknown, (it could also have been the work of a group of Central African rebels) demonstrates the state of insecurity which exists in a large part of the territory of Central Africa, one of the world's poorest, where government institutions are precarious. Presidential and legislative elections are due to be held this year, but the date, postponed several times, has yet to be set. (L.M.) (Agenzia Fides 15/6/2010)
