Museveni threatens to deploy troops in DRC

KAMPALA – Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni has threatened to redeploy the military in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo if the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) rebels hiding there attack the country, a state-owned newspaper reported yesterday.

“If they (LRA) attack any part of Uganda, we shall follow them into Congo with or without approval,” Museveni told the Sunday Vision newspaper. “Under international law, we have a right of self-defence.That one we have said and it is clear,” he added.The warning came after the army reported earlier in the week that LRA leader Joseph Kony had fled his hideaway in southern Sudan and joined his deputy Vincent Otti in Garamba National Park, which lies in the volatile eastern DRC.The LRA has waged a bloody war for almost two decades that has killed thousands and displaced about two million people, who live in squalid conditions in camps in northern Uganda.But Museveni however, said in the interview published on Sunday, that the government planned to disband the camps and allow people to return home “maybe around April”.”They (camps) will disappear this year because Kony has been defeated,” Museveni said.”He is now with 60 people and they have fled to Garamba National Park.He can’t come back here.”Kampala has long maintained that there were Ugandan groups holed up in eastern DRC that posed a threat to its national security.It used such claims to justify deployment there and support of DRC rebels during its vast neighbour’s 1998-2003 war.And according to a UN report on the illegal exploitation of resources in the DRC during the last war there, senior Ugandan officers were heavily involved in timber extraction in the northeastern region of Ituri.- Nampa-AFP”Under international law, we have a right of self-defence.That one we have said and it is clear,” he added.The warning came after the army reported earlier in the week that LRA leader Joseph Kony had fled his hideaway in southern Sudan and joined his deputy Vincent Otti in Garamba National Park, which lies in the volatile eastern DRC.The LRA has waged a bloody war for almost two decades that has killed thousands and displaced about two million people, who live in squalid conditions in camps in northern Uganda.But Museveni however, said in the interview published on Sunday, that the government planned to disband the camps and allow people to return home “maybe around April”.”They (camps) will disappear this year because Kony has been defeated,” Museveni said.”He is now with 60 people and they have fled to Garamba National Park.He can’t come back here.”Kampala has long maintained that there were Ugandan groups holed up in eastern DRC that posed a threat to its national security.It used such claims to justify deployment there and support of DRC rebels during its vast neighbour’s 1998-2003 war.And according to a UN report on the illegal exploitation of resources in the DRC during the last war there, senior Ugandan officers were heavily involved in timber extraction in the northeastern region of Ituri.- Nampa-AFP