Uganda to expel Congo rebels

KAMPALA – Uganda will expel six Congo rebels wanted for war crimes after the United Nations accused it of violating the letter and spirit of a UN Security Council resolution by hosting them, a senior official said yesterday.

The six are part of a group the United Nations believes planned to use Uganda to launch a rebel movement to seize power in neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Uganda’s Internal Affairs Minister Ruhakana Rugunda said the six had been declared “persona non grata” and given until 1pm today to leave Uganda voluntarily or face arrest.He said that during an Aug.10 meeting between DRC Vice President Azarius Ruberwa and Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni, Ruberwa presented “strong evidence” that the men had declared war against the Congolese government.They were among 15 rebel commanders from groups in Congo’s lawless eastern Ituri and North Kivu provinces accused by the United Nations of trying to set up a rebel force known as the Congolese Revolutionary Movement (MRC).Uganda says the men only wanted Uganda’s help in joining Congo’s transitional government.”Our action against them is fully in the spirit of our support for the peace process in DRC and to avoid any threats of violence emanating from Uganda,” Rugunda told Reuters.The other nine rebels are already believed to have left.Under Security Council resolutions passed during the last two years, Uganda is obliged to stop its territory being used by groups fighting in eastern DRC, prevent Uganda from being used as a route for trafficking arms into the country and hand over suspected war criminals.”We are being told (by Ugandan authorities) that these people are coming on personal business but the fact remains that to accept their presence on the territory …is contrary to the letter and spirit of the UN resolutions,” a UN spokesman said last month.Uganda was one of six neighbouring countries to send troops into Congo during a five-year war that killed nearly four million people, mostly from hunger and disease.The last foreign armies left officially in 2002 and thousands of gunmen have disarmed, but two years after Congo’s war was declared over, fighting continues in much of the east.- Nampa-ReutersUganda’s Internal Affairs Minister Ruhakana Rugunda said the six had been declared “persona non grata” and given until 1pm today to leave Uganda voluntarily or face arrest.He said that during an Aug.10 meeting between DRC Vice President Azarius Ruberwa and Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni, Ruberwa presented “strong evidence” that the men had declared war against the Congolese government.They were among 15 rebel commanders from groups in Congo’s lawless eastern Ituri and North Kivu provinces accused by the United Nations of trying to set up a rebel force known as the Congolese Revolutionary Movement (MRC).Uganda says the men only wanted Uganda’s help in joining Congo’s transitional government.”Our action against them is fully in the spirit of our support for the peace process in DRC and to avoid any threats of violence emanating from Uganda,” Rugunda told Reuters.The other nine rebels are already believed to have left.Under Security Council resolutions passed during the last two years, Uganda is obliged to stop its territory being used by groups fighting in eastern DRC, prevent Uganda from being used as a route for trafficking arms into the country and hand over suspected war criminals.”We are being told (by Ugandan authorities) that these people are coming on personal business but the fact remains that to accept their presence on the territory …is contrary to the letter and spirit of the UN resolutions,” a UN spokesman said last month.Uganda was one of six neighbouring countries to send troops into Congo during a five-year war that killed nearly four million people, mostly from hunger and disease.The last foreign armies left officially in 2002 and thousands of gunmen have disarmed, but two years after Congo’s war was declared over, fighting continues in much of the east.- Nampa-Reuters