Cholera contained in Uganda
2007-11-12 10:19
Nairobi - A cholera outbreak that swept a hideout of Uganda's Lord's Resistance Army rebel group and infected its leader Joseph Kony had been contained after the United Nations provided medical aid, said a spokesperson on Monday.
The outbreak, caused by flooding and poor sanitation in the camp on the border of Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo, also infected Kony's deputy Vincent Otti and scores of fighters. It was first reported in September.
LRA spokesperson Godfrey Ayoo said: "At the moment, I understand that the outbreak has been put under control." Ayoo said the United Nations delivered medicine and other sanitation kits to the rebels in their hideout.
Although cholera - a waterborne disease that caused diarrhoea and vomiting - could be fatal if not treated within 24 hours, Ayoo did not give a toll, but said he was working on the figures.
Aid workers had said that disease outbreaks in rebel camps had contributed to depleting LRA ranks in the course of the two-decade conflict, which had claimed tens of thousands of lives and displaced up to 1.8 million people.
Kony, an erstwhile altar boy, took over a two-year-old rebellion in northern Uganda in 1988 aimed at replacing President Yoweri Museveni's regime with one guided by the Bible.
Southern Sudan was hosting UN-backed peace talks aimed at ending the conflict, described by the UN as one of the world's most neglected conflicts.