Fighting flares in Uganda
2004-12-14 13:26
Kampala - Government troops killed 15 insurgents in northern Uganda in the first major battle with the Lords Resistance Army LRA since the two sides began contacts last month to end the country's 18-year civil war, the military said on Tuesday.
The army attacked a contingent of the LRA outside the de-militarised zone where the rebels are gathering for future talks with government to end the conflict, the region's military spokesperson Lieutenant Paddy Ankunda said.
Ten rebels were killed and three captured in a village in Kitgum district on Monday evening while five rebels were killed at about the same time in another location in the district of Pader to the south, Ankunda said.
"A group of about 25 rebels were roaming outside the peace zone trying to loot food. The army attacked them and we did not get any casualties. We killed 15 of them. The rebels should not roam in the war zone. They should gather in the areas they were told to go," he said.
Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni in mid-November offered a seven-day ceasefire that has been extended several times since. Under its terms, the LRA were to assemble in an area in the embattled region near the Sudan border for future talks.
According to the arrangement, fighting between the two sides would continue in other areas of the region but the ceasefire has been generally respected with hundreds of the LRA and its officers flocking to the designated zone.
"We are not going to deploy in the peace zone. We will continue to fight the rebels outside the de-militarised zone. The rebels will face us if they do not go to the peace zone," Ankunda told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.
The war has displaced over 1.6 million people and left tens of thousands killed or wounded. - Sapa-dpa
- SAPA