Ugandan rebel chief surrenders

2007-10-23 07:23

Kinshasa - A top military commander from the Ugandan Lord's Resistance Army rebel group has given himself up in northeast Democratic Republic of Congo, said the United Nations peacekeeping mission (Monuc).

Opiyo Makasi, who was about 30 and was recruited by the LRA as a child, surrendered at the start of October and had been transferred to the DRC capital, Kinshasa, said Monuc spokesperson Lieutenant-Colonel Pierre Chareyron.

Makasi had been based in Garamba National Park, where the LRA was believed to have bases near the border with southern Sudan.

Kampala and the LRA had been in peace talks since July 2006 to end two decades of war in northern Uganda, but had yet to fix a date for a new round of dialogue in the south Sudanese capital of Juba.

The conflict between the government and the LRA started in 1986 and had left tens of thousands dead as well as 1.8 million people displaced, out of a total of 2.7 million people living in northern Uganda.

Divisions between LRA head Joseph Kony - wanted by the International Criminal Court for alleged war crimes - and his deputy Vincent Otti led to the defection of three rebel commanders last week in southern Sudan, according to the Ugandan army.

- AFP