Anti-LRA pact renewed

The Sudanese government has agreed to allow Ugandan soldiers to continue an offensive against Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) rebels inside Sudan, just a few days after ordering them to leave. Uganda People's Defence Force (UPDF) spokesman Major Shaban Bantariza told IRIN on Monday that Khartoum had agreed to allow the UPDF to continue to operate in southern Sudan for as long as it took to wipe out LRA bases there. "There is a policy and principle of allowing UPDF on Sudanese soil that will continue for as long as it takes to do the job," he said. Sudanese Foreign Minister Mustafa Uthman Isma'il said last week the agreement had not been renewed because Uganda had not given a time limit for the operation or specified where it would be operating, local media reported. "The Sudanese government took the decision (not to renew the protocol) due to the failure of the Ugandan government to answer some questions concerning the limit of time needed for Uganda troops to remain within Sudanese territory," the Ugandan government-owned 'New Vision' quoted Isma'il as saying at the time. The reports triggered diplomatic activity between the African neighbours and a visit to Kampala by Sudanese envoy Mubarak al-Fadl al-Mahdi. However, Bantariza told IRIN that Ugandan government representatives, including Defence Minister Amama Mbabazi, had been told at a meeting with Sudanese envoy in Kampala that the operation would be allowed to continue. A discussion between the two countries over the future of the agreement had been "misconstrued by the media", he added. "We were told by the Sudanese that they had not even changed their minds," he said. The Ugandan army in March launched 'Operation Iron Fist' in an attempt to destroy LRA rear bases inside south Sudan. However, the operation has widely been viewed as having forced many LRA elements back into northern Uganda, where they have escalated attacks against civilian targets. The bilateral protocol which allowed Ugandan soldiers to operate in southern Sudan was originally intended to last for just one month, but has been extended several times, with the most recent extension expiring on 14 September. According to Muhammad Ahmed Dirdeiry, charge d'affaires at the Sudanese embassy in Nairobi, the original memorandum of understanding which, among other issues, outlined the permitted areas of operation for the UPDF in southern Sudan, would still be in effect. He added that a time limit for the operation had been agreed on, but that he was unable to say when that limit would be reached.