Anti-LRA pact extended

Uganda and Sudan this week agreed to extend by two months the military protocol authorising the Ugandan army to flush the rebel Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) from its hideouts in southern Sudan.

The Sudanese ambassador to Uganda, Siraj al-Din Hamid, told IRIN on Tuesday that his government had agreed to extend the protocol for a further 60 days to the end of January.

He said the Ugandan People's Defence Forces (UPDF) would be allowed access to Sudanese territory as far as "four degrees latitude north", thereby defining a region which is also subject to agreements on humanitarian access between the Khartoum government and the United Nations.

Any military operation north of this area could only be mounted in close coordination with the Sudanese army, Hamid said. "If there need be [such an operation], it will require very close coordination between the Sudanese and the Ugandan governments."

The military protocol was first signed between the two governments in March.

Hamid said the latest extension had brought in a number of aspects providing for broader coordination between the two governments, establishing observation points, and enhancing the monitoring system by military experts from both countries to ensure ample access to the border areas.

"I think this time it will succeed, because it may involve the Sudanese army," he said. "There will be a lot of coordination between the two sides."

Meanwhile, the Ugandan army has offered a reward of US $11,000 for information leading to the capture or killing of LRA leader Joseph Kony.

According to the government-owned 'New Vision', the army however noted it would still respect any rebel surrender under a presidential amnesty declared in 2000.