Joint ministerial commission meets to review relations

A Uganda-Sudan joint ministerial commission, established to normalise bilateral relations, opened a consultative meeting in the Ugandan capital, Kampala, on Thursday with ministers from both countries talking of renewed cooperation. Officials said a draft agreement would be signed by the end of the meeting on Friday, which would pave the way for regular consultations on issues ranging from regional security to tariffs and trade. Sudanese Foreign Minister Mustafa Uthman Isma'il told the meeting that with a peace deal being negotiated in Kenya between his government and the rebel Sudanese People's Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A) just days away from being signed, "the current agenda of refugees, conflict and displacement will give way to a new agenda of development". "We are keen enough to resume full fledged cooperation in all fields," he stressed. Ugandan First Deputy Prime Minister Moses Ali and acting Foreign Minister Tom Butime attended. Speaking to IRIN after the opening of the meeting, Ali called the conference "a landmark in reviving the peace between the two countries in the form of a regular consultation". He said the meeting was a renewal of consultations that had begun last year. "There'll be a draft framework of the cooperation agreement. They will discuss the details and then sign a reactivation," he said. Throughout the 1990s, relations between Sudan and Uganda were strained. Sudan accused Uganda of arming and training the SPLM/A while Uganda countered by saying Sudan was supporting the rebel Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) to fight the Kampala government. In 1993, the two neighbours severed diplomatic ties as relations deteriorated further. But in 1999, they signed a peace pact in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, with each officially renouncing support for the other's rebels. This led to the restoration of diplomatic relations in 2001. To curtail rebel activities on their common border, the two governments signed Operation Iron Fist in June 2002, allowing the Ugandan army access to southern Sudan to pursue LRA rebels there. Iron Fist has since been renewed every six months, most recently in March this year. Even so, relations remained tense as Uganda periodically claimed to have evidence that some elements in the Sudanese army were still offering logistical support and weapons to LRA fighters. Uganda also maintained that Sudan was not trying hard enough to stop the LRA using its territory as a rear base. The LRA has been fighting the government for 18 years, killing thousands of people, displacing at least 1.5 million, and abducting more than 20,000 children to fight in its ranks or be used as sex slaves. On Wednesday, the UN Security Council condemned the LRA's activities. "The ministerial process has been reactivated to sort out problems and to dispel suspicions. If you meet regularly, you have fewer chances for suspicion because all grievances are being regularly aired," Ali told IRIN.