Security in the north tightened, says army

The Ugandan army has said that the recent foiling of an attempt by rebels to attack northern Uganda's largest internally displaced persons (IDPs) camp, near Gulu town, is evidence that "security in the north is now tighter than ever". The army said it had prevented a group of Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) rebels from attacking Pabbo camp on 16 April, killing a rebel commander called Charles Abola and his second-in-command, Denis Olweny. Speaking to IRIN by telephone on Wednesday, the army spokesman for the north, Paddy Ankunda, said the LRA, including its second-in-command, Vincent Otti, had infiltrated Gulu, because "they have nowhere else left to hide". "We've tightened every sector: Lira, Kitgum, Pader. So there's a lot of infiltration in Gulu as the pressure in Lira forces them to run west. Of course there is food in Gulu, which they are running low on," he said. "[The LRA leader, Joseph] Kony is still in Sudan, but he is running out of space. If he dares come to Uganda, he will be killed," he warned. Army sources say other previously troubled districts, such as Lira, where hundreds of civilians have been killed by rebels in recent months, are now quiet. But local government sources warned against complacency. Peter Olwenyi, the mayor of Lira town, told IRIN that "there have been no recent incidents around Lira, so we can say there is relative peace, but I wouldn't call it secure yet". The Catholic archbishop of Gulu, John Baptist Odama, a prominent peace campaigner, said he doubted the army's claims to have secured the north. "The situation is still as insecure as before," he said. "We have not seen a significant improvement. Around Gulu, people are still very fearful in their movements." "Not all the camps are protected. They [the army] need to ask the people in each one if they are safe," Odama told IRIN. The LRA, who have waged an 18-year old war against the Ugandan government, killed more than 300 IDPs in February when they attacked a camp in Barlonyo, near Lira town. The army blamed the deaths on the laxity of local commanders who, it said, had allowed the IDPs to set up a camp in an area that was not well protected.