Attack "could spark exodus"

The attack on Kajo Keji county in Southern Sudan by suspected rebels of the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) could spark an exodus of civilians from the area unless immediate steps are taken to aid those affected, an assessment team has warned.

The attack on 30 January was carried out by hundreds of suspected LRA fighters who abducted 40 people, including children. Four people died, according to the assessment team comprising Southern Sudan government officials, the diocese of Kajo Keji and the Danish Refugee Council.

"The entire population is filled with panic and helplessness," the team noted. "They have lost all basic possessions such as household utensils, beddings, clothing. People congregate together for fear and lack of protection. Many express intentions to cross to neighbouring counties."

The LRA denied involvement. "We do not have any forces in that area," LRA chief negotiator David Matsanga told reporters in the Southern Sudanese capital of Juba.

The violence occurred as an LRA delegation resumed talks with Ugandan government officials in Juba, in an effort to end the 22-year conflict in northern Uganda.

Describing the attack as a disaster, the assessment team warned that it could interrupt repatriation programmes of returnees and internally displaced persons, affect the upcoming census, hurt confidence in government protection and progress in various ongoing projects, and lead to post-war trauma.

It called for the immediate deployment of armed forces and urged the Southern Sudanese government and the international community to pressure Uganda and the LRA to reach an immediate settlement to their conflict.

"Reports by the freed abductees indicate the rebels are between 300 and 500 armed men and women," the report said. "The weapons seen include PKM machinegun and AK47 Klan scope machineguns. The main languages spoken by the rebels were Luo and simple Arabic." 

Twenty-eight abductees were later released.

A Ugandan army spokesman warned the rebels over the attack. "If it is true that the LRA were involved, it will reflect badly on them," Chris Magezi, spokesman for the Ugandan government delegation at talks with the LRA told IRIN. "They are not supposed to be there, but in Ri-Kwangba", a designated assembly point for the rebels, on the border with the Democratic Republic of Congo. 

As part of the talks process, the LRA agreed in April 2007 to assemble their troops in Ri-Kwangba, which entailed moving their units from northern Uganda, and from east of the Nile in Southern Sudan, to the Sudan-DRC border. Ugandan officials said this has not happened.

Locals from Kajo Keji said the attack targeted Nyepo, a village of about 3,500 people, 120km south of Juba. Kansuk and Rodo bomas were specifically targeted.

"The people back in the village called to report the deaths of my relatives, and they told me the LRA attacked the village," James Soro Philip, who hails from Nyepo but lives in the US, told IRIN. "My two younger brothers were killed."

The conflict between the Ugandan government and the LRA has killed thousands of people and uprooted almost two million more from their homes in northern Uganda and southern Sudan.

Relative calm was restored with the start of the talks in 2006, prompting many people to return to their homes.

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