Helicopter gunships have been deployed against rebels here in Teso. A gang of the Lords Resistance Army rebels attacked a village in Soroti on Monday killing three people. Army spokesman Maj. Shaban Bantariza told The Monitor on Monday that the rebels who attacked Amen village, 3km along the Soroti - Lira highway, are not a new group. He said these are rebels under Charles Tabuley, an LRA commander. The rebels torched 14 huts on Monday before withdrawing. "It is not true a new LRA rebel group has re-entered Teso as the media reported last week. This is the usual Tabuley group that is on the run, which attempted to attack Soroti town on Monday,'" Bantariza said.
| Okay. They didn't re-enter, they were there before... |
He laughed off a letter left behind by the rebels on Monday.
| "Letter? I laff! Haw-haw!" |
The rebels are said to have been critical of the deployment of the Arrow Group to fight them. In their letter, the rebels are said to have demanded peace talks with President Yoweri Museveni. "The LRA are just trying to cover up their criminal activities by saying they are killing civilians in Teso because of the deployment of the Arrow Group militia," he said. Bantariza said that the LRA was killing civilians even before Arrow Group was formed. He said that the rebels should channel their letters calling for peace talks through the Presidential Peace Team and not ordinary civilians. "As for UPDF we are not party to peace talks between government and terrorists," the army spokesman said.
| "It's our job to hunt them down and kill them. It's their job to negotiate with them." |
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