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| East/Subsaharan Africa |
| Sudan bars Ugandan army |
| 2002-11-19 |
| Sudan has withdrawn its permission for Ugandan soldiers to use its territory to track down Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) rebels. Foreign Minister Mustafa Osman Ismail said the agreement had not been renewed because Uganda had not given a time limit for their presence or specified where they would be operating. "Where you guys gonna be operating?" "Ummm... Over there, someplace." The Ugandan army started "Operation Iron Fist" in March, after being authorised to enter Sudan to hunt LRA fighters. Previously, Sudan had backed the LRA, while Ugandan had supported Sudan's SPLA rebels. That sounds pretty fair... But Mr Ismail said that the decision would not hurt relations with Uganda because Sudan would not renew its backing for the rebels. "We have reached a firm decision that we will not co-operate with the LRA," he told parliament. But analysts say the decision will not go down well in Kampala. I suppose it's interesting that somebody sits up nights wondering what will go down well in Kampala. That's the difference between "interesting" and "significant," isn't it? |
| Posted by:Fred Pruitt |