VIOLENCE CONTINUES NEAR JUBA

C O N F I D E N T I A L KHARTOUM 002558 SIPDIS SIPDIS FOR AF/SPG E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/27/2016 TAGS: PREL PGOV MCAP ASEC UG SU SUBJECT: VIOLENCE CONTINUES NEAR JUBA REF: KHARTOUM 02527 Classified By: Classified by CDA Chief Eric Whitaker, Reasons: Section 1.4 (b) and (d) ¶1. (C) Summary: Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) Chief of Staff Oyai Deng says that 38 people died on October 18 in violence reportedly linked to the Ugandan rebel Lord's Resistance Army (LRA). Deng said that eight vehicles had been burned in the incidents on roads east and south of Juba. He also reported that the dead include two SPLA soldiers, but did not provide further details. An undetermined number of other people -- between 5 and 10 --appear to have died in further incidents on October 19. End Summary. -------------- GoSS Discusses Response to Continuing Attacks -------------- ¶2. (C) As CG Juba officials spoke to Gen. Deng on October 19, reports were arriving at SPLA headquarters of another incident at Rajaaf, a town about 12 miles south of Juba on the east bank of the Nile. No further details were immediately available. A local resident also provided an eyewitness account of another attack on the night of October 19 at Gumbo, a small settlement approximately one mile from Juba town. The attack was the second to take place in Gumbo in two nights. He reported that five people were killed in the latest attack, which he blamed on the LRA. CG Juba is unable so far to confirm his report independently. ¶3. (C) Asked how his army would respond to these incidents, Gen. Deng said it would be forced to go after the LRA to protect Sudanese civilians. However, others in the Government of Southern Sudan (GoSS) cast doubt on whether the LRA was responsible for all the incidents -- and whether the LRA was acting alone. GoSS President Salva Kiir summoned his Council of Ministers to an emergency meeting on the night of October 19 to discuss the proliferating attacks. A participant in the meeting told CG that the government suspected other elements, including the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF),of having a role in the attacks. Others in government say they suspect remnants of the Equatoria Defence Force (EDF),a militia once allied with the Khartoum government. ¶4. (C) Both the SAF and the EDF collaborated closely with the LRA prior to the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) in January 2005. GoSS officials accuse the SAF of continuing to supply EDF elements despite the CPA, which expressly forbids the operation of any armed groups other than the SAF, the SPLA, and Joint Integrated Units (JIUs). -------------- Ugandan Army Undermined Talks -------------- ¶5. (C) Deng and other GOSS officials also assert that provocative actions by the Uganda People's Defence Forces (UPDF),including heavy deployment around the LRA assembly point in Owiny-Kibul, undermined the confidence of the LRA in its security and contributed to the ensuing violence. Both SPLA and UPDF officials claim to have monitored radio communications in which LRA second-in-command Vincent Otti instructed commanders to resume hostilities. Otti is also said to have been overheard boasting about an incident south of Juba in which the LRA killed two UPDF soldiers, one of whom was a captain. One of the victim's bodies inspected by ConGen staff had been mutilated, a characteristic of LRA attacks. At least one, and perhaps three, of the assailants in the various incidents is said to be in SPLA custody. We have no further information on the identity or affiliation of the captives. ¶6. (C) Senior Ugandan officials met with Kiir on the afternoon of October 19, ahead of Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni's visit to Juba (septel),to discuss the upsurge in violence and plan Museveni's visit. GoSS VP Riek Machar, chief mediator in the ongoing peace talks with the LRA, was also summoned to the meeting. The SPLA reinforced security at the camp on the Nile River where the Ugandan negotiators are staying. Camp residents told CG Juba officials on October 19 they had heard gunshots from fighting near the camp the previous evening. POWERS