Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
06KHARTOUM2558
2006-10-27 10:11:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Khartoum
Cable title:  

VIOLENCE CONTINUES NEAR JUBA

Tags:  PREL PGOV MCAP ASEC UG SU 
pdf how-to read a cable
VZCZCXRO2009
PP RUEHROV
DE RUEHKH #2558 3001011
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
P 271011Z OCT 06
FM AMEMBASSY KHARTOUM
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 5031
INFO RUCNIAD/IGAD COLLECTIVE
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)

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.
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