Military says troops are helping S Sudan army against rebels in Bor and near
Juba, in first acknowledgement of fighting.
Last updated: 16 Jan 2014 11:03
South Sudanese troops are being assisted in combat roles [AP]
Uganda's president says his troops have joined forces with the South
Sudanese military and are fighting in Bor to end a rebellion in the world's
newest country.
Lieutenant Colonel Paddy Ankunda, the military spokesman, said on Thursday
that Ugandan forces were helping loyalist forces flush rebels out of Bor,
the strategic town near the capital of Juba that has seen some of the
fiercest clashes since violence broke out in South Sudan in mid-December.
Ugandan officials have previously denied that their troops have joined the
fight, saying their forces were deployed in South Sudan mainly to aid
civilian evacuations.
The involvement of a foreign army in South Sudan's conflict could escalate a
crisis set off by a power struggle between President Salva Kiir and Riek
Machar, the fugitive former deputy president who commands rebel forces.
It comes a day after Uganda's president, Yoweri Museveni, admitted for the
first time to helping his South Sudanese counterpart fend off the rebellion.
Uganda's troop involvement in combat in South Sudan could raise concerns
that other regional countries could be sucked into the conflict, fighting
their own proxy wars as has happened elsewhere on the continent, such as
Congo.
A spokesman for the prime minister of Ethiopia, where peace talks are taking
place, said earlier this month having Ugandan troops engaged in combat would
be "absolutely unwarranted".
"Only the other day, Jan. 13, the SPLA and elements of our army had a big
battle with these rebel troops at a point about 90km from Juba," Museveni
said.
"We inflicted a big defeat on them. Unfortunately, many lives were lost on
the side of the rebels. We also took casualties and also had some dead."
Kuol Manyang, South Sudan's defence minister, said the Ugandan forces in his
country numbered "a battalion", and that
they were there to help quell the rebellion by Machar.
------------[ Sent via the dehai-wn mailing list by dehai.org]--------------
Received on Thu Jan 16 2014 - 15:59:55 EST