South Sudan: Ugandan President Makes a Surprise Visit to South Sudan
23 February 2014
Juba - The Ugandan president, Yoweri Museveni made a surprise visit to South
Sudan to see his troops in the front-line fighting alongside forces loyal to
the South Sudanese president Salva Kiir against troops allied to his former
vice-president, Riek Machar.
Museveni on Wednesday held a lengthy closed-door discussion in Juba with his
South Sudanese counterpart, mainly focusing on the future of their alliance.
The Ugandan leader also visited his troops on the front-line in Bor town,
the capital of Jonglei state, which his forces claimed to have recaptured
from the rebels after exchanging hands four times in January.
There were, however, no official statements from the presidency on the
contents of the secret meeting.
Ateny Wek Ateny, who speaks for the president confirmed the visit, but
declined to make any comments on the visit because it was at the level of
the two presidents.
"I have no comment to make on the visit because the discussions were between
the two heads of state. I was not part of the meeting so I do not know what
the two leaders have discussed. I have no information as such", Ateny told
Sudan Tribune on Friday.
Sources close to the leadership in Juba, however, said the visit aimed at
assessing the security situation in areas where Ugandan troops are fighting
alongside South Sudanese army against the rebels and to boost their moral
with assurances of increased double payments and military promotions.
"The leaders discussed the need to respect terms of source funding for
military operations, including keeping confidential information relating to
the source of funding," the source revealed.
The Ugandan cabinet also approved Shs120 billion in supplementary budget
largely meant to finance the ongoing operations of the Ugandan army in South
Sudan, according to the independent Daily Monitor newspaper.
Such voices started appearing in Uganda after South Sudan defense minister
revealed that its government was covering all the activities, including
feeding, payments for personnel weapons, transportation of all military
related cargoes as well related allowances.
The two leaders also discussed the status of the remaining detainees and the
need for two presidents to strategise and agree on a political ploy to
partially disengage and pull out Ugandan troops from South Sudan.
The visit also came a day after the rebels allied to Machar, recaptured the
strategic town of Malakal, the capital of the oil-rich Upper Nile state
where 70% of the country's revenues comes from.
This means announcement would be made through the regional bloc (IGAD) in
coming days. The result of this is the pressure on Uganda from Norway,
Britain, the United States as well as the IGAD member countries. America has
already threatened to suspend foreign aids to Uganda in the event it failed
to comply.
But Sam Kuteesa, Uganda's foreign minister said his country had no desire to
keep its troops on South Sudan soil longer than it is necessary, citing
Kampala's proposal for the deployment in South Sudan of the African Capacity
for Immediate Response to Crisis (ACIRC) inline with the African Union (AU)
decision reached last month.
"The deployment of ACIRC in South Sudan will facilitate Uganda's progressive
withdrawal and/or redeployment", Kuteesa told reporters in Kampala Tuesday.
The AU Peace and Security, he said, was expected to meet at an appropriate
time, to work out modalities for deployment of ACIRC in South Sudan before
the countries that have voluntarily pledged capacity to ACIRC may then
provide such support.
"We believe that the deployment of ACIRC is the most logical way to withdraw
from South Sudan, without leaving a security vacuum that that can be taken
advantage of," stressed Uganda's foreign ministers.
"We further believe that a political solution will bring about lasting and
sustainable peace to this young and sisterly Nation of South Sudan, he
added.