How Kabila threw out UPDF troops

Benon Herbert Oluka

Garamba, DR Congo

The diplomatic niceties exchanged during the Sunday ceremony in Garamba, DR Congo, in which the UPDF ended a three-month military offensive against the LRA rebels, told the story of two countries celebrating a mission accomplished.

But they masked the sometimes acrimonious secret negotiations that threatened the fragile relationship between the two countries.

During the hand over ceremony in Garamba on Sunday, military and political leaders from the two countries spoke of the shared vision of the Uganda and DR Congo presidents that enabled their armies to reduce the capacity of the LRA by at least 80 per cent.

EAGER TO GET HOME: UPDF soldiers boarding a plane in DR Congo on Sunday. PHOTO BY BENON OLUKA

Defence State Minister Jeje Odongo said now that the LRA had been greatly weakened, the only pending objective of the operation, to be carried out by the Congolese army, was “a mop up” exercise.

“This vision has not only allowed us to fight the LRA but also to strengthen the relationship between our people,” said Gen. Odongo.

Army Spokesman Felix Kulayigye said the damage the UPDF inflicted on the LRA meant there was no longer a need to have all three armies pursuing the remnants of the rebels.

“The dividends of the pressure is that we can confidently say we don’t need to continue having the allied forces against the LRA here; the Ugandans can confidently go back home and the Congolese forces will continue to ensure that the remnants of the LRA do not re-surface to disturb civilians,” said Maj. Kulayigye.

DR Congo’s Chief of General Staff, Gen. Didier Etumba Longila, sang from the same hymn book, saying, “We will continue hunting the terrorist Kony and his forces until they are neutralised.”

But officials say the protracted diplomatic haggling that preceded Kampala’s eventual capitulation to Kinshasa threatened to start a diplomatic row rather than mend the still fragile relationship between the two neighbours.

Daily Monitor learnt that the DR Congo government twice extended the deadline for the UPDF’s departure from Garamba after strong lobbying by Uganda government officials but Kinshasa was increasingly growing apprehensive about Kampala’s appeals for more time whenever a deadline earlier agreed by both parties approached.

When the UPDF launched the joint offensive against LRA on December 14, 2008, along with the armies of DR Congo and South Sudan, the Congolese had approved only a month-long mandate for the operation.

However, the army chiefs of DR Congo and Uganda, Generals Etumba and Aronda Nyakairima respectively, met on January 19-20, 2009 at their joint tactical headquarters in Dungu, Garamba to evaluate the operation. It was at this meeting that the first extension, of 21 days, was granted to the UPDF.

In Garamba, Gen. Etumba said while many objectives of their mission had been achieved by the end of the initial mandate, the LRA was killing civilians and looting, which necessitated the UPDF to stay on and continue their operations against LRA.

SHORT CELEBRATION: UPDF soldiers celebrate after overrunning the LRA camp in Garamba in December. FILE PHOTO

Since the start of the joint offensive, the LRA has been accused of killing more than 600 civilians and abducting hundreds of others, some of who were later rescued by the allied forces.

The fresh mandate was expected to end on or around February 9. But when the two army chiefs met on February 12 to carry out a second joint evaluation, the UPDF again begged the Congolese to extend their stay in Garamba.

DR Congo army chiefs did not immediately grant Uganda’s wish so another meeting was scheduled for February 19 to allow the Congolese army chiefs consult their government.

In the meantime, DR Congo officials asked their Ugandan counterparts to prepare to leave Garamba by February 28 if an extension of their stay was not granted by Kinshasa.

Congo President Joseph Kabila had already spoken out on the contentious deadline, telling Reuters news agency in February that the UPDF – like the Rwanda Defence Forces, which had also been allowed into his country to hunt down remnants of the Interahamwe rebel group – would leave at the end of the month.

“It was a difficult decision, but a decision was needed. The deadline must certainly not go beyond the month of February,” Mr Kabila said.

The Rwandans, who entered DR Congo several weeks after the UPDF, kept their word and pulled out on the agreed date, but Uganda did not.

Tension started to build between Kinshasa and Kampala when Uganda announced, prior to the February 19 meeting, that a fixed deadline had been replaced by rolling deadlines. Kinshasa, however, insisted that UPDF must leave as earlier agreed. A new and rough tone became the currency of transacting bilateral business.

Maj. Kulayigye told Daily Monitor on February 22: “We are not dying to stay in Congo. We think as of now the operation is more beneficial to the Congolese than Ugandans.”

By the time the army chiefs met again on February 19, the Congolese had still not reversed their decision so the big decision was left to Presidents Museveni and Kabila, due to meet in Kasese on February 28.

Details of the Kasese meeting are still scanty but with the UPDF managing to stay in the DR Congo until March 15, it appears the two leaders agreed to move the deadline forward by a fortnight.
While receiving the troops on Sunday, the UPDF Deputy CDF, Lt. Gen. Ivan Koreta, admitted that Uganda agreed to the pull out to avert any possible diplomatic row.

He said, “We have signed an agreement with DR Congo and agreed to pull out our forces for international relations.”

The anxiety of the Congolese government over when the UPDF would pull out was fanned by mounting pressure on Kinshasa from political and armed groups, which claimed that Mr Kabila had accepted occupation of their country by foreigners.

In an interview with Daily Monitor on February 1, Congolese opposition leader Etienne Tshishekedi Jr. said the deployment of Ugandan troops on their territory was viewed by Congolese as foreign occupation.

“As much as we support the fight against foreign armed groups on our territory, there should have been transparency when the two Presidents agreed to the protocol allowing UPDF on our soil,” Mr Tshishekedi said. “Otherwise our people view this as disguised occupation”.

The last time the Uganda army entered DR Congo in 1997 to fight the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) rebels, they got embroiled in a regional conflict, and several of the senior Ugandan army officers were accused of amassing wealth by stealing Congolese resources.

Whereas the two countries have had a strained relationship in the past, they have recently moved to warm their partnership, which has seen Uganda establish an embassy in Kinshasha.

Former minister James Kinobe was recently appointed to head the mission in the Congolese capital.