Xinhua News Agency
05/18/2006

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NAIROBI, (Xinhua News Agency) -- An international aid agency has called on the UN to strengthen the mandate of its mission in Sudan to disarm Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) rebel which is committing atrocities in northern Uganda and southern Sudan.

In a statement received here Thursday following a visit to northern Uganda and southern Sudan, the Washington-based Refugee International (RI) said the rebel activities which have caused humanitarian crisis in northern Uganda has spread to southern Sudan thus threatening regional peace and security.

The RI said the LRA attacks on civilians in southern Sudan are impeding humanitarian access, slowing the ability of refugees and displaced people to return home, and causing new displacement and refugee outflows.

"The UN Security Council should strengthen UN Mission in Sudan (UNMIS)'s mandate to allow it to disarm LRA combatants and cooperate with the Ugandan Amnesty Commission to repatriate them to Uganda, execute International Criminal Court (ICC) arrest warrants for the LRA top commanders and protect civilians in south Sudan," the aid agency said.

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The Washington-based organization warned that the conflict in northern Uganda has taken on a regional dimension and is spreading to neighboring countries.

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According to the RI, the LRA attacks on civilians in southern Sudan have intensified over the past six months including recent attacks on UN compounds in Yambio and Yei where they reportedly killed two UN employees.

"The formerly calm area of Western Equatoria is now extremely dangerous both for humanitarian workers and for Sudanese," it said.

"UNMIS consistently underestimates the threat of the LRA and they are a very real threat contributing to the destabilization of the south. They don't want to take them on so they downplay their seriousness," said a UN official in Juba.

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But past attempts to negotiate an end to the war have failed, with both the Ugandan government and the rebels being accused of lacking commitment to peace talks.