[allAfrica.com] Can the SPLA Afford to Divorce Uganda? The Monitor (Kampala) NEWS December 19, 2002 Posted to the web December 20, 2002 By Ogen Kevin Aliro Kampala This is the third part of our special report on "AFRICA'S MOST DANGEROUS BORDERS" by Training Editor Ogen Kevin Aliro, who followed a five-day trail along the Uganda-DR Congo-Sudan borders. The first and second parts were published in The Monitor Dec. 12 and Dec. 16, 2002, respectively. The final leg took Aliro to Koboko and Kaya on the Uganda-Sudan border, and finally to Kajo Keji and Nimule in southern Sudan: Koboko is the new 'dream town' of West Nile. A few years ago it was a tiny, shabby affair of rusty huts and bombed out military barracks. Today it is a neat little town, developing relatively faster than Arua and Nebbi - the major towns in the region. Koboko is near the Uganda-Sudan border and owes its good fortune to the refugee influx - thanks to the civil war in Sudan. The war between rebel leader John Garang's Sudanese People's Liberation Army (SPLA) and President Omar Bashir's government just across the border brings many Sudanese refugees to Koboko. But the war has also brought lots of money from Sudan to Koboko. The national power grid does not yet extend to Koboko but most stores and lodges get power from own generators. Where does Koboko get all the money? A local hotelier says from the 'Dinkas' - meaning Sudanese. "They have the money, and usually pay us in dollars," he said. In fact it is mostly the SPLA, refugee-support NGOs and traders from Kampala that occupy hotel beds in Koboko. Other key players are Sudanese cattle traders, who bring in whole herds from across the border to Koboko. They take back clothes, sugar, soap, sodas, cigarettes, beer, cooking oil and other Ugandan goods. Everyday huge trucks from Kampala download goods in Koboko. The goods don't stay long on the shelves. They end up on smaller trucks - which deliver to the final consumers in Sudan. Ugandan traders then laugh all the way back to Kampala where they return to get more goods With Ugandans getting so much money, and the Sudanese having the goods that would otherwise not be readily available in SPLA-controlled areas, a visitor would be forgiven for expecting only warmth and platitudes from either side of the border. Not so in Koboko. Instead there is tension between the local population and Sudanese, especially those from the Dinka community that tends to dominate SPLA ranks. Sudanese complain of systematic harassment by LCs, the police and UPDF [it's actually LDUs] in Koboko. "Why do they harass our people yet Ugandan traders are not harassed on the Sudan side?" SPLA's Commander (Cdr.) Mac Paul complained when he we met at his Kaya base, a short ride from the Oraba border post. Cdr. Mac claimed nine Sudanese, including an SPLA officer, had been killed in Koboko since 2001. "Do you want to see the graves?" he menacingly asked - pointing at the mounds on the edge of his compound. An SPLA military intelligence officer at Kaya, Amol Dac, and the rebels' liaison officer in Koboko - one Lt. John - all complain about robberies and the harassment of their people. Even Sudanese booked into lodges are harassed, they claim. "They come and harass Sudanese traders in their hotel rooms and demand for Shs 50,000 from each every night," SPLA officers complained. According to the SPLA, local authorities in Koboko seem to have "a thing" [sic] against the Dinka. The SPLA says Sudanese arrested in Koboko [they claimed up to 400] only days before we arrived were only Dinka. "They call us Dinka. But there are many Sudanese [ethnic] communities in Koboko. How is it that only Dinka get arrested or killed by Ugandans?" Cdr. Mac Paul said the SPLA had no immediate plans to revenge but were beginning to run out of patience. "For the Dinka if you kill my brother I must kill you too. And one of those [nine people] killed was my brother. But we don't want to rush into fighting our brothers in the UPDF because we really have no other problem with them. Our enemies are the Arabs in Khartoum, because they are different and can never allow a black person to become a president. With Ugandans we are all the same. We are Africans and therefore brothers," Cdr. Mac said. From Kaya we drove further north into SPLA territory to Bazi, where we met Cdr. Dok Micar, a former MP. Micar was more measured in his words, but he too complained about "that problem in Koboko". We returned to Koboko - driving to Moyo and re-entered the Sudan on our way to Kajo Keji. In Kajo Keji we met another SPLA brigade commander, Cdr. James Kong. He too complained about "the situation in Koboko". Only that Cdr. Kong apportions some of the blame to "our own people" - the Sudanese. "You see many of our people haven't been to school, and that is a big problem. When they reach a place like Koboko they behave like it is their village [and not another country] and that may complicate the problem," he said. But Kong still repeats the "prepared text" that almost every SPLA commander has on Koboko. The SPLA claim Koboko hates them because they are seen as allies of [President Yoweri] Museveni and UPDF who Koboko denied votes in the 2001 presidential elections. "You see those people in Koboko deceived Museveni when it came to voting they gave the votes to [Col. Kizza] Besigye, who is Museveni's enemy," Kong said, using almost the same words his colleagues in Bazi, Kaya and Nimule had used. I felt it was so cheap of the SPLA to try and play the UPDF against Ugandans in Koboko simply because they "refused" to vote for Museveni in 2001. After all, no serious elections have been held in SPLA territory for 19 years! LCs on the other hand accused the 'Dinka' of carrying guns into Koboko, and keeping them in their hotel rooms. LCs said they acted tough because insecurity and violent crime had become rampart in Koboko - in part because of poor discipline from the SPLA and refugees. Whatever the case Koboko seems to be the "weakest link" along the rebel- controlled stretch of the Uganda-Sudan border. If not carefully managed the rumours and growing tensions could spark off violent clashes between the SPLA and the UPDF. The more urgent task however may be how to manage the ethnic undertones fuelling tensions to avoid violent clashes between Dinka refugees and the host communities in Koboko. The SPLA also seems unhappy that the UPDF no longer fights alongside them since Khartoum and Kampala signed a protocol allowing Ugandan forces into southern Sudan to fight Joseph Kony's LRA rebels who have camps there. The SPLA consider all southern Sudan their territory and loudly complain about not being involved or consulted when Uganda chose to sign a protocol "with those Arabs" [Sudanese government in Khartoum]. "This is our territory in which the UPDF are operating. If they had involved us, we could have solved this Kony problem together," Cdr. Kong said. The SPLA claim the Sudan government gave Uganda a raw deal since Khartoum still supports Joseph Kony and never disclosed to the UPDF the presence of some LRA camps in southern Sudan. "Even on November 26 we intercepted a message from the Arabs in Juba to Kony's forces instructing him to mine the roads and stage ambushes in northern Uganda to stop the UPDF reinforcing its troops in southern Sudan," Cdr. Kong said. The SPLA also claims even Gen. Ali Bamuze's National Rescue Front II that has been talking peace with Museveni's government maintains links with Khartoum and communication with the LRA. "We know all this because we have Kony's radio frequency. I think it is 8805. But when we give this intelligence to our UPDF brothers, they don't take it. I don't think the UPDF is serious," Cdr. Kong said. Kong then adds with undisguised sarcasm: "One day when the UPDF is tired of their business with the Arabs, they shall maybe come and we see how to solve the Kony problem together!" The Sudanese rebels are obviously trying to prod Uganda into once again actively [through the UPDF] supporting their own war against Khartoum. For the moment the UPDF seems to be reluctant. "We have to try and work with the Sudanese government. But if the protocol fails to deliver, we may think of other ways to get Kony," one UPDF officer said following Kong's criticisms. Interestingly, while the SPLA thinks the UPDF is "not serious", Ugandan soldiers generally dismiss the SPLA as "arrogant and lacking discipline". My own quarrel with the SPLA is different. The rebels have held a chunk of territory since 1983 yet they have done nothing to develop the land they proudly call 'New Sudan.' Roads hardly exist and there are no serious plans to develop and expand education. The Church and other NGOs run hospitals and other public services, where they exist. The irony is that SPLA commanders appreciate the value of a good education. They have conveniently placed their own children in Ugandan schools in Adjumani, Arua, and Gulu - and Kampala too! But if the Eritrea liberation struggle be any yardstick, it is not too much to demand that rebels who have held territory for 19 years develop some basic public services and state structures.   =============================================================================   Copyright © 2002 The Monitor. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). =============================================================================