VZCZCXRO0521
OO RUEHROV
DE RUEHKH #0309/01 0591544
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
O 281544Z FEB 07 ZDK
FM AMEMBASSY KHARTOUM
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 6298
INFO RUCNIAD/IGAD COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUEHGI/AMEMBASSY BANGUI PRIORITY 0033

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 KHARTOUM 000309 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR AF A/S FRAZER AND AF/SE NATSIOS, NSC FOR 
PITTMAN AND SHORTLEY 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/28/2017 
TAGS: PREL MARR SU CG UG CT
SUBJECT: LRA ENTERS CAR, SPLA AND UPDF PLAN MILITARY ACTION 
 
AGAINST WHILE GOSS PURSUES PEACE TALKS 
 
Classified By: DCM R. Powers, Reason: Section 1.4 (b) and (d) 
 
¶1.  (C) Summary:  Reports have proliferated in southern Sudan 
that Ugandan rebel leader Joseph Kony of the Lord's 
Resistance Army (LRA) has entered the Central African 
Republic (CAR) with a small force.  However, the senior Sudan 
People's Liberation Army (SPLA) official with responsibility 
for the LRA says while some LRA elements have crossed into 
CAR, Kony's presence there is unconfirmed.  According to SPLA 
Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Oyai Deng, SPLA and the Ugandan 
People's Defense Forces (UPDF) are planning anti-LRA actions 
east of the Nile in southern Sudan after the current 
Cessation of Hostilities Agreement lapses February 28.  The 
Government of Southern Sudan (GOSS) is nevertheless 
persisting in efforts to restart peace talks between the LRA 
and the Government of Uganda (GOU).  End Summary. 
 
----------------- 
Movement into CAR 
----------------- 
 
¶2.  (C) SPLA Maj. Gen. Wilson Deng told PolOff February 27 
that LRA elements have "definitely" entered CAR over the last 
week.  A senior advisor to GOSS VP Riak Machar, mediator in 
the stalled LRA peace talks, reported the same February 24. 
Deng estimated that there are 200-300 LRA personnel now in 
CAR.  Machar's advisor, Prof. George Achor, said SPLA and 
civilian authorities in remote southwestern Sudan had 
confirmed the movement of LRA forces into CAR, including an 
"advance party" and subsequent groups who transported arms 
and provisions. 
 
¶3.  (C) Although there are widespread reports that LRA leader 
Joseph Kony has also moved to CAR from his previous base in 
the DRC's Garamba National Park, Maj. Gen. Deng cautions that 
Kony's whereabouts have not been established definitively. 
Deng nevertheless said he "suspects" Kony is in CAR, and said 
the LRA is attempting to establish a base somewhere near Obo 
in southeastern CAR.  Kony has operated from southern Sudan 
for most of the last two decades.  In November 2005, however, 
he and other senior LRA leadership relocated from southern 
Sudan to northern DRC. 
 
¶4.  (C) On February 24 SPLA forces observed a "small" LRA 
group near the Ri-Kwangba assembly point on the DRC-Sudan 
border, Deng said.  This group was probably acting as a cover 
for a larger movement into CAR, Deng said.  As of February 
28, UNMIS security personnel were also attempting to verify 
an unconfirmed report of an LRA group camped approximately 30 
kilometers from Nagero in southern Sudan's Western Equatoria 
State, approximately 100 kilometers from the CAR border. 
Local officials have reportedly closed the road between 
Tambura, in Western Equatoria, and the CAR border.  The UN 
has imposed new restrictions on the movement of UN personnel 
in parts of the area.  The UN also reports "credible 
information of LRA movement northwards between Nazara and Ezo 
and then westwards into CAR bypassing Tambura to the north." 
 
----------------------------------------- 
End of Cessation of Hostilities Agreement 
----------------------------------------- 
 
¶5.  (C) With the February 28 expiration of the Cessation of 
Hostilities Agreement, SPLA Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Oyai Deng 
says his forces are ready to remove against remaining LRA 
elements east of the Nile in southern Sudan.  It is unclear 
how many LRA bands remain in those areas.  Maj. Gen. Deng was 
in Nimule, near the Uganda-Sudan border, on February 27 to 
review operational plans and consult with the Uganda People's 
Defense Forces (UPDF).  The UPDF have operated against the 
LRA in southern Sudan since 2002, and collaborate with the 
SPLA in securing the Nimule-Juba road, a vital transportation 
link for southern Sudan and frequent venue of attacks by the 
LRA and other armed groups (OAGs).  The LRA have also carried 
out extensive food raids in ethnic Acholi areas east of the 
Nile since last December. 
 
¶6.  (C) Sources in the SPLA also claim to have verified that 
some LRA groups have moved "deeper" into DRC.  These sources 
do not specify the location of the LRA groups.  In late 
January, SPLA Maj. Gen. Bior Ajang attended a meeting with 
senior defense and intelligence counterparts from the UPDF 
and Congo's FARDC at Arua in northwestern Uganda.  Bior told 
us that the meeting focused only on the LRA, and that the 
parties attempted to agree on a strategy to contain or 
eliminate the Ugandan rebel group.  The meeting was useful, 
Bior said, but FARDC continues to object to the participation 
by UPDF or SPLA in anti-LRA actions in DRC. 
 
KHARTOUM 00000309  002 OF 002 
 
 
AGAINST WHILE GOSS PURSUES PEACE TALKS 
 
 
--------------------------- 
Chissano Back to the Region 
--------------------------- 
 
¶7.  (C) A Sudanese official attached to the stalled LRA peace 
talks told us February 27 he expects former Mozambique 
president Joaquim Chissano to come to Juba in early March. 
Chissano is the UN's special representative for the LRA 
problem.  The Sudanese official said he had also been advised 
that Chissano might also be considering a visit to Kinshasa. 
 
------------------------------- 
Attempts to Restart Peace Talks 
------------------------------- 
 
¶8.  (C) Despite the end of the Cessation of Hostilities 
Agreement and other negative developments, GOSS officials 
persist in efforts to re-start peace talks.  These efforts 
are hampered by reported splits within the LRA delegation, 
with some prepared to resume talks in Juba and a group of 
hardliners opposed.  GOSS VP Machar said February 24 he was 
still hopeful talks could resume, and an aide told us GOSS 
had purchased airplane tickets for an LRA delegation to 
return to Juba.  The aide was also hopeful that the LRA 
delegation would participate in a large meeting for ethnic 
Acholi leaders planned for Juba March 2-4.  Most LRA members 
and captives are ethnic Acholi, drawn from a population that 
straddles the Uganda-Sudan border. 
 
¶9.  (C) Comment:  The spread of the LRA problem into a fourth 
country is indicative both of the difficult circumstances 
facing the group and the continuing danger they pose to 
regional stability.  GOSS efforts to broker peace talks 
deserve support.  So do other efforts that would make peace 
attractive to the LRA's obdurate leadership.  End Comment. 
HUME