Ugandan President Museveni yesterday warned that he would launch a fresh fight against any LRA fighters on Ugandan soil after the ceasefire truce expires today. Vincent Otti confirmed yesterday that the LRA will not renew the truce, accusing the UPDF of violating the agreement. Museveni told reporters in Kampala: "If they [LRA] try to enter Uganda, we shall deal with them." He was speaking after holding talks with visiting US General William Ward, the deputy commander of the European Command, a structure covering US military forces in Europe and Africa. Read more at News24.

The State Minister for northern Uganda, David Wakikona, dismissed 12 officials from the Northern Uganda Social Action Fund (NUSAF) for corruption and mismanagement of project funds. NUSAF is a project jointly funded by the World Bank and the Government to initiate development and reconstruction projects in 18 districts in northern Uganda, and has over $100 million at its disposal. An assessment conducted from September to October 2006 by the Agency for Sustainable Development Initiative in Apac district described NUSAF projects as ineffective, inefficient, and having no accountability. Many critics of NUSAF say that chronic insecurity and mismanagement of funds has prevented it from having any real effect on the ground. Read more at The New Vision.

Major Felix Kulayigye, Uganda’s defence minister, confirmed reports that LRA commanders Joseph Kony and Vincent Otti and 400 other LRA rebels have arrived in the Central African Republic after fleeing the DR Congo several days ago. The LRA has been under pressure to leave the DR Congo by authorities in Kinshasa, which intensified last week after a meeting between Ugandan, Congolese and South-Sudanese security officials about how to handle the LRA threat. Read more at AllAfrica.com.

The New Vision is reporting that at least 40 LRA rebels have crossed into the Central African Republic, where they have joined a rebel group that is fighting the Government in Bangui. Another group of about 400 LRA fighters reportedly has left their hide-out in the Congolese jungles of Garamba and is heading in the same direction. This main group, led by LRA leader Joseph Kony himself, reportedly quit Garamba on February 14 and is camping in a forest 35km of Tambura in southern Sudan. Security sources fear that the rebels will attack the SPLA forces around Tambura and Efo in a bid to force their way into the Central African Republic. This new developments come one week before the deadline for the LRA fighters to assemble in Owiny Kibul and Ri-Kwangba expires. The new move also comes as the LRA was urged by the Congolese authorities to quit Garamba. Read more at The New Vision.

Clashes between Karamajong warriors and UPDF forces in the past three days have killed 80 Karamajong warriors, six other civilians and four soldiers. The clashes were sparked three days ago when Karamajong warriors ambushed civilians and reportedly tried to recover stolen cattle recovered by the UPDF. The army has deployed heavy weaponry during the fighting, including helicopter gunships, infantry fighting vehicles. Responding to calls by Karamajong local leaders to negotiate an end to the violence, an army spokesman said that they would only talk with warriors if they gave up their guns. The UPDF has been carrying out a controversial forcible disarmament programme in Karamoja since last summer. Read more at The Monitor.

At least four UPDF soldiers and seven Karimojong warriors have died in two days of clashes between the two groups in Kotido in northeastern Uganda. Twenty warriors are also reported injured. The clashes began on Monday. The clashes, the first this year, reportedly began after the army recovered over 2,000 head of cattle from the warriors. Read more at The Monitor. Also, be sure to check out Paul's latest analysis piece on the dynamics and impact of insecurity in Karamajong.

The New Vision is reporting today that the governments of Uganda, DR Congo and South Sudan have resolved to jointly fight "terrorists" operating along their common borders. They have agreed to exchange information, have joint military teams to verify the location of rebel groups and set up joint verification missions in the respective countries.This was during a one-day security meeting in Kasese last week chaired by the UPDF Second Division commander Brig. Hudson Mukasa. If peace talks do not resume soon, this will may have significant impact on the LRA, which is based primarily now in Garamba Park in DR Congo. Read more at The New Vision.

Yesterday, Presideny Museveni rejected fresh demands by the LRA rebels for a change in the peace talks and defended the existence of camps for displaced people in the north. In the interview, Museveni said, "The idea of going to a new site [for peace talks] with a new mediator is not acceptable - because it is just designed to avoid reaching a solution. A new mediator will have to learn about the issues, because these issues are not all that well known by outsiders." He continued, "The return back home [for IDPs] is irreversible irrespective of what happens with the peace talks. This is because the army is now more capable, stronger." Finally, asked if he regrets the encampment of the north, Museveni responded, "Not at all. You see, living in camps was the second-best arrangement other than living in their own homes. If they had stayed in their own homes, many would have been killed or abducted; and abducted may actually have meant being killed." Read the full interview by UN IRIN News.

Two suspected LRA rebels were lynched by an angry mob in Pader district on Wednesday evening. The two unidentified victims were killed in two different incidents in Awere and Kalawinya villages of Aruu county. "The residents mobilised and invaded the rebels' hideouts. They rounded them up and beat them to death," Pader RDC Santo Okot Lapolo said. Read more at The Monitor.

Brig. Gen. Aloisio Emor Ojetuk, the governor of the South Sudan Eastern Equatorial State, has ordered LRA fighters to leave his area, which includes Owiny ki-Bul, one of the two designated assembly points for the rebels. Brig. Gen. Ojetuk said the LRA have broken out of their designated assembling point at Owiny ki-Bul and are now terrorising people in Magwi and Western Torit counties with impunity. "I now want Ugandan rebels to go back to their country because they have no reason to fight in our land. If they do not want to leave, force will be used to evict them from Eastern Equatoria state," the governor reportedly said. Responding, the LRA peace delegation spokesman Olweny Obonyo said, "I don't have any comment about the governor's statement. The Government of South Sudan is a party to the Cessation of Hostilities Agreement, which is still valid up to the end of the month." Read more at The Monitor.

Uganda-CAN has received reports of two confrontations between the UPDF and small groups of LRA rebels in Pader District in northern Uganda. Apparently some of the LRA fighters in these groups have surrendered. We will report more details when we have that information.

Alice Lakwena, who led the rebel Holy Spirit Movement (HSM) in the 1980s, was buried today in Bungatira, a village in northern Uganda. Lakwena formed the HSM following the rise to power of current Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni in 1986. The HSM, composed of northern Ugandans distrustful of Museveni, marched on Kampala before being defeated in 1987. Lakwena then fled to Kenya, where she lived in exile until her death last month. The HSM gave rise to the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), and both Lakwena and the LRA's Joseph Kony have used a potent mix of Acholi beliefs and Christian symbolism to hold sway over their followers. Read more at Reuters AlertNet.

Vincent Otti, the LRA's deputy commander, has said his rebel army is ready to handle any threats from the United Nations. Otti was reacting to the new UN chief's pledge to "flush out terrorists" based in DR Congo. UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon on Wednesday assured President Museveni at the just concluded African Summit in Addis Ababa that he would deal with the terrorists in Congo as a way of addressing Uganda's security problem. "If the UN chief is serious with his commitment to flush terrorists in the Congo, it means fighting us but we shall also fight whoever comes here to fight us. We shall not sit and look on," Otti said. Otti, however, said those who claim LRA is a terrorist a group are wrong. "Our struggle is well known to the entire world. We are not terrorists but freedom fighters, fighting for a true cause and our rights as Ugandans," he said. Otti's hostile stance is not surprising; he is believed to be very close to the a group in the LRA's external wing that has split with the rest to criticize peace talks and push for resumed fighting. However, sources say that LRA leader Joseph Kony has not been as influenced by this group, and may still be trying to salvage the talks.

President Museveni announced yesterday that families who lost their relatives to the LRA terror will be compensated. He announced this at the closure of a two-day leadership seminar at Adwari Secondary School in Otuke county, Lira District, receiving thunderous applause. "We are going to compensate the victims of LRA terrorism in northern Uganda. Those families who lost their relatives, those whose lips, ears and noses were cut off by the LRA will be compensated as part of mato oput (reconciliation)," Museveni said. The President denied claims that he or his government had grabbed land in the North. He stressed that according to the constitution land belongs to the people. Read more at The New Vision.