At least six people, including a UN soldier, were killed and several others injured when the two vehicles they were traveling were ambushed by suspected LRA rebels in South Sudan, the army reports. "The LRA rebels ambushed two vehicles today north of Magwi, towards Torit in South Sudan at about 4pm, including a UN Land Cruiser, killing five civilians and one UN soldier," northern based army spokesman, Lt. Chris Magezi said yesterday. He described the incident as a serious violation of the Cessation of Hostilities Agreement. "I think the LRA message is clear: They don’t want peace. Their refusal to go back to Juba corrugates with its actions on the ground," he said. Read more at The New Vision.

The UPDF fourth Division commander, Brig. George Etyang, yesterday disclosed that a group of LRA fighters had remained behind when the rest left for the assembly points in South Sudan. He said that the rebels would be attacked by the UPDF if they continue to violate the Cessation of Hostilities Agreement. He added that the UPDF was closely monitoring the group’s moves. "We shall not hesitate to protect our citizens if the group inside begins to attack and destabilise our people. It is our constitutional obligation to protect our people," Etyang said. He alleged that some LRA rebels from that group raped two displaced girls from Palaro camp, Aswa County, north of Gulu town, when they went to collect firewood. Read more at The New Vision.

South Sudan President Salva Kiir yesterday said he would call for mass action against LRA rebels if they continue to terrorize his people. Speaking on television in Juba, Kiir demanded the LRA end its acts of terrorism against the Sudanese. He said if the LRA remains a threat to peace, he would be compelled to mobilize the military and civil society to fight against the rebels. Responding, LRA deputy commander Vincent Otti said by telephone yesterday that the LRA is neither scared of General Kiir nor his planned action. Otti further reiterated that the LRA will resume negotiations, but only if the venue changes from South Sudan. Kiir, in his televised speech, had expressed optimism that the peace negotiations hold the key to an end to the 20-year insurgency in northern Uganda. Read more at The Monitor.

Analyzing the state of Sudan two years after signing the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA), Simon Roughneen argues on OpenDemocracy.net that implementation of the CPA has been lacking, which may spark regional violence. Roughneen writes that the National Congress Party (NCP) in Khartoum is growing increasingly anxious about national elections in 2009 and referenda to be held in 2011. The referenda will first decide whether the South secedes from the country and second whether the oil-laden Abyei region joins North or South. Khartoum's economic growth is deeply tied to its 650,000 barrels-per-day oil production. For instance, Roughneen argues that much of this money is used to fund NCP security forces, which have terrorized Darfur. In addition, "the NCP will not easily relent on Darfurian rebel demands," which are trying to destabilize NCP rule before the coming elections. Roughneen writes, "Southern ethnic groups and their militias are open to the NCP tradition of divide and conquer, only now with oil-fuelled largesse to disburse as post-conflict recovery slowly attempts to create basic economic alternatives to violence. In the absence of such an alternative, violence remains a possible - even probable - recourse for contending groups."

Politics in Sudan have greatly impacted the conflict in northern Uganda and will continue to do so long into the future. For nearly a decade, the LRA (like the Janjaweed militias terrorizing Darfur) were funded and armed by the NCP to destabilize southern Sudan. There are fears that the NCP, seeking to destabilize the South again before 2011 referenda, may rekindle their relationship with the LRA. This fear underlies the Government of South Sudan's eagerness to mediate an end to the 21-year war in northern Uganda. Most significantly, we cannot lose sight of the way that conflicts in this region are deeply connected. Peace processes for northern Uganda, Darfur and eastern DR Congo must complement each other if they are to build lasting peace and protection of human rights.

Panic has gripped northern Uganda following threats made by LRA deputy commander Vincent Otti and speculation that pockets of LRA rebels may be seeking to re-enter the country. "A group of about ten rebels abducted, gang-raped and abandoned two girls in Palaro sub-county in Gulu district and are proceeding towards River Aswa, bordering Kitgum and Gulu," Gulu RDC Walter Ochora said. The group had reportedly been hiding in Uganda and never proceeded to one of the assembly points. The new developments follow threats by Otti on Gulu Mega FM that he was considering sending his troops back to Uganda if Sudan did not give them security guarantees. The Ugandan army has reassured the population that they have stepped up surveillance and deployment at the border. Read more at The New Vision.

The former leader of the Holy Spirit Movement (HSM), Alice Auma Lakwena is dead. Lakwena, who was 50, died at 1am this morning at the Ifo Refugee Camp in Kenya where she has been residing after her failed rebellion. Lakwena's HSM arose in 1986 to "rejuvenate and purify" Acholi society, while liberating the north from the grasp of the then-new National Resistance Army (NRA) led by Yoweri Museveni. HSM had great initial success, but was defeated by the NRA in Jinja in November 1987. A young Joseph Kony identified himself as a relative of Lakwena when he began the rebel army that would become the Lord's Resistance Army. Read more at the International Herald Tribune.

Gladys Oroma, Uganda-CAN news correspondent in northern Uganda, reports that the UPDF has said it will hit the LRA to the maximum if any rebels attempt to re-enter Uganda. The northern Uganda regional army spokesman Lt. Chris Magezi said the army has enough capacity at the Uganda-Sudan boarder to deal with LRA. Magezi threatened that if the LRA come back to Uganda, they will be welcomed with of fire. The UPDF spokesperson, Maj. Felix Kulayigye also said the army is on high alert and that no LRA rebels would be allowed to cross back in to northern Uganda. These statements came after Vincent Otti, the LRA deputy commander, threatened to have his fighters retreat back into Uganda.

Joseph Kony, the leader of the LRA, has left southern Sudan together with his troops that had assembled at Ri-Kwangba, one of the two designated assembly points. LRA deputy commander Vincent Otti reported this on Saturday, also saying that the LRA are committed to peace talks, but that nothing Khartoum can say or do will lure them back to negotiations in Sudan. "We have gone back to our hideout in Congo. I am considering ordering my forces in Southern Sudan to retreat back to Uganda if attacks on them are not stopped," Otti said. Otti claimed that the UPDF has been attacking LRA positions in South Sudan. "In the past 10 days, our forces in Southern Sudan are being shelled heavily with UPDF choppers and ground forces. That is why our forces can't assemble in Owinyi ki-Bul. SPLA seems not concerned and Riek Machar himself has failed to monitor the CHA," he said. These claims were rejected fully by the Ugandan army. The chief mediator of peace talks Dr. Riek Machar said he still expects talks to resume this week. Read more at The Monitor.

Hundreds of Ugandans traveling in a convoy of four buses and ten trucks survived death on Sunday evening, but only narrowly. Unidentified gunmen attacked the convoy of vehicles from Uganda on the Nimule–Juba road, 23km from Juba, with rocket-propelled grenades, injuring about 10 Ugandans and setting ablaze two vehicles. The ambush, one of an increasing list of such incidents on the Nimule-Juba and the Torit-Juba roads, came only a day after the President of South Sudan, Salva Kiir, toured the area up to Nimule. By yesterday, it was not yet established who was responsible for the ambush. The attackers apparently wore military uniforms. Ugandan officials usually blame the ambushes on rebels of the Lord’s Resistance Army, but officials from South Sudan routinely accuse elements linked to the Khartoum army, whom they claim want to destabilise the South and disrupt the peace process. Read more at The New Vision.

Brigadier Dominic Ogwen, one of the top LRA commanders, has managed to elude the joint UPDF and SPLA forces to cross the River Nile north of Juba. Ongwen is apparently now headed for Garamba National Park in the DR Congo to join his fellow indicted commanders, Joseph Kony, Vincent Otti and Okot Odhiambo. In a related development, sources close to the Cessation of Hostilities Monitoring Team have revealed that the LRA group, which was supposed to assemble at Owiny-ki-Bul under the ceasefire agreement, has instead passed the assembly point and is at least 100km away. The nearest LRA unit is reportedly at Mogari, about 116km north of Juba, on the eastern bank of River Nile. Other LRA units north of Juba are in Liria and Mondolai and villages towards Bor. Read more at The New Vision.

Two Ugandans and several Sudanese civilians were killed in an ambush on January 1 along Nimule-Juba Road in South Sudan. The UPDF suspects LRA rebels are behind the attack, but that has not been confirmed. LRA peace delegation chairman Martin Ojul said via satellite telephone that he was not aware of the ambushes. The killings come ahead of the planned resumption of talks between the LRA rebels and the government, in Juba next week. Read more at The Monitor.

Gulu District chairman Norbert Mao has warned non governmental organisations in northern Uganda against indulging in leisure at the expense of work. "Some NGOs have embarked on disaster tourism rather than doing the work that they are supposed to do," Mao said today during a radio talkshow on Gulu Mega FM. "This is unacceptable. We shall request those NGOs who are not ready to serve our people to leave." Mao, however, did not give names. In addition, he appealed to the people of Acholi and the north to abandon loose talk and embrace the peace negotiations in Juba between the LRA and the Government. Read more at The New Vision.

President Museveni today outlined his priority targets for the government for 2007 in his annual New Year's address. In the speech, the president named the successful multiparty elections, the discovery of petroleum and progress made in ending the LRA insurgency in the north as significant achievements in 2006. He mentioned peace and economic growth throughout the country as a goal of the upcoming year. Read more at The Monitor.