The Ugandan army has beefed up security along its border with the Democratic Republic of Congo ( DRC) following repeated attacks from the vast central African country that have left four people dead and several injured in the last few days.
Lt. Tabaro Kiconco, the western regional army spokesman told Xinhua by telephone on Friday that the move is intended to stop repeated cross border attacks on Ugandans by elements in eastern DRC, an often lawless region.
"Our forces along the border have been beefed up and tightened. We have increased the presence of intelligence personnel in the area. We shall use all possible means to protect Ugandans," Kiconco said.
He noted that the Joint Verification Committee set up by both countries is scheduled to carry out an investigation of the recent attacks.
Gunmen from DRC on Wednesday crossed into Uganda and attacked the border town of Butogota in Kanungu District, 450 km southwest of Kampala, killing three people and seriously injuring one.
Press reports on Friday said gunfire rocked the trading center as some 30 assailants, suspected to be Interahamwe, militias responsible for the 1994 Rwanda genocide, operating from eastern Congo, ransacked shops.
This latest attack happened days after the Congolese army attacked an oil barge near the disputed Rukwanzi Island on Lake Albert, killing a British oil surveyor contracted by companies exploring for oil in the area.
Some two weeks ago, four Ugandan soldiers on a routine patrol were detained by the Congolese army in the same area for alleged crossing into Congolese territory.
Uganda has formally communicated to the Congolese government protesting the repeated attacks.
Amama Mbabazi, Uganda's Minister of Security while assessing the situation in Butogota warned that the country might consider re-entering the DRC if attacks from the other side continue.
Mbabazi, who was quoted by the state-owned New Vision on Friday, castigated the Congolese authorities and the UN mission in Congo ( MONUC) for failing to control their territory.
"This kind of behavior should not occur in the modern era. How can we have a group of gangsters crossing the border at midnight when people are asleep, loot and kill and then walk back?" he said.
He also complained that several rebel groups against Ugandan government have continued to operate in different areas in eastern DRC while the authorities failed to intervene.
"They are living in peace as if Congo is nurturing them, giving them not only a home but also the ability to grow in their capacity to cause greater harm to Uganda," he said.
Patience in Kampala was running out, he warned.
"We have tried our best to engage them diplomatically and worked out mechanism after mechanism. But clearly Congo is not interested.They behave as if it is not their business, continuing to harbor those who are terrorizing our people," he added. "We reserve the right of self-defense."
The foreign ministers of the two countries are expected to meet over the rising border tensions.
Uganda sent troops into the DRC in 1998 to pursue the rebels of the Allied Democratic Forces, but later the army was involved in the fighting between factional forces and the plundering of the country's rich national resources.
Source: Xinhua
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