Minister calls for immediate Lamwo Uganda –South Sudan Border demarcation

The Minister of Disaster Preparedness, Mr Hillary Onek, who doubles as the Member of Parliament for Lamwo district has appealed to the South Sudan government to cooperate with the Ugandan Government so that the border between Lamwo on Ugandan side and South Sudan is properly demarcated to end the clash between Ugandans and South Sudanese at the border.

The Minister who was on Monday talking  to the locals at Lukung sub county in Lamwo district said that the disturbance caused by South Sudanese who entered Uganda with guns and started  claiming over 12Km inside Uganda was wrong.

The incident happened on the 31^st of July 2015.

Onek said that, “The Government of Uganda is very ready to demarcate its boundaries with Kenya, Tanzania and the Democratic Republic of Congo on the sides that have disputes, There are funds from the African Union to handle regional boundary disputes since it was discovered that border dispute is among Africa’s regional challenges of Peace and security.”

He however said the South Sudanese government has disowned the group of people who were forcefully chasing Ugandans away from the border area under dispute.

The affected area in Ngom-oromo in Lukung sub county.

Col: Stephen Mugerwa, the Uganda People’s defense Forces (UPDF) 5^th Division Deputy Commander told the minister that he tried to engage the South Sudanese over the land but was forced to chase them away after they failed to understand.

He said the group was becoming a security threat to locals as many have abandoned their homes and gardens for fear of being attacked.

Col Mugerwa asked Minister Onek to ensure that boreholes are drilled in the area immediately to help the local community and army access water.

As of last week, the army had erected an Army detachment in the area to protect the local people from South Sudanese attacsk.

In response Onek said he had already requested the ministry of Water to construct about 4 boreholes at Parapadwanya village where the UPDF is currently based since it has no clean water source.

Uganda government will be sending its Cabinet delegation to South Sudan within the week to discuss the matter of demarcating the border to end the border dispute.