Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni has been asked by the United Nations to mediate in the conflict in South Sudan, according to spokesman Ofwono Opondo. President Museveni was on Wednesday in talks with President Salva Kiir of South Sudan, along with Uganda’s State Minister for International Affairs Henry Okello Oryem, Ugandan media reported.
Museveni will be “engaging” South Sudan at different levels. “The executive is engaging the South Sudan government. There is engagement at the highest level. The President (Museveni) is in talks with his colleague,” Mr Oryem said to Daily Monitor.
“The government of Uganda maintains a neutral stance to the conflict in South Sudan and calls for restraint from the parties involved. We also recommend dialogue and a negotiated resolution to the on-going conflict in the country,” the statement read in part.
Mr Fred Opolot, the Foreign Affairs ministry spokesperson, told the Daily Monitor that a group of officials from the ministry, Police, Internal Affairs and Trade had been scheduled to travel to the border and meet Ugandan traders stuck with goods.
Increased troops at border
Uganda has increased its troop presence along the 435 kilometer-long border with South Sudan due to the deteriorating security situation there, it told VOA radio. The violence has led to an upsurge in people trying to cross into Uganda says Lt Col Paddy Ankunda, spokesman for the Uganda People’s Defense Force (UPDF). He says there has not been any incidence of violence along the border with South Sudan after Uganda ended its temporary closure.
Ankunda says soldiers from the national army have been put on alert to prevent individuals or groups who he says might want to take advantage of the security situation in South Sudan to create chaos in Uganda. “We don’t want wrong characters crossing into our country and causing havoc,” said Ankunda.
IGAD commission dispatched
Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn of Ethiopia, in his capacity as Chair of the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD) and Chair of the African Union, has dispatched a ministerial delegation to Juba, comprising of Ministers and high level officials from Ethiopia, Djibouti, Kenya, Somali, Sudan and Uganda, as well as the AU Commissioner for Peace and Security.
Update 19:04
File photo: Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni (UN Photo/Mark Garten)