Uganda President Asks ADF Rebels To End Rebellion, Return Home

4th Jul 2010 08:00

KAMPALA, Uganda (Dow Jones)--The Ugandan president has appealed to remnants of the Allied Democratic Forces, or ADF, who are have bases in lawless eastern Congo to abandon rebellion and return to the country, the president's office said in a statement late Saturday. A presidential spokeswoman said that the president made the remarks during a public rally at the Ugandan border district of Bundibugyo along the country's oil-rich western border with eastern Congo. "The President called upon the ADF remnants who took refuge in Congo and had tried to re-organize their 'confusion' from there, to return home and be part of the development the country is experiencing instead of wasting time in the bushes," she quoted the president as saying. Last week, the Ugandan army increased its troop presence along the country's western border to counter possible invasion from the ADF rebels. According to Lieutenant Colonel Felix Kulaigye, the Ugandan Defense and Army spokesman, the ADF rebels are fleeing an offensive by Congo's United Nations-backed army and could invade Uganda to destabilize it. The rebels attacked the Congolese town of Mutwanga on Monday, which is around 50 kilometers from the Ugandan border and killed at least 16 people. President Museveni told the rally in Bundibugyo that Uganda now enjoys good relations with Congo and had even enhanced the capacity of its army to deal with any external threats. The ADF rebels used to operate in western Uganda before they retreated to Eastern Congo in 2004 fleeing an offensive from the Ugandan army, ADF rebel remnants regrouped and infiltrated Uganda's oil region in 2007 with the intention of disrupting oil exploration activities but were quickly repulsed. At least one billion barrels of oil have been discovered by UK-based Tullow Oil PLC (TLW.LN) and Heritage Oil PLC (HOIL.LN) in three blocks in Uganda's Lake Albert basin and preparations are under way to develop the oil fields. While exploration activities on the Ugandan side of the Lake Albert basin have been going on since the late 1990s, similar activities on the Congolese side have been curtailed mainly due to insecurity. -By Nicholas Bariyo, contributing to Dow Jones Newswires; 256-75-2624615 [email protected] (END) Dow Jones Newswires July 04, 2010 03:00 ET (07:00 GMT)