{UAH} Uganda: I Can't Sleep Over South Sudan - Museveni

Uganda: I Can't Sleep Over South Sudan - Museveni

BY TREVOR BALEKE, DEO WALUSIMBI, 3 JANUARY 2014

Under fire for threatening war against the rebel former Vice President of South Sudan Riek Machar, President Museveni said on Wednesday that he was not sleeping much, worried about South Sudan which faces the prospect of a prolonged war.

Speaking at the Golden jubilee celebration (50 years) of the Universal Apostles Fellowship Church of Righteousness at Kirama in Namwimwa sub-county, Kaliro, Museveni said that since war broke out in South Sudan, he had kept monitoring the situation 24hours a day, to ensure that Africa's newest country regains her sanity.

"I'm not sleeping... [I am] monitoring the crisis which is taking place in the young country of South Sudan and I want to see that peace is attained there," Museveni said.

On Monday President Museveni had said regional leaders would fight Machar, if he failed to honour last week's demand for a ceasefire agreed in Nairobi, Kenya.

"We gave Riek Machar some four days to respond, and if he doesn't, we shall have to go for him, all of us in IGAD. That is what we agreed upon in Nairobi," Museveni told journalists in Juba.

Machar, in a statement on Tuesday condemned Museveni's threats. Machar and former minister Peter Adwok Nyaba also rallied on Tuesday against President Museveni. Machar warned Museveni against interfering in the internal affairs of South Sudan as the conflict in the world's newest country rages on. However, in the same statement, Machar welcomed the regional leaders' call for cessation of hostilities but quickly warned that the involvement of Museveni in the conflict could escalate it.

Speaking at a press conference on Tuesday, Ndorwa East MP Wilfred Niwagaba said: "But the reasons being given by the president are worrying and disturbing because they don't portray the principle of reconciliation. He should disqualify himself as a mediator ... he is also putting at risk the lives of Ugandans in South Sudan."

MPs back Museveni:

However, MPs Tonny Ayoo (Kwania) Dr Kenneth Omona (Kaberamaido) and Peter Ogwang (Eastern Youth MP) have come to Museveni's defence. At a press conference yesterday, they said in making the war threat, the president was communicating the regional leaders', IGAD's, position.

"Those accusations against President Museveni that he declared war against Machar are lies because he was communicating the position by IGAD," said Dr Omona, at a press conference at Parliament yesterday.

"It was not Museveni who warned Machar and his rebel group in South Sudan but he was a messenger of IGAD. Why should people ignore the actor and attack the messenger?" he asked.

On claims that Museveni deployed troops in South Sudan without Parliamentary approval, they said the MPs' nod of approval would have come a little too late yet there was an

emergency in South Sudan which needed the "agent intervention of UPDF to evacuate Ugandans trapped in South Sudan."

However, South Sudanese President Salva Kiir on Wednesday declared a state of emergency in two of the country's states, ordering the national army (SPLA) to fight dissident rebels.

Emergency:

The South Sudanese government said in a short statement released via Twitter on Wednesday that a state of emergency had been declared in Unity and Jonglei states.

"President Salva [Kiir] has declared the state of emergency in Unity and Jonglei", the tweet read.

The president, under the country's transitional constitution, has powers to declare a state of emergency in consultation with the national legislative assembly and appoint a caretaker government in the affected area under the leadership of a military officer. It remains unclear what necessitated the president's impromptu decision, which could partly be linked to the presence of dissident rebels fighting government forces in the two strategic areas.

The president's new directive comes as ceasefire talks between South Sudan rebels and government get underway in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa under the auspices of the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) leaders. Observers and independent analysts, however, wonder whether more troops on the ground would make any difference to the already worrying situation as the military continues losing battles in some key towns.

Kiir also formed a crisis management committee, headed by vice president James Wani Igga, urging politicians in the affected areas to cooperate with the armed forces and other security organs.

This is the first time the president has officially declared a state of emergency in the country, weeks after a curfew was imposed in the capital Juba following violent clashes that erupted mid-December between members of the presidential guards.

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Gwokto La'Kitgum

"Even a small dog can piss on a tall Building", Jim Hightower