Moyo Police is holding four Sudanese nationals for encroaching on land in Abeya village in Lefori Sub County. The suspects were picked up on Saturday by a joint force of UPDF soldiers and police on the orders of John Abingwa, Moyo Resident District Commissioner. Their arrest comes a few days after President Yoweri Museveni and his southern Sudan counterpart Salva Kiir directed that no major activity takes place on the contested land in Lefori Sub County until a lasting solution is reached.
Lt Mark Mutono, West Nile UPDF public relations officer identifies the suspects are 45-year-old Edward Kara, a driver, Simon Cangara, Lufas Loki and Samaya Lodiyo. He says that they also impounded two tractors of registration number CE 243D and CE 524B. Mutono says that they arrested the suspects for defying presidential directives and inciting clashes between two countries.
He says that during interrogations the suspects told police that they were sent to Uganda on April 2, 2012 by Tiisa Agre, the chief advisor on Finance and Economic planning to President Salva Kiir. Mutono says that their efforts to reach Agre to ascertain the claims by the suspects have been futile. Lt. Col. Bernard Tuhame, the 409 UPDF Brigade commander has asked residents in the affected area to remain calm saying President Museveni and Kiir will soon meet to resolve the border dispute.
Tension has remained high in Lefori Sub County since a group of South Sudanese nationals encroached on their land about two years ago. Early last week, six grass thatched houses belonging to Madi’s in Lefori were set ablaze and some farmers caned by armed Sudanese nationals. As a result, residents also tried to block the road leading to Southern Sudan and close shops owned by Sudanese forcing police and the Army to intervened and calm down the situation.
