14 07 13 Reuters: Uganda frets over rebel threat as Congo refugees reach 66,000

The Uganda Red Cross
Society said 66,000 Congolese refugees have so far crossed into the east
African country since the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) started attacking the
eastern Democratic Republic of Congo town of Kamangu on Thursday. 

Paddy Ankunda, Uganda's
military spokesman, said the large Congolese influx had negative security
implications in the country's western region should rebels sneak in as
refugees.

"You can't be sure
of the identity of each and every individual refugee and also the increasing
volatility of the security situation right across the border worries us.
Kamangu is only about 10 km
(six miles) from the border," he said.

"No doubt we've
stepped up our security deployments along the border because we certainly can't
pretend that everything is okay, but for now we're only monitoring events
across the border. We haven't sent a single soldier into Congo."

The Ugandan military said
Congo
troops had retaken Kamangu since it was attacked by the ADF, and that there had
been no fighting since Saturday but the situation remained volatile.

Uganda has said the build-up of the ADF, which was active against Kampala in the 1990s, could threaten its Lake
Albert region, where oil reserves estimated at 3.5 billion barrels
have been discovered, with production expected to commence soon.

The military is concerned
that the al Qaeda-linked ADF could have gained guerrilla skills from al
Shabaab, the al Qaeda-linked militant group operating in Somalia, which could be used in Uganda. For
this reason, Ugandan troops are screening the refugees to flush out any
possible ADF militia.

The ADF waged an
insurgency against Kampala in the late 1990s
from its bases in the Ruwenzori Mountains and across the frontier in the eastern Congo jungle.

A government offensive
that ended in 2001 quelled the uprising and pushed its remnants deeper into
eastern Congo.
The group had since kept largely silent since.

Catherine Ntabadde,
spokeswoman for the Uganda Red Cross, said the number of refugees was still
growing.

"They‘re camped at
four primary schools and WFP (the United Nations World Food Program) has
provided some food and (we) have also provided household items," she said.