Uganda: March 2, 2003

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Ugandan rebel leader Joseph Kony declared another cease-fire starting at midnight on March 1 and the government was initially optimistic that the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) would keep its promise. However, in Africa the term "Ceasefire" is often mistranslated as the command "reload" by both sides and operations against the rebels will continue until President Museveni orders his troops to stop fighting. While northern Ugandan remains quiet, on March 2 the LRA ambushed a civilian pick-up truck in Gulu.

The new burst at diplomacy is probably an attempt to shield one of the major LRA units while it is rearming. The LRA's second in command, 'Brigadier' Vincent Otti, crossed into Southern Sudan with between 200 and 300 fighters and civilian captives on February 24, after Kony ordered him to get the weapons they could have hidden or newly-acquired from an unidentified sources. Some of the recent Ugandan army "nickel and dime" victories have yielded Sudan army uniforms amongst the captured weapons and supplies. - Adam Geibel