Foreign Affairs Minister Dr Barnaba Marial

The Minister of foreign affairs has rejected claims that the Ugandan army is meddling into the affairs of South Sudan.

Former Vice President Dr. Riek Machar has accused the Ugandan government of interfering in the conflict of South Sudan –in violation of the Constitution.

However, the Minister of Foreign Affairs told Eye Radio’s Dawn Show that Ugandan forces were acting in conformity with an agreement signed by the two countries.

“The Ugandan forces have been here since 2008 and you know that in 2008 the African Union decided that they needed to form what they called the cooperation task force, the African task force, to resolve the issue of the Lord’s Resistance Army and also to eliminate the LRA,” said Dr Marial.

“So the SPLA plus the UPDF (the Ugandan Army) plus the army of the DRC plus a unit of the American Intelligence are working to locate the position of the LRA.”

Dr. Marial also said that UPDF were specifically brought to Juba to protect important infrastructures such as Juba International Airport and other installations.

“The Government of South Sudan wanted to secure Juba Airport; It needed to be secured because it was strategically important,” he continued.

“Now, the SPLA didn’t have enough forces in order to continue to do this so the Ugandan army was asked by the region, by IGAD, to protect the most important structures in South Sudan which were two things: number one, to protect Juba Airport and to protect the 200-km road from Nimule to Juba.”

He added that Juba-Nimule road is important because it is ‘our economic lifeline’.

Dr. Barnaba Marial also said that South Sudan has the right to cooperate with allies as far as national security is concerned.