Govts of Uganda, Sudan and DR Congo today launch joint offensive against Uganda LRA rebels in DRC, Uganda says

Today, the governments of Uganda, the Democratic Republic of Congo and South Sudan launched a joint military offensive against the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) bases in Garamba, eastern Congo, an army spokesman said.

Let's hope this news is of a genuine effort to eradicate the LRA who have been on the rampage for more than 20 years, committing unspeakable crimes and atrocities that are far worse than anything that has happened in Darfur, W. Sudan.

Further details are here below in a report just in from the BBC and in a Factbox from Reuters giving some details about leader Joseph Kony and his LRA rebels, along with a profile by the Telegraph's David Blair and a recent photo of Kony who is estimated to have abducted more than 20,000 children to fight as footsoldiers in the LRA.

Also, here below is a blog post and extract from an article on the LRA by freelance journalist Rob Crilly. The whole 2000 word article is up for sale. Rob does not mention a price but in the comments at his post at From The Frontline blog he says that he is open to offers. If anyone reading this is able to sponsor Rob's article for publication here at Congo Watch (and its sister sites Sudan Watch and Uganda Watch) please email me. I have spent over four years raising awareness of the LRA and would appreciate Rob's article being published asap in the hope of it being helpful to the poor forgotten people of Northern Uganda. No doubt Rob's article is very good. It needs to be shared as widely as possible. Here are just a few of the reasons why, in pictures:

See Sudan Watch, February 06, 2006: One of the world's most wanted men: Ugandan LRA terrorist group chief Joseph Kony flees Southern Sudan into DR Congo - UN calls NGOs into Kony hunt



Photo: Gulu victim. The LRA use torture to instil fear. Uganda's rebel Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) has become synonymous with torture, abductions and killings. (BBC photo) from Sudan Watch archives.



Photo: Two young boy's get treated for severe burn wounds in the Lira hospital in northern Uganda, Feb 23, 2004, after a massacre believed to be committed by the Lord's Resistance Army rebel group in the Barlonyo camp 26 kilometers north of the town that killed at least 200 people. (AP Photo/Karel Prinsloo) from Sudan Watch archives.



Photo: Ochola John was deformed by rebels from Joseph Kony's Lord's Resistance Army (BBC) Read the victim's heartbreaking testimony: June 30 2006 Sudan Watch and Uganda Watch - LRA victim: 'I cannot forget and forgive'

ARMIES 'ATTACK UGANDA REBELS'
From the BBC Sunday, 14 December 2008 7:36 PM GMT:

Three African armies have launched a joint offensive against Ugandan rebels based in eastern DR Congo, military officials say in Uganda.

Uganda, DR Congo and the government of South Sudan reportedly moved against the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) in the Garamba region of DR Congo.

LRA leader Joseph Kony, wanted by the International Criminal Court, has recently stalled on a peace deal.

The LRA has led a rebellion for more than 20 years in northern Uganda.

The fighting has displaced some two million people.

Uganda's government has been involved in lengthy peace negotiations with the LRA, but the rebels' leader has demanded that arrest warrants for him and his associates are dropped before any agreement can be struck.

A statement announcing the operation was released in the Ugandan capiital Kampala by the intelligence chiefs of all three armed forces.

The statement said the attack targeted the "terrorists" at their bases in the forested area of Garamba, in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo, AFP news agency said.

"The three armed forces successfully attacked the main body and destroyed the main camp of Kony, code-named camp Swahili, setting it on fire," the statement said.

- - -

FOR SALE: LORD'S RESISTANCE ARMY FEATURE
December 10, 2008 blog post by Rob Crilly:

Earlier this year photographer Kate Holt and I chartered a plane to fly from Dungu, in the Democratic Republic of Congo, to the tiny village of Doruma which was recovering from repeated attacks by the Lord’s Resistance Army. We found people living in fear of the next assault, as LRA raiding parties roamed the jungle looking for sex slaves, porters and fighters.

We uncovered evidence that Joseph Kony was cynically using a halt in hostilities - called to allow peace talks - in order to rearm, recruit and reorganise. With food distributed by aid agencies and satphones delivered by the Ugandan diaspora, his fighting force was more efficient that ever. And one his key aides, a recent defector, told us that Kony would never sign up to peace.

FOR eight days Raymond Kpiolebeyo was marched at gunpoint through the steaming Congolese jungle, not knowing whether he would live or die. For six nights he slept with eight other prisoners pinned under a plastic sheet weighted down with bags and stones to prevent escape. Their sweat condensed on the sheeting inches above their faces before dripping back and turning their plastic prison into a stinking, choking sauna.

He was a prisoner of the Lord’s Resistance Army, a cult-like band of brutal commanders and their brutalised child soldiers.

“They told us that if one of use tried to escape we would all be shot,” said Raymond, a 28-year-old teacher from the town of Doruma, close to the border with South Sudan.

In the end the story was commissioned but never ran. So, I am offering a 2000wd feature, an unparalleled insight into the bizarre world of Joseph Kony, for sale. Please contact me by the using the comments section below…



Photo: Two young children stand outside their hut in the moonlight in Dungu, in North Eastern DR Congo, on 19 June, 2008. (Photo by Kate Holt kateholt.com)

Note, although Rob does not mention a price, in the comments at his blog post, he says he is open to offers. I would be most grateful for any ideas or suggestions that would help the article get published. If anyone reading this is able to sponsor the article (or knows someone who can) for publication here at Congo Watch, Uganda Watch and Sudan Watch, please email me. The plight of the poor people of Northern Uganda and LRA victims must not be forgotten. Please help in any way possible. Thank you.
- - -

WHO ARE UGANDA'S LRA REBELS?
December 14, 2008 factbox from Reuters:

WHAT HAS HAPPENED:

Thousands of people have been killed and 2 million displaced during the 22 years of fighting between Kony's rebels and the Ugandan government. The conflict has destabilised parts of oil-producing south Sudan and mineral-rich eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.

Last October LRA fighters carried out a series of raids near Congo's porous northern border with Sudan, looting homes and burning buildings in a pattern similar to months of violence. LRA fighters killed at least 52 people, and abducted another 159 children and 10 adults during attacks in northern Congo in September, that country's U.N. peacekeeping mission, MONUC, said.

A landmark truce was signed in August 2006 and was later renewed. But talks brokered by south Sudan collapsed last April after Kony failed to sign the pact as planned.

Mediators gave Kony until the end of November to give his final approval to the peace deal. However, he again failed to appear to sign a final peace deal and told traditional elders at the end of last month he would still not sign a final peace deal until an international arrest warrant for him is scrapped.

Kony is wanted by the International Criminal Court in The Hague for his role in a conflict that has destabilised a swathe of central Africa.

THE LRA AND A HUMANITARIAN CRISIS:

Self-proclaimed mystic Kony began one of a series of initially popular uprisings in northern Uganda after President Yoweri Museveni seized power in 1986. But his tactics of kidnapping recruits and killing civilians alienated supporters.

The LRA was infamous for abducting children for use as soldiers, porters and "wives". Although there are no universally accepted figures, the children are believed to number many thousands. Some are freed after days, others never escape.

Kony's force was once backed by Khartoum as a proxy militia, although Sudan said it cut all ties with it. Kony quit his hideouts in south Sudan in 2005 for the Democratic Republic of Congo's remote Garamba forest.

Many northerners reviled the LRA for its atrocities, but also blamed Museveni for setting up camps for at least 2 million people as part of his counter-insurgency strategy, fuelling one of the world's worst humanitarian crises.

WHAT DOES KONY WANT?

Kony has said he wants to rule Uganda by the Biblical Ten Commandments, but at peace talks his group also articulated a range of northern grievances, including the theft of cattle by Museveni's troops and demands for more political power.

- - -

PROFILE: Joseph Kony, leader of the Lord's Resistance Army

By David Blair
The Daily Telegraph
November 29, 2008

When Joseph Kony's minions began peace talks with Uganda's government in 2005, their first task was to think of some coherent aims on behalf of their psychotic leader.



Photo: Joseph Kony is estimated to have abducted more than 20,000 children to fight as footsoldiers in the Lord's Resistance Army (Reuters photo)

Kony, who is about 47 and holds the distinction of being the first man ever to be indicted by the International Criminal Court, has waged war with no purpose since 1988.

He began his campaign in Northern Uganda, posing as a messianic figure who communed with holy spirits. The nearest Kony ever came to a political goal was a pledge to rule Uganda according to the Ten Commandments.

At the beginning, he won some followers largely because President Yoweri Museveni had ignored Northern Uganda and excluded Kony's Acholi people from power.

By 1992, Kony had staked his claim to be fighting in the name of the Lord by naming his movement the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA). But his rebellion amounted to a vicious cult, not a classic insurgency, and had no purpose save rebellion itself.

Consequently, no-one would volunteer to fight for Kony's non-existent cause, leaving him with little choice but to abduct children and force them to become his footsoldiers. How many innocents have suffered this fate is unknown – but the official estimate of 20,000 is almost a decade out of date. The real total may be two or three times higher.

The peace talks with Uganda's government have yielded a draft agreement, which Kony's representatives insist he will sign.

But a paper deal may not abate his murderous campaign.

Kony has been driven from Uganda, where no LRA attacks have occurred for almost three years. Instead, Congo's defenceless people are now his chosen victims.

Even if Kony makes peace with Uganda, his onslaught in Congo may continue.

Africa's children will only be safe when this mystical psychopath meets his well-deserved end.

- - -

MAP OF SUDAN SHOWING JANUARY 1, 1956 LINE OF DEMARCATION

This is an interesting map. Click here for a larger view.



Source: US Government
U.S. Policy Toward Sudan
Robert B. Zoellick, Deputy Secretary of State
Testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee
Washington, DC
September 28, 2005

[Cross posted today at Sudan Watch and Uganda Watch]

UPDATE SUNDAY 14 DECEMBER 2008

December 14, 2008 Voice of America News report - excerpt:

A joint statement, signed by the three governments' chiefs of military intelligence, say the forces destroyed the main camp of LRA leader Joseph Kony and set it on fire. There was no immediate word on Kony's fate but the statement said the operation was still in progress.

Full story: AFRICAN NEIGHBORS ATTACK UGANDAN REBELS.

SNAPSHOT - GOOGLE'S NEWSREEL SUNDAY EVENING GMT 14 DECEMBER 2008

Regional forces launch offensive against Uganda's rebel group
Xinhua, China - 28 minutes ago
KAMPALA, Dec. 14 (Xinhua) -- Military forces from Uganda, southern Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) launched an attack on Sunday morning on ...

UPDF attacks Kony
Daily Monitor, Uganda - 1 hour ago
The UPDF yesterday attacked the Lord’s Resistance Army rebels, ending a 29-month ceasefire and signalling the complete failure of peace talks meant to end ...

UPDF planes attack Kony's Congo base
New Vision, Uganda - 1 hour ago
By Henry Mukasa UGANDA, South Sudan and DR Congo yesterday morning jointly attacked Joseph Kony’s rebels hiding in Garamaba forest. ...

Congo war hurts cross-border trade
New Vision, Uganda - 1 hour ago
By Samuel Balagadde THE political turmoil in DR Congo is frustrating cross-boarder trade between the with Uganda, a top businessman complained over the ...

Ministers want sanctions on LRA leader
New Vision, Uganda - 1 hour ago
By George Kalisa THE Foreign ministers of the member states of the Tripartite Plus Joint Commission have called on the UN Security council to impose travel ...

LRA base 'attacked' in Uganda
Aljazeera.net, Qatar - 3 hours ago
Troops from Uganda, the Democratic Republic of Congo and southern Sudan have attacked the bases of Uganda's Lord's
Resistance Army (LRA) in eastern Congo, ...

Joint operation against Ugandan rebels begins
Radio Netherlands, Netherlands - 3 hours ago
Military forces from Uganda, the Democratic Republic of Congo and southern Sudan have begun a joint operation against Uganda's Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), ...

Ugandan rebels face joint offensive in DRCongo
ABC Online, Australia - 3 hours ago
By Africa correspondent Andrew Geoghegan Three central African countries have launched a joint offensive against Ugandan rebels in the Democratic Republic ...

African neighbours in joint raid on Ugandan rebels
AFP - 4 hours ago
KAMPALA (AFP) — Forces from Uganda, the Democratic Republic of Congo and southern Sudan launched a joint military operation Sunday against Uganda's rebel ...

Governments launch military offensive on Uganda rebels
Reuters UK, UK - 4 hours ago
By Jack Kimball KAMPALA, Dec 14 (Reuters) - Uganda, the Democratic Republic of Congo and south Sudan launched a joint military offensive on Sunday against ...

Armies 'attack Uganda rebels'
BBC News, UK - 5 hours ago
Three African armies have launched a joint offensive against Ugandan rebels based in eastern DR Congo, military officials say in Uganda. ...

FACTBOX-Who are Uganda's LRA rebels?
Reuters AlertNet, UK - 5 hours ago
Dec 14 (Reuters) - The governments of Uganda, the Democratic Republic of Congo and South Sudan on Sunday launched a joint military offensive against the ...

African Neighbors Attack Ugandan Rebels
Voice of America - 1 hour ago
By VOA News Three central African governments say their armies have launched a joint offensive against Uganda's rebel Lord's Resistance Army. ...

Nations launch offensive against Uganda LRA rebels
Reuters South Africa, South Africa - 2 hours ago
By Jack Kimball KAMPALA (Reuters) - Uganda, Democratic Republic of Congo and southern Sudan launched a joint military offensive on Sunday against Ugandan ...

African Armies Conduct Joint Offensive Against Ugandan
TransWorldNews (press release), GA - 2 hours ago
Armies from Uganda, Democratic Republic of Congo and South Sudan have reportedly engaged in a joint offensive against Ugandan rebels based in the eastern DR ...

LRA's Kony to sign peace deal in Ri-Kwangba, South Sudan Nov. 29 says chief mediator Riek Machar

Kony signs peace on Saturday
November 26, 2008 (New Vision) report by Henry Mukasa:

Photo: LRA leader Joseph Kony

LRA leader Joseph Kony is expected to sign the final peace deal on Saturday to end his two-decade long rebellion which ravaged the north, said the chief mediator, Dr. Riek Machar.

Addressing journalists in Juba yesterday, Machar said: “(Kony) said he will sign. Indications are that he will.”

Machar is also the vice president of South Sudan. “There will be signing on 29th [November],” the United Nations special envoy to LRA affected areas, Joachim Chissano, told the BBC.

Chissano, however, left room for disappointment considering that Kony has failed the peace talks many times in the past.

“I don’t have reasons to doubt that he will show up. I’m more confident than a few weeks ago,” the former Mozambique president said.

Chief Government negotiator Dr. Ruhakana Rugunda yesterday chaired an impromptu meeting with his team over the development.

Spokesperson Capt. Chris Magezi said after the meeting that the mediators had been informed of the “consistent signals” Kony has been sending.

“We are willing to go and participate in that function in Ri-Kwangba (South Sudan),” Magezi said. “We hope Kony is not fooling again as he has done in the past.”

He also hoped that Kony would also meet his obligations after the signing. The Rugunda team, he said, would fly to the signing venue on Friday only if Machar and Chissano, who travelled to Ri-Kwangba today, confirmed the elusive rebel leader had arrived.

If he signs, it will mark a climax of the long-drawn negotiations. Kony disappointed mediators and diplomats when he failed to show up for the signing ceremony on April 14 at Nabanga.

He said he would only sign if the world court withdrew charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity against him.

He also wanted to understand how the traditional justice system and the special court which is to try war criminals would work.

However, foreign minister Sam Kutesa said Kony must first sign the peace before his indictment by The Hague is addressed.

Kutesa said Kony was the only serious obstacle to a final peace agreement.

“Our people are ready to sign any time, but Kony is the one who has been eluding us,” he told the BBC.

After a flurry of diplomatic missions to his hideout by Chissano, and a consultative meeting in Munyonyo last week, Kony seems to have been persuade to ink the deal.

Kony and his fighters had moved deep into the DR Congo, where they loot and abduct youth in “preparation for war.”

However, mediators gave Kony up to the end of November to sign the pact. The LRA leader had often called meetings with negotiators and elders from the north but failed to show up.

Cross posted to Sudan Watch and Uganda Watch

ICC judges to review LRA cases in light of deal between Kampala and LRA - Ugandan army and LRA guilty of crimes against humanity says AI & UHRC

Oyeee! At long last, the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) and Uganda's army (UPDF) are coming under the world's spotlight.

Give up and get down to doing an honest day's work all you cretinous lazy bum terrorists. We're watching you drugged up lowlife cowards getting your jollies from raping and killing women and children.

After seven long years, the West's war on terrorists and war criminals is starting to come to fruition. We'll get you. Plenty of room is now in place to accommodate war criminals at the International Criminal Court in The Hague.

We use thermal imaging and satellites to track and watch you hiding under bushes. There's no hiding place for you on Earth. Big Brother knows where you are and what you are doing day and night.

Reports released on Monday by UK-based Amnesty International and Uganda Human Rights Activists (UHRC) find the LRA and UPDF guilty of crimes against humanity.

Uganda army guilty of crimes against humanity - AI, UHRC reports
November 17, 2008 PANA report from Kampala, Uganda via Afriquenligne:

As embattled Ugandan government accuses the vicious rebel force of the Lords Resistance Army (LRA) of committing all sorts of atrocities on hapless civilians in the war-wrecked northern region, human rights groups have found its army guilty of committing similar crimes against humanity.

In separate "stinging" reports obtained Monday, both Amnesty International (AI) and Uganda Human Rights Activists (UHRC) accused the Uganda People Defence Forces (UPDF) of turning their guns against civilians during their counter-insurgency operations against LRA and disarmament operations in the country's north-eastern sub-region.

AI, a UK-based human rights group, in a report based on a five-month study in no rthern Uganda districts of Gulu, Amuru, Kitgum, Pader and Lira, found widespread sexual and physical abuses perpetrated by both the government soldiers and rebels, leaving their victims traumatised.

"Hundreds are left impaired, unable to fend for themselves any more, yet discriminated by relatives and state authorities," Dr. Godfrey Odongo, AI researcher for East Africa and lead author of the report, stated.

"Many years on, victims and survivors of human rights violations still bear the scars of these violations (and) little has been done to ensure that they access effective reparations to address their continued suffering and help them to rebuild their lives.

"There was general impunity for soldiers who committed Human Rights violations a gainst civilians."

Dr. Odongo, who described the stinging reports as forward looking, said they focused on reparations rather than what happened or the violations suffered, citing a host of victims giving harrowing testimonies of the suffering they are undergong, caused by UPDF.

Geoffrey Okumu, a war victim, was quoted in the report as saying, in May 1990, government soldiers stormed their neighborhood, arrested and killed his father an d brother on allegations of being LRA rebel collaborators and possessing illegal guns.

"My father and brother denied the accusations but the soldiers took them away. Not very far from where I remained, I heard gunshots and later realised they had been killed. We had lost a bread winner (so) I dropped out of school to fend for my siblings," AI quoted Okumu as testifying.

In Amuru district, the reports quoted Rose Apio as saying that she watched four of her relatives die after being shot by government soldiers and is now struggling to raise four orphans left by her eldest brother killed in the bizarre shooting.

Martin Abit, 38, a resident of Pader District told AI that UPDF soldiers arrested his elder brother, a non-combatant, during a counter-attack on LRA and he was later killed together with "several other people".

"The UPDF battalion (in the area) took his body with them and promised to give the body to the family for burial but to this day, the body has never been returned to our family for burial," the reports quoted Abit as alleging.

"It is not clear if the government army took the corpse away to destroy evidence that would otherwise incriminate them in committing murder or for ritual purposes, a common practice in some parts of the country.

"Survivors need medical attention, counseling and psychological support. Formerly abducted children need access to education," the UK-based rights group asserted.

"Families need compensation for the deaths and injuries that occurred, restitution for their destroyed land and property, an apology for the violations and proper reburials for their loved ones.

"The government needs to start acting on these needs now," the report added in conclusion.

As usual, Army and Ministry of Defence Spokesman, Major Paddy Ankuda, poured scorn on the reports, saying AI cannot be taken seriously because people who should have given the side of the UPDF account were available but were never contacted.

"If there is any incriminating evidence that our soldier kills anyone, there is no shortcut; they face the law," Ankuda said on telephone Monday afternoon.

"The fresh allegations of human rights abuses by the UPDF chronicled by AI are "outrageous and indefensible," Ankuda shot back.

Since the United Nations sponsored International Criminal Court (ICC) issued warrants of arrest for LRA leadership to answer multiple charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity, courtesy of Uganda government, there has been voices saying Uganda army too should face trial in the Hauge.

The indictment remains a sticking issue in the country's peace process brokered by Southern Sudan Vice President Dr. Reick Macar, with LRA leader Joseph Kony refusing to sign the final peace pact if not withdrawn.

Uganda Human Rights Activists (UHRA), in a separate report, stated that soldiers deployed in the disarmament programme code-named 'Operation Restore Hope' in July this year, are torturing and extorting money from residents in Teso and Karamoja sub-regions.

According to the report, Mr. John Ogwang, a resident of Kokong Parish, Kapir Sub-county, in Kumi District, died after he was reportedly tortured by soldiers in an attempt to get a gun from him.

"The late Ogwang was arrested 2 September by soldiers under the command of Major Alfred Obore Opio, from his village.

"They tied his arms behind the back before taking him to Kapir military barracks while being tortured to reveal where he kept a gun.

"By the time they reached (the barracks), Ogwang's body was swollen from head totoes. At the military detach, he was starved for two days till he collapsed," UHRC cited one, out of host of cases in its report.

"Although the operation has good intentions of getting rid of illegal guns in Teso, the officers have abused their authority and should be brought to book," the report, signed by UHRA Coordinator, Valentine Moses Oleico, suggested.

The 3rd Division spokesperson, Captain Henry Obbo, was quoted to have confirmed Ogwang's death, saying "he died while in transit from Kapir military detachment to Soroti police" base.

Captain Obbo also dismissed reports that Ogwang was starved to death while in their harsh custody.

I say, about time too! Too little attention has been paid to the atrocities committed by the LRA in Uganda, South Sudan, CAR and recently in the DR of Congo where they are hiding out in the jungle. No doubt special forces are on their trail.

Since the LRA have been on the rampage all over the place, why not in Chad, Darfur, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Somalia, I ask myself. Why have they been allowed to be on the rampage for 20 years? Who is behind this psycho terrorist group?

After 4.5 years of bloging news on the LRA, the conclusion I have reached is that they are off their heads, as high as kites on mind altering substances, and are worse than Al-Qaeda. More later.

See Uganda Watch, Thursday, November 20, 2008 - ICC judges to review LRA cases in light of deal between Kampala and LRA: Rethink comes in light of a deal between Kampala and the LRA providing for domestic war crimes prosecutions.
Source: Institute for War and Peace Reporting (IWPR)
Date: Wednesday, 19 November 2008
By Katy Glassborow in The Hague and Joe Wacha in Gulu, northern Uganda (AR No. 193, 19-Nov-08).

[Cross posted today at Uganda Watch and Sudan Watch]

Ugandan MPs fear DR Congo crisis will divert global focus from LRA terrorists hiding in DRC's Garamba national park

November 16, 2008 APA-Kampala (Uganda):

Members of Parliament from Northern Uganda are expressing concern that the current crisis in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo will divert the international focus from the mediation efforts between Uganda and the rebel Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA).

One of the legislators Mr. Reagan Okumu on Sunday in an interview, underscored the need to continue pressurizing the rebel leader to sign the final comprehensive peace agreement.

The signature will end over two decades of war in northern Uganda that has now spilled to eastern Congo and Sudan.

Okumu feared that the Ugandan rebels now in Garamba national park of DR Congo could take advantage of the current conflict to prolong their presence in their hide out. M/tjm/

See Uganda Watch Sunday, 16 November 2008 re LRA cult.

DR Congo: LRA attacks on city of Dungu 1 & 2 Nov 2008 - Entire population fled says UN's OCHA Situation Report No. 1, 05 Nov 2008

From United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) 05 Nov 2008 (via ReliefWeb)

DR Congo: Dungu, Orientale Province Situation Report No. 1, 05 Nov 2008

- LRA Attacks on the city of Dungu on 1 and 2 November

- Entire population has fled Dungu

- Evacuation of humanitarian actors, difficult access to IDPs

Political and security context

Attacks and exactions

Since 17 September, in the territory of Dungu in Orientale Province, in the northwest of the Democratic Republic of Congo, civilians have been victims of violence perpetrated by armed groups suspected to be Ugandan rebels of Lord's Resistance Army (LRA). Attacks and exactions against the civilian population (killings, lootings, attacks and kidnappings) have targeted several villages including those of Bangadi, Kana, Napopo, Li-Mayi, Nduga, Kpaika, Duru et Dungu. The attacks have caused casualties (at least 20 dead civilians since 19 October) and an increasing number of people were kidnapped by the rebels.

During the last weeks, Dungu town and the localities of Ngilima and Bangadi observed increasing activities of self-defence groups aiming to protect the population from LRA attacks.

Attacks on Dungu on 1 and 2 November

In the night of 31 October 31 to 01 November, around one hundred armed men infiltrated the city centre of Dungu on canoes. The previous day, they had attacked the villages of Nagonyo (20km N of Dungu), Kakalika (13km N of Dungu) and Nakofo (14km N of Dungu), causing the displacement of the population to the city of Dungu. Starting on 4 a.m., the rebels attacked FARDC positions in Dungu. When the rebels withdrew in the late morning hours, they abducted about 50 persons including 30 children, mostly girls. At least one civilian was killed during the fighting. On the afternoon of 2 November, another clash between FARDC and LRA occurred in a northern neighbourhood of Dungu, but the FARDC forces succeeded to have the LRA retreat. On 3 November, 12 hostages kidnapped on 1 November were found 12 km east of Dungu on the road to Faradje.

Departure of humanitarian actors

Following the first attack on Dungu, the staff of international NGOs left the town, either by land or by air. Four UN staff were evacuated by MONUC and brought to the MONUC base in Dungu. As of today, the humanitarian actors are not able to return to Dungu due to the prevailing insecurity.

Access and humanitarian space

Apart from the current inaccessibility of Dungu, humanitarian access in Dungu territory is already considerably restricted by other factors :

- Lack of security on the road Dungu-Duru-Bitima makes it inaccessible for humanitarians, as well as the delivering of assistance by land from South Sudan and/or Uganda via Yambio (South Sudan)-Bitima (DRC).

- Insecurity on the road Dungu-Ngilima-Bangadi impedes humanitarians to assess the situation in Ngilima and Bangadi, prior to any assistance.

- Moreover, the poor state of roads prevents humanitarians to move south of Dungu. In the rainy season, only bicycles and motorbikes can use the road to the southern localities.

Population movements

- The exactions perpetrated in different villages have caused massive population displacements. A vast area of 10 000 sq km, from the western edge of Garamba National Park in the western boundary of Mbomu (200 km) and the border with Sudan on the axis Dungu-Ngilima-Bangadi (50 km) has been depopulated.

- Before the attack on Dungu, estimates indicated 25 826 IDPs (5 166 households), without taking into account several thousands of IDPs who had arrived in Dungu from further north on October 31.

- Tens of thousands people were forced to flee their villages and to take refuge, in the south of the territory and the localities of Ngilima (45km NW of Dungu) and Bangadi (125km NW of Dungu), in Niangara territory, and in South Sudan (5 000, according to UNHCR).

- The attack on Dungu has caused the displacement of the entire population of the city (± 57 000), plus 6 000 IDPs, identified by Solidartiés/RRM, and about 5 000 IDPs who had just arrived from the northern axis. This population now is mainly concentrated in an area between 10 and 35 km south of Dungu, waiting for further developments. First timid returns have been indicated since 3 November.

Needs to meet and humanitarian response

Prior to the attack on Dungu, most IDPs in Dungu had found refuge in host families which had difficulties in providing enough food. Food supplies in Dungu were getting short since the main supply road to Bangadi is in a very bad shape and has become unsafe.

A humanitarian NGO has undertaken a multisectorial assessment in the city of Dungu in order to assess the situation of IPDs and their needs, based on vulnerability criteria in different sectors (shelter, NFI, watsan, emergency education, health, food security).

Following this evaluation, the humanitarian organizations (many NGOs and UN agencies) started to prepare activities (MSF-Swiss, SOLIDARITES, MEDAIR, WFP, LWF, CARITAS). At the time of the attack on the city, they were only awaiting the delivery of assistance to Dungu to start their operations. MSF-Swiss and MEDAIR had already transported medical equipment to Dungu.

Ongoing activities:

- Health: INGO MEDAIR-Isiro distributed medical supplies to eight health centers in Dungu territory. INGO LWF prepared the construction of 300 family latrines for the health zones in Dungu and Doruma.

- Health: MSF-Swiss received a humanitarian cargo for IDPs in Bangadi, Ngilima and surroundings (medicines, cold chain equipment for vaccination, equipments for a mobile clinic and water supply, NFI). However, parts of the population have already moved towards Niangara which is inaccessible by road since recent LRA attacks around Bangadi.

- Protection: UNICEF has set up four clusters: NFI and Watsan with Caritas as focal point, Education with APEC as focal point, assisted by AIDER, and Child Protection with CDJP as focal point. MEDAIR acts as Health focal point. In October, UNHCR organised trainings, in collaboration with UNICEF and OCHA, to sensitize 500 FARDC officers on Humanitarian principles, International Humanitarian Law, child protection and the new law on sexual violence.

For more information: http://www.rdc-humanitaire.net

Contacts:

- Jean-Charles Dupin, Chef de Bureau OCHA à Bunia, dupin@un.org, Tél. : +243 819 820 364

- Noel Tsekouras, Desk Officer OCHA New York, tsekouras@un.org, Tél.: + 1 917 367 93 67

- Christophe Illemassene, Public Information Manager, illemassene@un.org, Tél.: +243 819 889 195

- Ivo Brandau, Chargé d'information OCHA-RDC, brandau@un.org, Tél. : + 243 815 142 956

Attacks by Ugandan LRA terrorists in DR Congo calls for stronger UN troop presence - SUDAN: LRA terrorists put DRC civilians to flight

November 14, 2008 (VOA) Washington, DC, report by Howard Lesser - Attacks by Ugandan Rebels in DRC Draw Calls for Stronger UN Troop Presence:

Four human rights groups are urging the UN Security Council to dispatch additional peacekeepers to the Democratic Republic of Congo’s Orientale province to help the Congolese army contain attacks by Ugandan rebels. Human Rights Watch, Resolve Uganda, the Justice and Peace Commission of Congo’s Dungu/Doruma, and the Enough Project are also asking Britain, the United States, and countries near the DRC to pursue an arrest strategy against Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) rebel leader General Joseph Kony and his followers, who are wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for war crimes.

In Washington, the Enough Project’s Africa Advocacy Director Colin Thomas-Jensen said the attacks have escalated in the past two months and are straining the mandate of a 17-thousand troop UN peacekeeping force, known by its acronym MONUC, which has been trying to curb tensions in Congo’s neighboring North Kivu Province.

“The patterns that we’re seeing, the hit-and-run attacks on large towns that have military bases, like the town of Dungu, we think it’s part of a broader plan by the Lord’s Resistance Army to increase their ranks, to bolster their military capacity for ultimately what could be another round of conflict in region,” observed Thomas-Jensen.

Throughout the Juba peace process between Ugandan rebels and the Kampala government which took place in southern Sudan, LRA negotiators have offered and then declined to sign a final agreement to end more than 20 years of insurgency in northern Uganda. The Enough Project’s Thomas-Jensen says that this week’s most current hints that General Kony will go ahead and sign the accord might counteract the peace process and complicate the insurgency even more.

“It could actually lead to a very complicated situation, one in which Kony might actually sign a deal but then not come out of the bush. And then what do you have? You have a signed peace deal, but the rebellion remains ensconced in a national park across the border. And what does that do for any sort of military options that might be on the table? What does it do for demobilization because he signed a peace deal, but they’re still in the bush? So I think what we’re likely going to see at the end of the month is a continuation of the status quo. I don’t think we’re going to see much of a change. But if he does sign, it does alter the situation and make it somewhat more complicated,” he noted.

Thomas-Jensen says there are multiple reasons why the human rights organizations are pushing for Washington, London and Congo’s neighbors to step up the pressure to prosecute the rebels.

“First and foremost, the threat that the LRA poses to civilians, this is one of the most bitter insurgencies of all time in terms of its ability to cause terror and displace civilians at one-point-seven million Ugandans displaced by just a couple of thousand LRA fighters. Also, I think you have to put the issue of the LRA in the context of our never-ending quest for international justice. Joseph Kony is an indicted war criminal, indicted by the International Criminal Court along with four of his cohorts, two of which are now deceased. And the fact that these warrants were issued but there was no plan by the international community to execute the warrants I think speaks volumes about the gap between the rhetoric on international justice and the action,” he said.

Following Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon’s return to New York from last weekend’s emergency summit on the troubled Great Lakes region in Nairobi, Kenya, discussions intensified at UN headquarters as the Secretary General pressed for a ceasefire in North Kivu province, northwest of Orientale. Alan Doss, the UN chief’s special representative for Congo appealed in early October for reinforcements for MONUC, and security council consideration remains under discussion. In August, 150 current MONUC peacekeepers were dispatched to neighboring Orientale to protect civilians and help Congolese troops contain the LRA. But six DRC army deaths and three rebel fatalities in October have prompted the four human rights organizations to press for additional UN peacekeepers. Thomas-Jensen says it’s a matter for the security council urgently to sort out the priorities.

“The situation we’re seeing right now in the Congo is one that has the potential to spiral out of control pretty dramatically, and one that demands a big response, both diplomatically, but also in the immediate term militarily. I do think that there does need to be an additional deployment of troops in the Kivus. But the risk in neglecting what is a very serious and increasingly violent insurgency by the LRA in Garamba National Park, I think the risk you run in not addressing that is that we’ll have to be three, four, five, six months down the road dealing with yet another massive crisis that we’ve allowed to spill out of control,” he warned.

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SUDAN: LRA rebels put Congo civilians to flight
October 22, 2008 IRIN report (via borglobe.com):

Photo: DRC refugees who fled LRA attacks registering with UNHCR officials in Gangura, Southern Sudan (Peter Martell/IRIN)

YAMBIO, 22 October 2008 (IRIN) - The recent attack on Dungu town in northeastern Democratic Republic of Congo by the Ugandan rebel Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) occurred on a quiet morning, displaced civilians said.

"We were in the fields working, when the warning went out that they were coming with guns," Aneshi Sheroze, a 22-year old farmer, explained.

"We ran back, but they were already killing and burning our houses, and then the Catholic mission."

The northern Ugandan insurgents, now based in remote Congolese jungle hideouts, then dragged away school children, binding their hands tightly together.

"They destroyed our homes and took the children all away," Sheroze said, recounting the attack as he queued to register with the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) in the southern Sudanese town of Yambio.

The attack sent the villagers trekking some 55km through thick jungle to the Sudan border, avoiding roads for fear of running into other rebel units. Sheroze carried his two young children.

Eventually, they sought shelter in the village of Gangura, some 13km inside Sudan.

The attack, the villagers told IRIN, was part of a series of raids launched by the rebel army, and marks a return to its violent trademark attacks and mass abductions following a period of largely relative calm during on-and-off peace talks.

"The LRA have raided us before for food, but this time they were killing, and destroying our grain stores," said Joyce, another Democratic Republic of Congo refugee.

Observers fear the attacks have largely sunk hopes that LRA commander Joseph Kony could sign a long-delayed peace deal hammered out in three years of negotiations.

They've also sparked fears that the rebels are now recruiting for a renewed offensive in what is already one of Africa's longest conflicts.

A preliminary report released by the UN Mission in Congo (MONUC) following a visit to the burnt villages accused the LRA of brutal attacks.

"In all localities that suffered attacks, the LRA elements conducted a campaign of killing, systematic abduction of children, and burning of almost all houses," the report reads.



Photo: The LRA, according to the refugees, destroyed homes and took the children away (Peter Martell/IRIN)

Heavy burden

Some 4,000 refugees have fled to south Sudan according to UNHCR, but many more thousands have been displaced within the DRC. Several hundred are within southern Sudan, where the rebels also raided.

The latest violence, officials in Southern Sudan said, has put a heavy burden on the southern state of Western Equatoria, which is already struggling to reintegrate its own people returning after being displaced in Sudan's civil war. That war ended in a peace deal three years ago.

"We have refugees from the DR Congo, displaced southern Sudanese and Sudanese who have recently returned after the war," said Lexson Wali Amozai, director of the Southern Sudan Refugee and Rehabilitation Commission in Western Equatoria

"We have increased security, but many are very scared, and they need long term humanitarian assistance."

Kony and his top commanders, who head an army accused of massacring and mutilating thousands, are wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) on war crimes charges.

Thousands of people, mainly in northern Uganda, have died in more than two decades of the LRA's insurgency, while nearly two million were forced from their homes at the height of the conflict.

Kony began battling the Ugandan government in 1988 for what he said was the marginalisation of northern Uganda, but his army was later driven first into Southern Sudan, then into DRC.

Now the LRA are believed to operate across the remote border areas far from control in DRC, raiding villages in Sudan as well as the Central African Republic.

The villagers from Dungu said the rebels were clearing a vast area of forest as their military base.

"They told people that these lands belong to them, and that anyone would be killed if they crossed into them," said Gungbale Gengate, a Protestant priest from Napopo village.

Killers

Gengate, whose Bible school was destroyed by rebels and is now sheltering in Yambio, dismissed reports that Kony claims torun his army on the biblical 10 Commandments.

"These people have no religion - they are killers," Gengate said.

But the LRA spokesman David Nyekorach-Matsanga claimed it was another unnamed militia who carried out the attacks.

"There are many rebel and private militias operating in that region, and these attacks were not by the LRA," said Matsanga, who is based in Kenya but claims to have regular contact with the rarely heard-from Kony.

He also rejected allegations from the ICC that the rebels had renewed recruitment, calling the Hague-based court a "pot of lies".

"The institution of (the) ICC alleges that the LRA have recruited 1,000 fighters," he said. "It is now clear that the ICC targets Africans as their specimen to be used in their laboratory in The Hague."

The refugees from Dungu insisted the attacks were by the LRA. "We know them, because they have raided us many times, looting our houses for food," said Joyce.

"This time they were killing people...When they attacked I hid behind my hut because I wanted to get what I could of my belongings, and I saw them clearly."

Many of the refugees say they have been treated well on their arrival in southern Sudan, in a region where many speak the same Zande language.

However, they are fearful of the future, without homes and few job prospects in a region itself chronically under developed and recovering from war.

"They have destroyed our lives," said Joyce. pm/sr