LRA massacre 189 in DRC's Faradje, Doruma and Gurba U.N. Says

From The New York Times Dec. 29, 2008 by Jeffrey Gettleman:

Fleeing Ugandan Rebels Massacre Nearly 200, U.N. Says - excerpt:

The Lord’s Resistance Army, the fearsome Ugandan rebel group known for its lurid violence and penchant for kidnapping children, massacred nearly 200 people last week, United Nations officials said on Monday.

The rebels were being chased by a multinational military offensive against them, and as they fled, they hacked to death dozens of villagers in their path, according to Ugandan military officials.

The killings may not be over. Most of the rebels escaped the military offensive and have scattered across a vast swath of rugged territory in the northeastern corner of Congo.

“The civilian population is really in danger,” said Ivo Brandau, a United Nations spokesman in Congo. “They are under attack.”

According to United Nations officials, the rebels struck a village called Faradje on Dec. 25, killing 40 people. Over the next two days, the rebels attacked two more villages, Doruma and Gurba, killing another 149 people.

Ugandan military officials have said most of the victims were women and children, who were cut into pieces. A rebel spokesman denied responsibility for the killings, telling Agence France-Presse that the rebels were not in the area.

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From Radio Netherlands December 29, 2008:

200 slaughtered by rebels in DRC at Christmas

A United Nations agency says a Ugandan rebel movement killed nearly 200 people in north-eastern Democratic Republic of Congo during Christmas. The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) says the Lord's Resistance Army killed 189 people over three days in the villages of Faradje, Doruma and Gurba. A spokesman for the rebels has denied the killings.

Earlier reports said that 45 bodies, apparently also killed by the rebels, had been found in a church in Doruma. It is unclear whether those victims were included in the total announced by the OCHA on Monday.

Rikwangba in Southern Sudan remains open as assembly area for LRA rebels

Article from Sudan Tribune December 15, 2008 (JUBA) by James Gatdet Dak:

SOUTH SUDAN VP CONFIRMS ATTACKS ON LRA REBELS

The Government of Southern Sudan’s Vice President and Chief Mediator of the Uganda peace process, Dr. Riek Machar Teny, confirmed on Monday that military offensive against the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) was under way inside DR Congo.



Photo: LRA Joseph Kony is shaking hand with southern Sudan’s vice president Riek Machar. (Reuters).

A regional joint force carried out a surprise attack on LRA positions in eastern DR Congo on Sunday.

Machar said as mediators they were aware of the offensive shortly before it was announced in Kampala by the Ugandan government.

He blamed the LRA leader Joseph Kony for not signing the peace deal.

“We understand the frustration involved because Kony has failed to sign [the final peace agreement] five times,” he explained.

He further explained that Kony failed his arrangement to sign twice, former Mozambican President Joachim Chissano’s once, northern Ugandan leaders’ once and lastly failed to talk to President Museveni on the phone despite Museveni’s offer to dialogue with him directly.

Machar added that his government has closed its borders and would not allow the renewed fighting with the rebels to over spill into Southern Sudan again.

He however said the Government of Southern Sudan has made an important decision that incase Joseph Kony reconsiders to sign, Rikwangba in Southern Sudan remains open as assembly area for the rebels.

He said he considered the military offensive as a pressure on Kony to sign.

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Article from Sudan Tribune by James Gatdet Dak December 20, 2008 (JUBA)

CHIEF MEDIATOR CALLS ON UGANDAN REBELS TO ASSEMBLE TO DE-ESCALATE HOSTILITIES

The Chief Mediator of the Uganda peace process, Government of Southern Sudan’s Vice President, Riek Machar Teny has called on the rebels of the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) to assemble in Ri-Kwangba to “de-escalate” the ongoing hostilities with regional forces.



Photo: Riek Machar

A joint regional force launched offensive against the LRA bases inside north-eastern DR Congo last week and still escalating.

In his 2nd report on the status of the Juba peace process, dated 15th December and of which copy the Sudan Tribune received today, the Chief Mediator stated that it was the Ugandan army that carried out the attacks on LRA on 14th December in Garamba forests, but was to be joined by Congolese forces while the SPLA would deploy along Southern Sudan borders to prevent the LRA from infiltrating into the semi-autonomous region.

He urged the LRA rebels to assemble in Ri-Kwangba area, respect the terms for assembling, sign and implement the peace deal.

The Government of Southern Sudan’s Vice President further stated that the military action was neither intended to destroy the Juba peace agreements nor abrogate the Ugandan government’s commitments towards the peace process.

Machar blamed the LRA leadership for not signing the Final Peace Agreement (KPA), which prompted regional military offensive against the rebels and called on them to assemble.

"I would therefore invite the LRA to signal its readiness to return and assemble in Ri-Kwangba in order to expeditiously conclude the Juba process,” he stated.

Some of the rebels were already reported to have infiltrated into Southern Sudan following the fighting and were accused by government officials of killing two civilians yesterday in Western Equatoria state.

He said the LRA should contact the Mediator who would, through the Cessation of Hostilities Monitoring Team, work with the relevant forces, to arrange for safe passage to Ri-Kwangba at Sudan/DR Congo border.

Machar said the mediators were aware of the concerns raised by the LRA on the ICC which they said were impeding the signature of the FPA, but he stated that these would be addressed within the framework of the peace agreement and "should therefore not delay this process any longer."

"The LRA must act swiftly and in good faith to conclude this chapter of violence so that peace can return to this region," he concluded.

Cross posted today at Sudan Watch and Uganda Watch.

Ugandan army kills 13 rebels in Doroma, DRC ambush

From Bloomberg by Paul Richardson Dec. 29, 2008:

UGANDAN ARMY KILLS 13 REBELS IN CONGO AMBUSH, NEW VISION SAYS

Ugandan security forces killed 13 members of the rebel Lord’s Resistance Army and seized weapons and ammunition in an ambush in neighboring Congo, the New Vision reported, citing Captain Chris Magezi, a military spokesman.

The fighters were killed at Doroma, a town near the intersection of the borders of the Democratic Republic of Congo, Southern Sudan and the Central African Republic, the Kampala- based newspaper said on its Web site yesterday. The Uganda People’s Defense Forces, along with Congo and Southern Sudan’s armies, began an offensive against the LRA on Dec. 14, it said.

Fighters from the renegade group, led by Joseph Kony, have killed 88 civilians in Congo and southern Sudan over the Christmas holidays, the newspaper said. At least 45 bodies were found in a Catholic church 10 kilometers (4 miles) southeast of Doroma after a massacre on Dec. 26, it said. The LRA rebels used machetes, swords and clubs to kill people, including women and children, who had taken refuge in the church, the newspaper said.

To contact the reporter on this story: Paul Richardson in Johannesburg at pmrichardson@bloomberg.net.

Terrorists used machetes, clubs and swords to massacre women and children in church near Doruma, DR Congo

Rebels are suspected over the deaths of 45 civilians in a Catholic church the day after Christmas, the army said today. The report could not be independently confirmed. Uganda's military spokesman, Captain Chris Magezi, said it took place in remote eastern Congo, where the rebels have bases.

Source: The Scotsman 29 December 2008
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From ugpulse.com 28 December 2008

The Uganda People’s Defense Forces has said the recent killing of civilians by Lords Resistance Army rebels fleeing a joint military offensive is regrettable and shows that the LRA were never committed to the peace process.

The UPDF Spokesman, Maj. Paddy Ankunda says LRA rebels have been using the peace talks to reorganize and continue their fighting which victimizes civilians.

He says the reported killing of more than 40 civilians in a village of eastern DRC by the LRA is an indication the rebels don’t mind about a good reputation given that the whole world has been waiting on them to sign the comprehensive peace agreement.

Maj. Ankunda says the LRA are killers whom the regional governments have decided to join forces and rout out.

He says the UPDF and its sister forces of DRC and Southern Sudan are in hot pursuit of the LRA in the Garamba forest and will defeat them.

In an interview today, Ankunda appealed to Ugandans to support the national army and government’s efforts to end the LRA through military means since the LRA have refused to end the conflict through peaceful means.

He says with the support of the DRC government, the UPDF is sure of defeating the LRA who are operating in eastern parts of the vast DRC.

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From Times Online December 29, 2008 by Jenny Booth:
DEATHS IN BOXING DAY MACHETE MASSACRE IN CONGO 'TOP 100'

The death toll in the Boxing Day machete massacre in a church in a remote part of eastern Congo may exceed 100, according to reports.

Captain Chris Magezi, a Ugandan military spokesman, said that survivors and witnesses had described seeing dozens of people, including women and children, being hacked to death, in an atrocity that he blamed on members of the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), a Ugandan rebel group.

“The scene at the church was unbelievable. It was horrendous. On the floor were dead bodies of mostly women and children cut in pieces,” Captain Magezi said.

Witnesses had reported seeing rebels using machetes, clubs and swords, he said.

Captain Magezi put the death toll at 45 civilians, but a European aid worker said that more than 100 people were reported to have been killed in the attack and that the Congolese military put the number of dead at 120 to 150.

The accused Ugandan rebel group, which has waged one of Africa’s longest and most brutal wars, denied responsibility.

David Matsanga, a spokesman, said that the LRA had no fighters in the area and he accused the Ugandan Army of the cross-border killings.

But Abel Longi, a villager who witnessed the attack, said that he recognised the rebels by their dreadlocked hair, their Acholi language and the number of young boys among them.

“I hid in bush near the church and heard people wailing as they were being cut with machetes,” said Mr Longi, a shop owner from the village of Doruma where the attack happened.

The European aid worker, who refused to be named because his organisation fears reprisals, said that a woman who escaped from the church told them there were about 30 killed, but that Congolese military forces said that as many as 150 people had died.

The UN-run Radio Okapi, meanwhile, quoted the governor of Congo’s Oriental Province, Medard Autsai Senga, as saying that the death toll had surpassed 75 and bodies were still being discovered around the church.

He appealed for aid for survivors. The aid worker said that hundreds of people had fled south, deeper into Congo, while the majority of people from Doruma, a village of several thousand people, were taking refuge at Naparka, about 37 miles (60km) to the south.

The rebels appear to be retaliating against civilians for military attacks, including the bombing of their main camp in Garamba National Park on December 14.

The rebel spokesman, David Matsanga, who spoke by telephone from Nairobi, Kenya, blamed Uganda’s 105th Battalion. “They were airlifted to Congo to kill civilians and then say we are responsible,” he charged. “They want to justify their stay in DRC [Congo] and loot minerals from there like they did before.”

Congo suffered back-to-back civil wars from 1996 to 2002 that drew in neighbouring countries in what became a rush to plunder its massive mineral wealth.

The armies of Congo, Uganda and Sudan began an offensive this month to root out the Ugandan rebels, who have been fighting for about 20 years.

Long-running peace talks between the LRA and the Ugandan Government have stalled. Rebel leaders seek guarantees that they will not be arrested under international warrants. The rebels’ elusive leader, Joseph Kony, and other top members are wanted by the International Criminal Court in The Hague for war crimes and crimes against humanity.

UPDF in possession of Kony’s laptop seized from rebels' camp Eskimo

From the Monitor by Grace Matsiko, Kampala December 27, 2008:

Kony kills 35 on Christmas Day

Suspected Lords Resistance Army (LRA) rebels led by fugitive Joseph Kony have massacred 35 civilians in coordinated attacks in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and South Sudan.



Well placed military sources told Saturday Monitor that on Christmas Day the marauding rebels raided Bitima, along the South-Sudan DRC border killing at least 13 civilians. The rebels are also reported to have killed another 12 people in Faraje, a small town about 150km East of Dungu the UPDF operations  base in DR Congo. The two attacks took place on the afternoon and  evening of December 25 respectively.      

The UPDF spokesman for Operation Lightning Thunder, now  being conducted in the vast eastern part of the Congo,  Capt. Chris Magezi said apart from the killings in Faraje and Bitima, suspected rebels ambushed a civilian pick up truck between Lasolo-Mambe road in South Sudan killing all the  three occupants.

“Our forces who are pursuing the rebels found another five bodies of civilians, South west of Sekure, along the DRC-Sudan border ,” Capt. Magezi said by satellite telephone link from DRC. Capt. Magezi said, two more civilians were killed at Doruma, close to the Central African Republic, bringing the total number of people killed by the rebels on Christmas Day to 35.

According to the UN sponsored Radio Okapi in DRC, five children were also abducted by the rebels in Dungu.

“The allied forces condemn these attacks against innocent civilians by the LRA terrorists. It is this reason why Kony failed to sign the peace agreement for over two years and this justifies the action the allied troops have taken against these terrorists,” he added.
 
Uganda, DR Congo and the semi-autonomous South Sudan on December 14, launched a joint military operation codenamed ‘Lightning Thunder’ against the LRA rebels who have been holed up in north-eastern Congo’s Garamba Forests since 2005.

The allied forces have since established their tactical headquarters at Dungu, about 90km from Garamba in eastern DR Congo.

The number of civilians killed by suspected LRA rebels has reached 28 since the military offensive against the rebels was  launched two weeks ago. Sunday Monitor last week reported the rebels killed two civilians in Western Equatoria state of South Sudan.

A senior South Sudan intelligence officer currently in Juba, South Sudan, who declined to be named  because he is not the official spokesperson of the South Sudan government  confirmed the killings and blamed them on the LRA. “We got confirmation from the areas that have been attacked that LRA is responsible and we have deployed against them,” the intelligence officer stated.
 
Capt. Magezi said because of the attacks by the rebels, the allied forces have changed tactics from just pursuing the rebels to maintaining forces on the ground to protect civilians.  “It is a strategy we used in Northern Uganda and it succeeded,” Capt. Magezi said. He said the attacks on civilians will not make the forces back off from their mission to capture Kony and bring him to justice.
 
Saturday Monitor can reveal that on Wednesday the allied forces uncovered a huge consignment of human medicine and tones of food in an LRA camp  ‘Eskimo’, about 5km north of camp Swahili in Garamba. The drugs were supplied by Christian relief agency (Caritas), to facilitate the failed peace talks between the rebels and the government in Juba. The army destroyed the recovered drugs. Military sources further revealed that the UPDF was in possession of Kony’s laptop which was seized in the  rebels’ camp ‘Eskimo’.  The laptop is being examined by the UPDF’s intelligence.

Meanwhile, the body of the pilot of Mig-21  fighter jet, Lt. John Bosco Opio, that crashed in Isiro DR Congo on Wednesday was flown in the country on Thursday and will  be buried  in Kumi today. President Yoweri Museveni has appointed Maj. Gen. Jim Owoyesigire, the Air force commander, to lead a panel of investigators to establish the  cause of the crash. Lt. Opio, 30, is one of Uganda’s army pilots who trained in  Israel to fly combat  jets. Lt. Opio joined the air force in 1998.

Capt. Magezi described the fatal crash as a setback to the ongoing military operations but said, “our spirits remain high in pursuit of the LRA terrorists”.  Capt. Magezi described the late Opio as a resourceful person to the force.

Kony tapped UPDF radio - Museveni

From the Monitor Kampala by Rodney Muhumuza 23 December 2008:

President Yoweri Museveni has said at least four battalions of Ugandan troops are closing in on Joseph Kony in DR Congo’s forested Garamba area, over a week after a joint force bombarded the rebel leader’s camps and forced him to flee.

Mr Museveni, who described the attack as very successful, said the reclusive rebel leader may have escaped because he acquired a gadget that he used to monitor the radio conversations of the pilots manning the helicopter gunships.

“We found that there was a manual of a certain gadget Kony may have used to monitor the radio conversations of the pilots,” Mr Museveni told a press conference in Kampala yesterday. “We captured the manual but we did not capture the gadget itself. The gadget only becomes useful if the pilots do not maintain radio silence.”

Mr Museveni, who regretted that his government spent time negotiating peace with the Lord’s Resistance Army, said the UPDF would seek to block Kony from crossing into the Central African Republic, where his troops have sometimes sneaked to recruit and cause havoc.

“The force on the western side of Garamba has detected a group of 100 fighters trying to go to the Central African Republic,” Mr Museveni said. “We shall get them before they go there.”

Mr Museveni said the operation had been successful despite delays in putting the ground forces into action.

Ugandan commandos entered Garamba last Tuesday, two days after the initial assault.

Although there have been no casualties from the attack, Mr Museveni said yesterday that LRA fighters may have returned to bury their dead. “It was a very successful operation…we attacked Kony’s main camp and devastated it,” Mr Museveni said. “Kony only understands one language--- the language of the gun.”

Kony, indicted by the International Criminal Court in 2005 on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity, in April refused to sign a peace deal negotiated under the mediation of the South Sudan government.

Kony has said he will not sign the peace deal until the ICC withdraws arrest warrants for him and his top lieutenants.

The offensive on Garamba, where Kony had be holed up for nearly three years, was the first direct confrontation between the UPDF and the LRA since a ceasefire agreement was signed in August 2006.
 
“I don’t think that it was ever correct to beg Kony for peace as some groups were doing,” Mr Museveni said. “We had no other option but to act against these criminal acts.”

A section of Acholi elders, reacting to the offensive, said aerial bombardment of the LRA camps was the wrong tactic against a rebel group that still holds many women and children, most of them forcibly recruited.

Mr Museveni said yesterday he had asked the Police to examine whether the recent statements of MPs Reagan Okumu and Livingstone Okello-Okello, who claimed that the allied forces had hit empty camps, were not potentially criminal.

Mr Museveni suggested that the Ugandan contingent would stay in Garamba for an extended period as it tries to capture or kill Kony.
 
“If Kony tried to settle in any other region, he would be exposed to more danger than in Garamba,” he said. “I would like to assure Ugandans that this is the end of Kony as the terrorist of Uganda… As an old fighter, I wouldn’t want to be in Kony’s position. The combined operations are about to decimate him.”

Meanwhile, the LRA yesterday set new demands for talks with the government and called for a ceasefire.

Addressing a press conference in Nairobi, the leader of the LRA peace delegation, Mr David Nyekorach Matsanga, said the LRA will not go back to Juba for the completion of the talks and signing of the Final Peace Agreement (FPA).

He added LRA want a different person other than vice President of South Sudan, Dr Riek Machar, to chair the talks.

If possible, Dr Matsanga said, a UN appointed envoy should take over the process as Dr Machar “has lost credibility to mediate in the conflict.”

He termed Dr Machar as a traitor especially after the Sunday attacks. Mr Matsanga said the UN appointed envoy should report directly to the UN Security Council at every step made.

The rebel group demanded the inclusion of Sant. E-Gideo, an international NGO in Northern Uganda in the peace talks.

DR Congo: Offensive against LRA rebels - Troop movements, patchy reports

Source: Missionary International Service News Agency (MISNA)
Date: 22 Dec 2008 - via ReliefWeb:

Troop movements, a dozen Ugandan cargo planes landed in the past 36 hours in Dungu, a group of 350 Ugandan soldiers moving in the forest indicated by local MISNA sources, local press reports refer of sequester of war material: nine days from the start of the joint military offensive launched by the Democratic Republic of Congo, Uganda and South Sudan against bases of the LRA (Lord's Resistance Army) North Ugandan rebels in the Eastern Province of DR-Congo, reports on what is actually taking place are patchy and independent confirmation lacking.

According to a Ugandan army spokesman, no dead or injured have been found since the bombings of the past days, the rebels are fleeing in the forest of Park Garamba and war material has been sequestered, including documents signed by Joseph Kony, the rebel leader.

No independent sources are however able to confirm and local MISNA sources only indicate significant troop and air movements in a vast and scarcely populated zone.

According to the army spokesman, without food supplies and a base to operate from Kony and his men are at large in the forest; he also confirmed the surrender of two rebels and release of eight people held by the LRA.

The bombing of the LRA bases caused concerns for the hundreds of civilians apparently kidnapped by the LRA.

On the diplomatic front, the LRA chief negotiator in talks with Kampala, David Nyekorach Matsanga, called for an end to hostilities "to give new concrete possibilities" to the signing of an accord.

Matsanga also called for a new UN mediator in place of Riek Machar, as also a change of venue to Tanzania or South Africa.

LRA's Kony spotted heading for Central African Republic

Photo: UPDF soldiers celebrate overrunning Kony’s camp in the Garamba Forest. One of them is wearing the LRA leader’s wig

LRA boss spotted heading for Central African Republic

Sunday Vision report by Barbara Among Saturday 20 Dec 2008:

KONY ON THE RUN

REBEL leader Joseph Kony has once again eluded the military dragnet and is said to be heading to the Central African Republic (CAR).

Intelligence information shows that Kony, who had left his centre of operations at Camp Swahili to go hunting shortly before the attack, never actually came back to his camp and could have just continued on to the CAR.

Last Sunday Kony’s bases were bombarded in an operation codenamed Lightning Thunder, jointly carried out by Uganda, Congo and South Sudan forces after Kony refused to sign the peace agreement that had been painstakingly reached in Juba in April.

According to SPLA sources based in Yambio, Kony is heading into the CAR. It’s a couple of days walk from Garamba to the southeastern CAR.

Along the way small groups of LRA were reported looting food and abducting people. They reportedly looked tired and were not heavily armed, confirming reports that they had abandoned their guns during Sunday’s surprise attack.

“Small bands of LRA looted and abducted people,” sources said.

However, because of the surprise attack and presence of allied forces at Dungu, the LRA rebels are this time heading westwards to an area that is extremely poor and sparsely populated.

This area has little attention from the CAR government.

The LRA’s spokesperson, David Matsanga, denied reports that Kony had crossed into the CAR. “If he has crossed, asked the CAR government to confirm,” he said.

“Slowly the military option will become elusive; like we said before, it wont yield peace."

The LRA have been moving between South Sudan, DR Congo and the Central African Republic via Dungu for the last two years. They were able to access fertile and populated areas of Haut Mbomou Prefecture, southeastern CAR.

Intelligence information from the UN indicates that the rebels previously, while in the CAR, were based in the villages of Obo Bambouti, Gbassigbiri and Ligoua.

The logistics base in Dungu is being used for surveillance and intelligence work by the allied forces, including the UN mission in DR Congo (MONUC). It was also aimed at preventing the LRA from crossing in and out of the CAR.

It is, however, still unclear whether the joint forces would track Kony inside CAR. Sources said a top Ugandan minister visited the country a week before the attack.

The CAR has expressed its willingness to help Uganda flush the LRA out of its territory. Foreign affairs minister Sam Kutesa told journalists on Tuesday at his office that the CAR government had said it was ready to co-operate in the operation.

In his report on the status of the peace talks, chief mediator Riek Machar said that during the December 4 meeting with President Joseph Kabila in Kinshasa and December 8 meeting with President Yoweri Museveni, both expressed disappointment that Kony had not signed the final deal. They also pointed out that he was a threat to the security of the two countries.

It has also emerged that shortly before the attack last Sunday President Museveni called President Kabila and Sudan’s Salva Kiir to inform them that Operation Lightning Thunder was underway.

Operation spokesperson Chris Magezi said without weapons and food the rebels cannot put up a long fight. “We have achieved a lot and this has been a big blow to Kony. We are occupying all of the LRA camp and major food sources; Kony cannot survive on the food he carried away for long.”

He added, “Because of the pursuit, they have continued to drop valuable items such as mattresses and food. We shall get him.”

However, sources intimated to Sunday Vision that the Special Forces had been operating in the area gathering intelligence disguised as locals and hunters for the last two years.

“Through them the army was able to get the rebels’ routine, which were used in the planning and the attack was timed to take place during their parade,” said a source within Uganda’s security, who preferred anonymity, as he is not the official spokesperson.

“Plan B was given two and a half years. Why give the military two days?” asked Col. Walter Ochora.

He added: “The CAR is not on the moon, but in case they cross, we have the support from the French. They are putting an eye on the Central African Republic.”

Speaking to Sunday Vision during a security meeting in Kampala early this year, the MONUC head of regional relations unit, Gani Are, said: “We carried out intelligence work and know the group we are dealing with.”

He estimated that 1,573 Ugandan remnant combatants were holed up in eastern Congo, of which the LRA combatants and their families number around 1,200.

But Uganda security estimated the number of combatants and non-combatants to be 800. During the past two years of no fighting, some LRA reportedly escaped and the rebels’ fighting spirit had reportedly declined.

Operation Lightning Thunder is co-ordinated by the military intelligence chiefs of the three armies and MONUC.

Published on: Saturday, 20th December, 2008

The Bulk of Kony's infrastructure in Garamba was destroyed yesterday - Ugandan air force says joint operation against LRA bases in DR Congo continues

The Ugandan air force started bombing LRA bases in Garamba National Park in northeastern Congo yesterday after rebels last month failed to sign a peace agreement negotiated in 2006, military spokesman Paddy Ankunda said in a phone interview from Uganda’s capital, Kampala, today.

“The joint operations against LRA are still continuing,” Ankunda said. “DRC is coordinating the raid and we don’t know when it will end.”

Source: December 15, 2008 Bloomberg report by Fred Ojambo. Copy:

UGANDAN AIR FORCE SAYS RAIDS ON REBEL BASES IN CONGO CONTINUE

The Ugandan military is carrying out air raids on Lord’s Resistance Army rebels based in the Democratic Republic of Congo with the support of the DRC and South Sudan, an army spokesman said.

The Ugandan air force started bombing LRA bases in Garamba National Park in northeastern Congo yesterday after rebels last month failed to sign a peace agreement negotiated in 2006, military spokesman Paddy Ankunda said in a phone interview from Uganda’s capital, Kampala, today.

The Ugandan army hasn’t determined when to end the operation, coordinated with the Congolese army, and neither has it received details of casualties from the raids, the spokesman said.

“The joint operations against LRA are still continuing,” Ankunda said. “DRC is coordinating the raid and we don’t know when it will end.”

Rebel leader Joseph Kony refused to sign the peace agreement, demanding that the International Criminal Court first withdraw war crimes charges against him.

The Uganda government referred Kony and his commanders to the court, which indicted them in 2005, after they had fled to neighboring Democratic Republic of Congo.

Uganda started negotiations with the rebel movement in July 2006 with the mediation of the South Sudan government in an attempt to end a war which has claimed thousands of lives and displaced more than 1.5 million people.

Kony, who is holed up in the jungles of northeastern Democratic Republic of Congo, didn’t attend the talks in Juba, the capital of South Sudan, for fear of being arrested for crimes against humanity under the ICC warrant.

His rebel movement, which claims to represent the Acholi people, the dominant tribe in northern Uganda, says it wants to the country to be governed according to the Bible’s Ten Commandments.

To contact the reporter on this story: Fred Ojambo in Kampala via Johannesburg at pmrichardson@bloomberg.net.

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LRA SPOKESMAN CALLED GOSS VP RIEK MACHAR TO WARN HIM THAT IF THE REPORTED ATTACK WERE TRUE, IT WOULD BE AN ESCALATION OF THE WAR

David Nyekorach Matsanga, chief peace negotiator for the LRA, told VOA that Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni was using an attack against the LRA as a pretext to invade eastern Congo for that country's resources.

"We condemned this action of a few military people in the government of Uganda who are using this as a pretext to invade Congo. They have now taking their positions in Congo to loot the minerals, to loot the diamonds, to loot the timber, and everything in Congo. But that attack has taken place, the consequences are going to very dear, and the world is going to regret why this has taken place and they watched it," he said.

Source: Monday, December 15, 2008 Voice of America report by James Butty, Washington, D.C. Copy:

UGANDA REBEL SPOKESMAN CONDEMNS REPORTED ATTACK ON LRA CAMP

A spokesman for Uganda's Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) rebels has said that if reports of an attack on LRA positions are true, it would be disastrous for the peace process and the people of northern Uganda.

Reports Sunday quoted three central African governments – Uganda, Southern Sudan, and the Democratic Republic of Congo - as saying their armies launched a joint offensive against an LRA base in the Garamba forests of eastern Congo.

The three countries said in a joint statement that their forces destroyed the main camp of LRA leader Joseph Kony and set it on fire. There was no immediate word on Kony's fate.

David Nyekorach Matsanga, chief peace negotiator for the LRA, told VOA that Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni was using an attack against the LRA as a pretext to invade eastern Congo for that country's resources.

"First of all the action, if it is true and if it is confirmed, it is the most regrettable action that humanity in this region will have. We have negotiated an agreement, we had negotiated peace for the last two years, and it is regrettable that the government of the Republic of Uganda has decided to make a military attack on the LRA, if it is confirmed. I want to make it clear that I have not received official confirmation from General Joseph Kony of this attack. But when it unfolds tomorrow and I received instruction from General Joseph Kony, then I will make an official statement," he said.

Matsanga rejected suggestions that the LRA was responsible for the alleged attack for its repeated failure to sign a final peace agreement the rebel group and the Ugandan government.

Instead Matsanga said the nearly four years peace process has brought some stability to northern Uganda.

"You should understand that we have got gains out of these three and the half years of negotiations. There was relative peace in northern Uganda. And now if Museveni decides to attack the LRA without any consultation while he is talking to us, it is very regrettable. The world must condemn it," Matsanga said.

He accused Uganda of using an attack on the LRA as a pretext to invade the Democratic Republic of Congo with the intention to loot that country's resources.

"We condemned this action of a few military people in the government of Uganda who are using this as a pretext to invade Congo. They have now taking their positions in Congo to loot the minerals, to loot the diamonds, to loot the timber, and everything in Congo. But that attack has taken place, the consequences are going to very dear, and the world is going to regret why this has taken place and they watched it," he said.

When pressed furthe3r to give evidence that Uganda has been wanting to invade the DRC to loot that country's resources, Matsanga would only say that the LRA has its own intelligence network deep inside Uganda.

Matsanga also said he called South Sudan Vice President Riek Machar, who is also the mediator of the peace process between the LRA and the Ugandan government to warn him that if the reported attack were true, it would be an escalation of the war.

He would not say whether Joseph Kony would retaliate if the reports of an attack on his camp were true. But Matsanga said the LRA was interested in peace.

"I cannot discuss the military strength of General Joseph Kony. It is only he as a military spokes of the LRA that can discuss the modalities. Let me make it very clear negotiations are not weaknesses. Being on the peace table does not mean the LRA is weak. But if the Museveni government has taken that root, we will wait and see the consequences that will unfold in the region," Matsanga said.

He said those who think an attack against the LRA in Congo would be a quick walkover might live to regret their actions.

- - -

UGANDAN MILITARY ATTACKS LORDS RESISTANCE ARMY REBELS (Update 1)

Monday, December 15, 2008 Bloomberg report by Fred Ojambo and Franz Wild:

The Ugandan military is carrying out air raids on Lord’s Resistance Army rebels based in the Democratic Republic of Congo with the support of the DRC and South Sudan, an army spokesman said.

The Ugandan air force started bombing LRA bases in Garamba National Park in northeastern Congo yesterday after rebels last month failed to sign a peace agreement negotiated in 2006, military spokesman Paddy Ankunda said in a phone interview from Uganda’s capital, Kampala, today.

The Ugandan military hasn’t determined when to end the operation, coordinated with the Congolese army, and neither has it received details of casualties from the raids, the spokesman said.

“The joint operations against LRA are still continuing,” Ankunda said. “DRC is coordinating the raid and we don’t know when it will end.”

The United Nations mission in Congo, known as Monuc, will tomorrow fly into the combat zone to assess the situation, Lieutenant-Colonel Jean-Paul Dietrich, said in an interview from Kinshasa, the Congolese capital.

“There are several hundred Ugandan soldiers in Orientale Province since yesterday,” he said. “They are putting real military pressure on the LRA.”

Rebel leader Joseph Kony refused to sign the peace agreement, demanding that the International Criminal Court first withdraw war crimes charges against him. Uganda’s government referred Kony and his commanders to the court, which indicted them in 2005, after they had fled to neighboring Democratic Republic of Congo.

ICC Warrant

Uganda started negotiations with the rebel movement in July 2006 with the mediation of the South Sudan government in an attempt to end a two-decade war which has claimed thousands of lives and displaced more than 1.5 million people.

Kony, who is holed up in the jungles of northeastern Democratic Republic of Congo, didn’t attend the talks in Juba, the capital of South Sudan, for fear of being arrested for crimes against humanity under the ICC warrant.

His rebel movement, which claims to represent the Acholi people, the dominant tribe in northern Uganda, says it wants to the country to be governed according to the Bible’s Ten Commandments.

The LRA justifies its rebellion by saying forces loyal to Museveni attacked the Acholi people, who formed the rank and file of the Ugandan army, after he overthrew Tito Okello, an Acholi, in 1986. The majority of the LRA are from the Acholi.

‘No Stick’

As the war intensified, the LRA targeted local villagers and abducted children to use as soldiers, porters and sex slaves, Amnesty International and other rights groups said.

The Ugandan government responded by forcing almost 2 million civilians, including about 90 percent of the Acholi people, into “protected villages,” according to rights groups such as Amnesty and Human Rights Watch.

“Over the last three years Kony was given repeated carrots and no stick,” Julia Spiegel, LRA specialist for the Washington-based Enough Project, said in an interview from Kampala. “ We still need to see how successfully this operation eroded the LRA’s strength, but it could leave Kony without many options.”

To contact the reporter on this story: Fred Ojambo in Kampala via Johannesburg at asguazzin@bloomberg.net. Franz Wild in Kinshasa via Johannesburg at asguazzin@bloomberg.net.

- - -

UGANDAN ARMY SAYS SEVERAL LRA CAMPS DESTROYED, INCLUDING ITS MAIN BASE

Ugandan rebels say a stalled peace process has collapsed completely after a joint attack on its positions by forces from three African countries.

The Ugandan army has said that several LRA camps have been destroyed, including its main base.

Army spokesman Paddy Ankunda told the BBC that the operation had been launched because LRA leader Joseph Kony had been unwilling to end the violence in the region.

Congolese Information Minister Lambert Mende Omalanga said they had decided to join in the attack out of desperation, accusing Mr Kony of being unwilling to halt his rebellion and of having attacked Congolese children.

"Or duty is to destroy terrorists and we've decided to join these neighbouring countries to do so," he told the BBC's Focus on Africa programme.

"Those people they are killing are Congolese, those children they are recruiting, those girls they are raping are Congolese kids so we have to fight for them, we have to secure them, we have to crush everybody who is coming to kill them."

BBC East Africa correspondent Peter Greste says it is doubtful that any of the three governments involved are concerned about a collapse in the peace process.

Mr Kony has repeatedly refused to sign a draft agreement and his troops have continued to attack, rape and mutilate civilians and abduct children across all three countries amidst the peace process, BBC correspondent says.

Source: Monday, December 15, 2008 15:49 GMT BBC report. Copy:

ATTACK 'ENDS UGANDA PEACE TALKS'

Uganda, DR Congo and South Sudan launched a joint offensive on Sunday against bases of the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) in north-eastern DR Congo.

A rebel negotiator said the offensive signalled an escalation of the war.

The Ugandan army has said that several LRA camps have been destroyed, including its main base.

Army spokesman Paddy Ankunda told the BBC that the operation had been launched because LRA leader Joseph Kony had been unwilling to end the violence in the region.

Last month Mr Kony failed to sign a peace deal, despite two years of tortuous negotiations.

Millions displaced

The LRA has led a rebellion for more than 20 years in northern Uganda, displacing some two million people.

LRA negotiator David Nekorach Matsanga told the BBC's Network Africa programme that the involvement of troops from South Sudan - which is mediating in the conflict - meant that the peace process was now as good as dead.

He said he had not been able to contact LRA commanders since the attacks and it was not clear how much damage or casualties had been inflicted.

Mr Matsanga said he had protested to United Nations envoy at the negotiations, former Mozambican President Joaquim Chissano, saying: "We needed more time for peace. Peace was going to come. It was around the corner."

He said that Sudanese mediator Riek Machar had told him that the South Sudanese government was not aware of the attacks.

[But] "The intelligence that I have gathered is that… a section of the SPLA [Sudan People's Liberation Army, South Sudan's army] was involved in the attack, which is a very bad precedent because it is now an escalation of the war and it puts the peace process in total collapse," he said.

Congolese Information Minister Lambert Mende Omalanga said they had decided to join in the attack out of desperation, accusing Mr Kony of being unwilling to halt his rebellion and of having attacked Congolese children.

"Our duty is to destroy terrorists and we've decided to join these neighbouring countries to do so," he told the BBC's Focus on Africa programme.

"Those people they are killing are Congolese, those children they are recruiting, those girls they are raping are Congolese kids so we have to fight for them, we have to secure them, we have to crush everybody who is coming to kill them."

BBC East Africa correspondent Peter Greste says it is doubtful that any of the three governments involved are concerned about a collapse in the peace process.

Mr Kony has repeatedly refused to sign a draft agreement and his troops have continued to attack, rape and mutilate civilians and abduct children across all three countries amidst the peace process, our correspondent says.

He is wanted by the International Criminal Court for war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Mr Kony has insisted that arrest warrants for him and for his associates must be dropped before any agreement is signed.

A statement announcing the joint operation was released in the Ugandan capital Kampala by 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 DR Congo.

"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.

- - -

LRA CANNOT HAVE A SAFE HAVEN IN SOUTHERN SUDAN AND THAT'S WHY THEY MOVED TO CONGO

Kinshasa, Kampala and Juba agreed earlier this year to launch joint military operations against the insurgents.

South Sudan's army spokesman, Peter Parnyang, said its soldiers would not cross into Congo to chase the LRA.

"Of course we are part (of the operation), but our work is to protect our people," he said. "There will be no attacks unless they come."

Congo's information minister, Lambert Mende, said the offensive would continue until all Kony's bases were destroyed.

"It has already been successful ... The bulk of Kony's infrastructure in the Garamba was destroyed (on Sunday)."

Source: Monday, December 15, 2008 Reuters report by Jack Kimball, Kampala. Copy:

UGANDAN SOLDIERS MOVE ON REBEL BASES: ARMY

Ugandan ground forces closed in on Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) bases in northeastern Congo after bombarding the rebels' camps, the army said on Monday, in a new push to end one of Africa's longest-running conflicts.

The offensive agreed by Uganda, Democratic Republic of Congo and southern Sudan began on Sunday with an aerial attack against the camps in the remote Garamba National Park in eastern Congo.

Analysts say regional governments were spurred to act after losing patience with LRA leader Joseph Kony who has repeatedly failed to sign a final peace deal to end fighting that has killed thousands of people.

"We can confirm that most of (Kony's) camps have been set on fire," said Ugandan army spokesman Major Paddy Ankunda. "It was an air-led operation, then the ground forces were inserted."

"We had reliable intelligence that they were preparing to attack Uganda ... and also we had the ICC warrants," he said, referring to indictments by the International Criminal Court for Kony and two of his deputies for war crimes.

The self-proclaimed mystic Kony has repeatedly demanded the ICC arrest warrants be dropped before the guerrillas would leave their camps in Congo.

Kony's fighters have waged a two-decade war against Uganda's government, mutilating victims, displacing nearly two million and destabilizing a vast swathe of central Africa.

After initial euphoria when a peace process started in mid-2006, LRA rebels have since run amok in the porous borders of Congo, Sudan and Central African Republic, opening a new front in a region racked by insecurity.

Ankunda would not comment on any Ugandan casualties, nor how many troops were involved in the operation.

DIFFICULT OPERATION?

Operating from camps in Garamba, the LRA has attacked several Congolese villages and towns in recent months. The rebels have killed dozens of civilians and abducted several hundred, including many children.

Kinshasa, Kampala and Juba agreed earlier this year to launch joint military operations against the insurgents.

South Sudan's army spokesman, Peter Parnyang, said its soldiers would not cross into Congo to chase the LRA.

"Of course we are part (of the operation), but our work is to protect our people," he said. "There will be no attacks unless they come."

Experts say a swift military victory against the LRA would be fraught with difficulties.

"The history of this conflict has shown that it is very resistant to military defeat," said analyst Levi Ochieng.

"But the political dynamics have changed ... the LRA cannot have a safe haven in southern Sudan and that's why they moved to Congo," he said. "It's a kind of a wild west."

Kony's fighters were harried by Uganda's army into southern Sudan, where they were used as a proxy force to fight Sudanese rebels battling Khartoum's central government.

In 2005, when the Sudanese civil war ended, Kony quit his southern hideouts and moved to Congo.

The 17,000-strong U.N. peacekeeping force in the Congo (MONUC) said no decision had been taken on what role U.N. peacekeepers would play in the new offensive against Kony.

Congo's information minister, Lambert Mende, said the offensive would continue until all Kony's bases were destroyed.

"It has already been successful ... The bulk of Kony's infrastructure in the Garamba was destroyed (on Sunday)."

(Additional reporting by Skye Wheeler in Juba and Joe Bavier in Kinshasa; Editing by David Clarke and Katie Nguyen)

- - -

UGANDA, CONGO AND SUDAN JOIN FORCES AGAINST REBELS

Monday, 15 December 2008 non-subscriber extract - 81 of 436 words - from Jane's Information Group:

The operation against the base of LRA leader Joseph Kony in Garamba forest, eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, reportedly involved paratroopers, infantry and the air force, according to Uganda's New Vision newspaper.

Military operations were said to be continuing, with no indication given as yet on Kony's whereabouts. Nevertheless, many in northern Uganda, which has seen security improve since the launch of the peace talks in 2006, will fear that the renewed military offensive will bring fresh destabilisation to the region.

- - -

JOINT RAID SETS CAMP OF UGANDAN REBEL GROUP ABLAZE

Monday, December 15, 2008 Christian Science Monitor news round-up by Jonathan Adams:

Uganda, Congo, and south Sudan attacked the Lord's Resistance Army camp in northern Congo on Sunday.

Three African nations announced Monday they had launched military operations against the notorious Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) in the remote northeast forests of the Democratic Republic of Congo the previous day.

Uganda, Congo, and south Sudan said they had attacked an LRA camp and set it ablaze.

The LRA has waged a 20-year rebellion against the Ugandan government and is notorious for kidnapping children and conscripting them. Its leaders are now hiding out in the jungles of the neighboring Congo.

The Ugandan government and the LRA have been in on-and-off peace talks for more than two years, but LRA head Joseph Kony has three times this year failed to show up to sign a deal, frustrating efforts to bring peace.

The BBC reported that the three countries released a joint statement on the raid.

A statement announcing the operation was released in the Ugandan capital 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.

"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.

Agence France-Presse reported that the three governments have lost patience with Mr. Kony. It reported that both the LRA and the Ugandan government say they are still open to negotiations, despite the obvious breakdown of the peace process.

"We are attacking the camps. So for now the peace process is off," Ugandan army spokesman Major Paddy Ankunda told AFP.

But he added: "We still think that if there is an opportunity to re-open negotiations we will do it."

The attack, in which the forces raided and set an LRA rebels' camp on fire in the Garamba region, ended a two-year ceasefire between the Ugandan army and the rebels.

LRA spokesman David Nyekorach-Matsanga condemned Sunday's attacks but said they were still committed to peace.

Bloomberg reported that the Ugandan Air Force began bombing LRA positions Sunday. Quoting a Ugandan Army official, it said there weren't yet any details on casualties. It said the stumbling block to a peace deal was International Criminal Court charges against Kony.

Rebel leader Joseph Kony refused to sign the peace agreement, demanding that the International Criminal Court first withdraw war crimes charges against him.

The Uganda government referred Kony and his commanders to the court, which indicted them in 2005, after they had fled to neighboring Democratic Republic of Congo.

Uganda started negotiations with the rebel movement in July 2006 with the mediation of the South Sudan government in an attempt to end a war which has claimed thousands of lives and displaced more than 1.5 million people.

The Daily Monitor, a Ugandan daily, reported that peace talks had already collapsed in November, when Joseph Kony "failed to turn up for the third time this year to sign a deal earlier agreed upon by both sides."

In a separate interview, Maj. Ankunda told Daily Monitor last night that the attack was prompted by the rebel leader's failure to sign the deal. "He continues to kill and abduct, so we decided to move and rescue the women and children," Maj. Ankunda said. "This operation is also intended to implement the warrant of arrests issued by the International Criminal Court against Kony and his top commanders."

The Monitor said the attack was believed to have included infantry and special forces, in addition to the airstrikes.

In a report last week, the International Crisis Group said the peace process was "failing." It warned that the LRA could be used as a pawn in the coming years by the Sudanese government in Khartoum. That Arab government has long been accused of sponsoring the LRA in its fight against the Ugandan government, as a tit-for-tat measure against Uganda's alleged past sponsorship of southern Sudanese Christian rebels who fought Khartoum.

[The LRA] is available again as a proxy if Khartoum wants to disrupt the 2009 national elections, Southern Sudan's 2011 referendum, or restart war on the Sudan People's Liberation Army's (SPLA) southern flank.

The Associated Press wrote that the LRA's insurgency has destabilized several countries in the region.

The LRA has been waging one of Africa's longest and most brutal rebellions for the past 20 years, drawing in northern Uganda, eastern Congo and southern Sudan. The rebels were notorious for raping children and using them as soldiers.

According to the website Globalsecurity.org, the LRA has "committed numerous abuses and atrocities, including the abduction, rape, maiming, and killing of civilians, including children."

The LRA rebels say they are fighting for the establishment of a government based on the biblical Ten Commandments. They are notorious for kidnapping children and forcing them to become rebel fighters or concubines. More than one-half-million people in Uganda's Gulu and Kitgum districts have been displaced by the fighting and are living in temporary camps, protected by the army.

Time magazine has called the LRA "one of the world's most terrifying rebel groups."

See video documentary [ See: http://tw.youtube.com/watch?v=5eZCiAGTbCk ] from Journeyman Pictures on the LRA.

Three African nations announced Monday they had launched military operations against the notorious Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) in the remote northeast forests of the Democratic Republic of Congo the previous day.

Uganda, Congo, and south Sudan said they had attacked an LRA camp and set it ablaze.

The LRA has waged a 20-year rebellion against the Ugandan government and is notorious for kidnapping children and conscripting them. Its leaders are now hiding out in the jungles of the neighboring Congo.

The Ugandan government and the LRA have been in on-and-off peace talks for more than two years, but LRA head Joseph Kony has three times this year failed to show up to sign a deal, frustrating efforts to bring peace.

The BBC reported that the three countries released a joint statement on the raid.

A statement announcing the operation was released in the Ugandan capital 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.

"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.

Agence France-Presse reported that the three governments have lost patience with Mr. Kony. It reported that both the LRA and the Ugandan government say they are still open to negotiations, despite the obvious breakdown of the peace process.

"We are attacking the camps. So for now the peace process is off," Ugandan army spokesman Major Paddy Ankunda told AFP.

But he added: "We still think that if there is an opportunity to re-open negotiations we will do it."

The attack, in which the forces raided and set an LRA rebels' camp on fire in the Garamba region, ended a two-year ceasefire between the Ugandan army and the rebels.

LRA spokesman David Nyekorach-Matsanga condemned Sunday's attacks but said they were still committed to peace.

Bloomberg reported that the Ugandan Air Force began bombing LRA positions Sunday. Quoting a Ugandan Army official, it said there weren't yet any details on casualties. It said the stumbling block to a peace deal was International Criminal Court charges against Kony.

Rebel leader Joseph Kony refused to sign the peace agreement, demanding that the International Criminal Court first withdraw war crimes charges against him.

The Uganda government referred Kony and his commanders to the court, which indicted them in 2005, after they had fled to neighboring Democratic Republic of Congo.

Uganda started negotiations with the rebel movement in July 2006 with the mediation of the South Sudan government in an attempt to end a war which has claimed thousands of lives and displaced more than 1.5 million people.

The Daily Monitor, a Ugandan daily, reported that peace talks had already collapsed in November, when Joseph Kony "failed to turn up for the third time this year to sign a deal earlier agreed upon by both sides."

In a separate interview, Maj. Ankunda told Daily Monitor last night that the attack was prompted by the rebel leader's failure to sign the deal. "He continues to kill and abduct, so we decided to move and rescue the women and children," Maj. Ankunda said. "This operation is also intended to implement the warrant of arrests issued by the International Criminal Court against Kony and his top commanders."

The Monitor said the attack was believed to have included infantry and special forces, in addition to the airstrikes.

In a report last week, the International Crisis Group said the peace process was "failing." It warned that the LRA could be used as a pawn in the coming years by the Sudanese government in Khartoum. That Arab government has long been accused of sponsoring the LRA in its fight against the Ugandan government, as a tit-for-tat measure against Uganda's alleged past sponsorship of southern Sudanese Christian rebels who fought Khartoum.

[The LRA] is available again as a proxy if Khartoum wants to disrupt the 2009 national elections, Southern Sudan's 2011 referendum, or restart war on the Sudan People's Liberation Army's (SPLA) southern flank.

The Associated Press wrote that the LRA's insurgency has destabilized several countries in the region.

The LRA has been waging one of Africa's longest and most brutal rebellions for the past 20 years, drawing in northern Uganda, eastern Congo and southern Sudan. The rebels were notorious for raping children and using them as soldiers.

According to the website Globalsecurity.org, the LRA has "committed numerous abuses and atrocities, including the abduction, rape, maiming, and killing of civilians, including children."

The LRA rebels say they are fighting for the establishment of a government based on the biblical Ten Commandments. They are notorious for kidnapping children and forcing them to become rebel fighters or concubines. More than one-half-million people in Uganda's Gulu and Kitgum districts have been displaced by the fighting and are living in temporary camps, protected by the army.

Time magazine has called the LRA "one of the world's most terrifying rebel groups."

See video documentary from Journeyman Pictures on the LRA. [ http://tw.youtube.com/watch?v=5eZCiAGTbCk ]

- - -

Monday 15 December 2008 Press Release from Fathya Waberi / MONUC

ORIENTALE PROVINCE: ALAN DOSS STANDS BY THE POPULATION OF DUNGU

Alan Doss, Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary General for the DRC, travelled for the first time to Dungu, in DRC’s Orientale Province on 12 December 2008, where MONUC has been providing support to the Congolese Armed Forces (FARDC) against the Lord’s Resistance Army. It was the last leg of his week long tour to Eastern DRC, Rwanda and Uganda.

Accompanied by Karl Wycoff, the Deputy-Assistant of the American Under Secretary of State for Eastern and Central Africa, Alan Doss highlighted that his visit was a “show of solidarity” with a population that suffered serious exactions from the LRA, including killings and the kidnapping of children, with disastrous humanitarian consequences.

MONUC’s chief condemned in the strongest possible terms “the brutal exactions and killing perpetrated by the LRA, an organization that has no reason to exist and must be brought to justice.” The LRA is allegedly holding over a hundred children of Dungu and its surroundings, according to MONUC/Ituri’s Child Protection Unit. Alan Doss highlighted the need for “stopping such atrocities and facilitating the return of internally displaced persons.”

The Special Representative noticed that despite the territory’s isolation, the situation was beginning to return to normal in the past week, alluding to the LRA’s attacks. Local authorities and representatives of civil society organisations warmly welcomed Mr. Doss. Reassured, the local population applauded MONUC’s new mandate and the resumption of activities by the UN and humanitarian agencies.

On 8 December last, The UN World Food Programme (WFP) and the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) resumed the airlifting of emergency aid between Entebbe in Uganda and Dungu, intended firstly for 6,000 internally displaced persons out of the total of 35,000.

But according to humanitarian actors this number may be higher. The head of WFP Ituri announced that the first phase, consisting in facilitating a convoy of 100 tons of food and non food items would take eight days to get there, and other means are also being considered. Mr. Doss reassured the humanitarian community of MONUC’s support.

Another concern expressed by the population of Dungu was the security situation and the ongoing military operations aimed at containing the LRA in Garamba Park, whose members in the DRC are estimated at 1,200 troops, not to mention the civilians, women and children enlisted by force or retained as hostages.

In this respect, Mr. Doss reiterated MONUC’s determination to continue to provide logistic support to the FARDC, in terms of transport for troops and equipment, the supply of food and medical items, the construction of the runway at Dungu and the refurbishment of the Dungu-Kiliwa-Duru road axes.

When questioned on whether MONUC envisaged increasing its forces in the region, the Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for the DRC said that the Mission could not do so now due to its limited resources. However, MONUC would do everything in its power “to hold the negative force called the LRA in check, and to facilitate the return of internally displaced persons to their communities.”

- - -

SNAPSHOT OF GOOGLE'S NEWSREEL MONDAY 15 DECEMBER 2008 16:45 PM GMT

Ugandan army says peace process suspended
AFP - 36 minutes ago
On Sunday, forces from Uganda, the Democratic Republic of Congo and the government of South Sudan began a military operation against Kony's jungle hideout ...

Ugandan Air Force Says Raids on Rebel Bases in Congo Continue
Bloomberg - 58 minutes ago
Uganda started negotiations with the rebel movement in July 2006 with the mediation of the South Sudan government in an attempt to end a war which has ...

Uganda Rebel Spokesman Condemns Reported Attack on LRA Camp
Voice of America - 1 hour ago
Reports Sunday quoted three central African governments – Uganda, Southern Sudan, and the Democratic Republic of Congo - as saying their armies launched a ...

Uganda/DRC
Radio France Internationale, France - 1 hour ago
Uganda, the Democratic Republic of Congo and South Sudan have launched a joint military offensive against Ugandan Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) rebels camped ...

Reuters World News Highlights at 0630 GMT, Dec 15
Forex Pros, British Virgin Islands - 2 hours ago
KAMPALA - Uganda, Democratic Republic of Congo and southern Sudan launched a joint military offensive on Sunday against Ugandan Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) ...

Uganda peace process suspended: army
AFP - 1 hour ago
KAMPALA (AFP) — Uganda's peace process appeared to be in tatters on Monday, a day after an unprecedented joint attack by regional forces against the Lord's ...

Ugandan soldiers move on rebel bases: army
Reuters - 3 hours ago
By Jack Kimball KAMPALA (Reuters) - Ugandan ground forces closed in on Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) bases in northeastern Congo after bombarding the rebels' ...

Attack 'ends Uganda peace talks'
BBC News, UK - 5 hours ago
Ugandan rebels say a stalled peace process has collapsed completely after a joint attack on its positions by forces from three African countries. ...

African Neighbors Attack Ugandan Rebels
Voice of America - 19 hours 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 - 20 hours ago
By Jack Kimball KAMPALA (Reuters) - Uganda, Democratic Republic of Congo and southern Sudan launched a joint military offensive on Sunday against Ugandan ...

Joint operation against Ugandan rebels begins
Radio Netherlands, Netherlands - 21 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), ...

Uganda, Congo, Sudan launch joint attack against Uganda rebels
African Press Agency, Senegal - 5 hours ago
APA-Kampala (Uganda) The armed forces of Uganda, Southern Sudan and Democratic Republic of Congo on Sunday attacked Uganda rebel movement Lord’s Resistance ...

Uganda rebels condemn joint attack
African Press Agency, Senegal - 6 hours ago
APA-Kampala (Uganda) Ugandan rebel movement, the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), on Monday condemned Southern Sudan, Uganda and Democratic Republic of Congo ...

African Armies Conduct Joint Offensive Against Ugandan
TransWorldNews (press release), GA - 20 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 ...

Q+A - Assault on Ugandan rebels
Reuters South Africa, South Africa - 48 minutes ago
Dec 15 (Reuters) - Uganda, south Sudan and Democratic Republic of Congo have launched an offensive against the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) rebels, ...

Three Countries' Army Fight in Uganda
Prensa Latina, Cuba - 58 minutes ago
Kampala, Dec 15 (Prensa Latina) Military effectives from three countries attacked the Lord Resistance Army (LRA) in Uganda established in the eastern part ...

Uganda, Congo and Sudan join forces against rebels
Jane's, UK - 1 hour ago
The operation against the base of LRA leader Joseph Kony in Garamba forest, eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, reportedly involved paratroopers, ...

"Proxy war" under way between DRC and Rwanda
Open Democracy, UK - 1 hour ago
The bases of the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) were attacked on Monday in a joint operation by Ugandan, Congolese and Sudanese troops. ...

Uganda Says Rebels Damaged in Sunday Attack
Voice of America - 1 hour ago
That assessment from spokesman Chris Magezi Monday came as forces from Uganda, Congo, and southern Sudan continued their offensive against the LRA. ...

Joint raid sets camp of Ugandan rebel group ablaze
Christian Science Monitor, MA - 2 hours ago
By Jonathan Adams Three African nations announced Monday they had launched military operations against the notorious Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) in the ...

Uganda peace process suspended: army
AFP - 2 hours ago
Ugandan army spokesman Major Paddy Ankunda said efforts to reach a final peace deal with the LRA were suspended after Sunday's raid by forces from Uganda, ...

Uganda rebel threat outweighs dispute with Kampala: DR Congo
AFP - 2 hours ago
Uganda and DR Congo, along with forces from southern Sudan, launched a joint military operation Sunday against Uganda's rebel Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) ...

Reuters World News Highlights at 1400 GMT
Forex Pros, British Virgin Islands - 3 hours ago
KAMPALA - Ugandan ground forces closed in on Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) bases in northeastern Congo after bombarding the rebels' camps, the army said on ...

Ugandan Military Attacks Lords Resistance Army Rebels
Bloomberg - 3 hours ago
The Ugandan air force started bombing LRA bases in Garamba National Park in northeastern Congo yesterday after rebels last month failed to sign a peace ...

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 ...

DR Congo: CNDP Nkunda's demands include renegotiation of a $9 billion infrastructure & mining investment deal struck by the gov't with China

Rwanda and Congo, which have long accused each other of backing rebel groups in east Congo hostile to their governments, agreed on Friday [Dec. 05] to joint operations against the FDLR.

But action on the ground seems a long way off as analysts say Congo's army is in no state to carry out effective anti-guerrilla operations. Rwanda has agreed to help with planning and intelligence but not to send its own soldiers.

Kenya was to host peace talks on Monday [Dec. 08] between Democratic Republic of Congo's government and eastern rebels led by dissident Tutsi General Laurent Nkunda.

Neither Kabila nor Nkunda will take part in the Nairobi talks.

Nkunda's economic demands include better governance and renegotiation of a $9 billion infrastructure and mining investment deal struck by the government with China.

Nkunda also says he and his rebels should be integrated into the national army. [Note: recently the same request was made of the Ugandan government by LRA leader Joseph Kony. See Congo Watch's sister site Uganda Watch.]

Source: December 08, 2008 Reuters report:

Q+A - Can Nairobi talks deliver peace to east Congo?

Kenya was to host peace talks on Monday [Dec. 08] between Democratic Republic of Congo's government and eastern rebels led by dissident Tutsi General Laurent Nkunda.

The talks follow weeks of fighting in Congo's North Kivu province which has displaced more than a quarter of a million civilians and during which the rebels have extended the area under their control, routing the government army.

The negotiations were meant to be the first direct talks between the two sides. However, over the weekend, Congo's government said it was expanding the talks to include another 20 armed groups operating in North Kivu. This has angered the rebels, who want only to negotiate directly with President Joseph Kabila's government.

This latest development will add confusion to the already daunting task of trying to end a chaotic conflict that has its roots in Rwanda's 1994 genocide but has also been fuelled by years of poor governance and illegal mineral exploitation.

The following are some questions and answers about the meeting and whether it can help resolve the east Congo conflict.

WHO IS IN NAIROBI?

Neither Kabila nor Nkunda will take part in the talks. Nkunda's National Congress for the Defence of the People (CNDP) rebel delegation is led by Jean-Michel Kambasu Ngeve, Nkunda's No. 2, and includes legal and military assistants who have been involved in previous talks.

The government team is being led by Julien Paluku, governor of North Kivu, and Raymond Tshibanda, Minister for Regional Cooperation and formerly head of Kabila's cabinet.

Also present will be Apollinaire Malu Malu, who oversaw a January 2008 peace process for east Congo that included Nkunda's CNDP and more than 20 other rebel and militia groups. Nkunda has since repudiated this deal as favouring the government.

The other groups who have been invited include various pro-government militia broadly known as Mai Mai and Rwandan Hutu rebels who are based in Congo's east. Some of these Hutu rebels, now known as the FDLR, took part in the 1994 genocide in Rwanda of 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus and have since been used as allies by Congo's weak government army during a decade of war.

WHY ARE ALL THE GROUPS BEING INVITED?

The rebels have rejected a return to the January peace process -- known as Amani, Swahili for "Peace" -- as they say it has failed and insist on face-to-face talks with the government.

The government's decision to invite other groups reflects the myriad of fighters on the ground in North Kivu, where confused clashes have continued despite a ceasefire declared by Nkunda in late October.

Both the government and the rebels have said that the first aim of the Nairobi talks should be formalising a broad ceasefire, which includes the government's allied factions.

But this is also likely to complicate matters as the various armed groups have confusing and often changing agendas. The move to include many groups is rejected by Nkunda's rebels, who may feel the government is trying to undermine their military dominance by diluting the focus of the talks.

WHAT DO NKUNDA'S REBELS WANT?

When he launched his rebellion four years ago, Nkunda said he was fighting to protect fellow Tutsis from attacks by the FDLR Hutu rebels. Questions of minority representation in the government and the disarmament of the FDLR remain key.

But Nkunda has broadened his agenda and has spoken of seeking "national liberation" and of "marching on Kinshasa". He is unlikely to cross 1,500 km (900 miles) of mostly bush and take the capital but he is playing on popular frustrations with Kabila's rule in the vast, mineral-rich former Belgian colony.

Consequently, his economic demands include better governance and renegotiation of a $9 billion infrastructure and mining investment deal struck by the government with China.

Nkunda also says he and his rebels should be integrated into the national army.

WHAT IS THE LIKELIHOOD OF PROGRESS AT THE TALKS?

After numerous previous peace processes, many are sceptical about the chances for success.

But diplomats say it is better for the sides to be talking rather than fighting. Numerous war crimes have been reported and over 250,000 people have fled their homes since late August in what the United Nations calls a "humanitarian catastrophe".

In persuading the government to reluctantly talk to the rebels, Olusegun Obasanjo, a former Nigerian president who is now the U.N.'s envoy for the region, has achieved an advance.

But the invitation to the other 20 armed groups could leave the Nairobi meetings bogged down in rows and procedure.

There is also the thorny question of the FDLR Hutu rebels, which have been at the heart of two Great Lakes region wars.

Rwanda and Congo, which have long accused each other of backing rebel groups in east Congo hostile to their governments, agreed on Friday to joint operations against the FDLR.

But action on the ground seems a long way off as analysts say Congo's army is in no state to carry out effective anti-guerrilla operations. Rwanda has agreed to help with planning and intelligence but not to send its own soldiers.

(Writing by David Lewis; Editing by Pascal Fletcher) (Dakar Newsroom +221 33 864 5076)

(For full Reuters Africa coverage and to have your say on the top issues, visit: http://africa.reuters.com/)