The Ugandan Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) incursion Saturday night into Sambia, 130 km in the north-eastern province of DR Congo, has killed 8 people, APA learnt on Sunday from UN sources.
Those killed in the incursion were mostly civilians, and an intervention by the DR Congo Armed Forces forced the rebels to withdraw to the bush after six hours of fighting.
The attack by the LRA was confirmed by the UN Mission in DRC (MONUC)-sponsored Radio Okapi.
Humanitarian and civil society organisations are said to have been expressing grave concerns over the plight of civilians in the localities attacked by the rebels.
Uganda's Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) rebels killed 22 people during weekend raids in northeast Democratic Republic of Congo, a local official said on Sunday.
Around 100 LRA fighters attacked the market town of Sambia at about 2 a.m. on Sunday, killing six civilians and a soldier, said Joseph Bangakya, deputy governor of Orientale province.
On Friday the rebels launched a similar assault on the village of Kana. "They killed 15 people there, among them two women. There were no soldiers deployed there, so they attacked the civilians," Bangakya said.
Congolese troops failed to deploy to civilian areas to stave off retaliatory attacks. According to one LRA abductee, who survived an airstrike, the rebels had advance notice.
"We'd heard that there might be an attack," said the young woman, 20, who was kidnapped in early 2008 from her village in Central African Republic. Now eight months pregnant, the woman, whose name was withheld for her protection, narrowly escaped because she was fetching water when Ugandan helicopters attacked.
Her "husband" and other LRA fighters had left the camp earlier in the day, leaving behind abductees and children who were being forced to tend nearby crops.
"There were many people in the camps when it was bombed," she said.
Source: Los Angeles Times. Here is a copy of the report in full:
Photo: Lord’s Resistance Army rebels who have set up base in northern Congo hacked at Bertra Bamgbe’s face with a machete, cutting off half his left ear. Behind him is Kelele Annibetibe, who suffered a dozen stab wounds. Congolese villagers say Congo officials have failed to protect them in the face of a multination crackdown on the rebels. (Edmund Sanders / Los Angeles Times)
Rebels of the Lord's Resistance Army have killed about 250 Congolese in a string of attacks after their camps were bombed in a joint campaign by Congo, Uganda and Sudan.
By Edmund Sanders January 11, 2009
Reporting from Doruma, DR Congo -- The rebels targeted churches on Christmas Day.
Men were killed first, often stripped of shirts and pants, and then bound with their arms behind their backs. Rather than waste bullets, the attackers hacked victims in the back of the neck with machetes or shattered their skulls with sticks.
"It happened step by step," said Joseph Kpayajadia, 58, a farmer who hid in the grass and saw his son being killed. "They held everyone together in a group and then took people five or six at a time into the bush to kill. Then they came back for more."
By the time the rampage ended, 254 people were dead in nine villages in a string of attacks that lasted several days, officials in Doruma estimate.
This troubled area of northeastern Congo, where regional conflicts have left 5 million people dead over 12 years, is now home base for one of Africa's longest-running and most insidious rebel movements: the Lord's Resistance Army, a fearsome group from neighboring Uganda that claims to demand strict adherence to the Ten Commandments.
A surprise joint offensive last month by the armies of Uganda, Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo had sought to crush the rebel militia, notorious for preying on children, in its Congo hide-out.
But rather than kill the LRA's elusive leader, Joseph Kony, airstrikes against half a dozen rebel camps in the dense forests here appear to have only given new life to an old conflict, turning Uganda's civil war into a growing regional crisis.
After a lull in attacks over the last two years, the rebel army -- estimated at 600 fighters -- has split into small bands, scattering in different directions and terrorizing civilian populations with the most brutal massacres by the militia since 2004.
Humanitarian groups worry this pocket of northern Congo is witnessing the same type of catastrophe that northern Uganda did a decade ago. Congolese victims say the military offensive has put them in the cross hairs of a neighbor's war.
The rebels picked Christmas Day to launch their retaliation because they knew they'd find large groups of people celebrating.
Women and children were not spared. The father of a 4-year-old girl, lying stiffly on a filthy hospital mattress, said the attackers tried to break her neck and then threw her atop the corpses of her mother and two siblings. In nearby beds, other survivors, still shaking in pain and fear, were so traumatized that they had been unable to speak since the attack, hospital officials said.
Across the region, at least 500 people have been killed and 100,000 displaced in the last four months, mostly in Congo, but also in southern Sudan and Central African Republic. Officials say the death toll might be as high as 1,000, but it's difficult to tally because of the inaccessibility of Congo's dense forests and the unsafe conditions. In some villages, bodies still lie where they fell because villagers have been too afraid to return.
LRA representatives denied responsibility for the massacres in Doruma and other villages, saying they had been carried out by a rogue unit of the Ugandan army in an attempt to smear the rebels.
"On the one hand, the Ugandan military says the LRA has been wiped out, so how can LRA come back and kill in these areas?" rebel negotiator David Matsanga said.
Kony's lofty aspirations about religious revolution and fighting for Uganda's marginalized northerners faded long ago, and his group is best known now for kidnapping more than 20,000 Ugandan children in the last 22 years, turning them into killing machines and sex slaves through a combination of brainwashing, intimidation and drugs.
In 2005, the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for Kony. In the last two years, the guerrilla leader has flirted with signing a peace treaty, but talks stalled over his demand for immunity.
During most of that time, Kony's forces have been hiding in Congo's Garamba National Park, keeping a low profile and only occasionally attacking local populations. But in September, LRA gangs stepped up their attacks in several villages near the Sudanese border, kidnapping 90 children, including 50 from the same school.
About 350 children have been kidnapped in Congo so far, most of them taken after the Dec. 14 offensive, aid groups said. In some Congolese villages, frightened children refuse to go to school and they leave their homes at night -- preferring to sleep alone in the bush.
"They feel that if they are more dispersed, they can't be as easily targeted by the LRA," said Genti Miho, head of UNICEF's office in Bunia.
So far, the multinational campaign has received praise from the United Nations, United States and others in the international community, who say they've grown tired of Kony's broken promises.
But Congolese say they are suffering as the Ugandans pursue a longtime foe, and blame their own government for failing to provide better security.
"We are innocent," said Bertra Bamgbe, 35, a farmer from Faradje who was hacked in the face with a machete. He lost half his left ear and has a 4-inch gash in his cheek. "Why isn't anyone protecting us?"
Felicien Balani, a civic leader in Dungu, where many displaced families have gathered, said the LRA is "a Uganda problem. So why are the Congolese dying? The governments didn't plan this very well and we are the ones paying the price."
Prospects for a quick military success appear to be dwindling after some initial missteps. Ugandan forces did not follow the bombing of the rebel camps with ground troops for more than a week, giving LRA fighters time to flee.
Congolese troops failed to deploy to civilian areas to stave off retaliatory attacks. According to one LRA abductee, who survived an airstrike, the rebels had advance notice.
"We'd heard that there might be an attack," said the young woman, 20, who was kidnapped in early 2008 from her village in Central African Republic. Now eight months pregnant, the woman, whose name was withheld for her protection, narrowly escaped because she was fetching water when Ugandan helicopters attacked.
Her "husband" and other LRA fighters had left the camp earlier in the day, leaving behind abductees and children who were being forced to tend nearby crops.
"There were many people in the camps when it was bombed," she said.
Her story underscores the need for military restraint, aid workers say, because most LRA fighters are abducted children who have been forced into battle.
"The perpetrators here are also the victims," said Margarida Fawke of the U.N.'s refugee agency
Ugandan army spokesman Maj. Paddy Ankunda defended the campaign, saying it had netted LRA weapons caches, food stocks and other supplies. "We have been able to deny the LRA's capacity to make war," Ankunda said.
But the campaign has left Congolese villagers bitter and bewildered. Most had never even heard of the LRA and were unaware of the airstrikes until the rebel group turned its anger on them.
Leontine Imipavulu was bathing her week-old son on Christmas Day when a gang of men in uniforms descended upon her family's mud hut. She cowered in the bush a few yards away, clutching the infant to her breast to keep him from crying out, as the strangers killed her parents and husband with an ax.
"I was the only one in my family to survive," she said quietly. "Just me and the baby now. I still don't really know who they were or what they wanted."
A statement purporting to come from the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), the cultic guerrilla force that negotiated during two years with Kampala without siging the final peace deal, announced the immediate termination of its negotiating team.
Photo: LRA negotiator David Nyekorach-Matsanga
The LRA ended all contacts with David Matsanga, Miss Abalo and Justine Labeja. Matsanga had already once before been dismissed by LRA leader Joseph Kony before allowing him to resume his activities. [...]
Matsanga had even previously in July 2008 been accused of plotting Kony’s death. The UK-based negotiator was arrested in South Sudan in April 2008 carrying a letter from Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni to Kony and $20,000.
It is not clear that Matsanga would currently have any ease in contacting Kony at this point anyway. Kony’s forces have been driven to part of Garamba National Park in northeastern DR Congo, where they were attacked in late December. [...]
The supposedly LRA statement noted, that the negotiators’ removal “means they no longer speak for LRA, or peace talk negotiating delegates and must not engage in any form of negotiations.”
“The decision was reached in support for peaceful end to the conflicts in Uganda and the Great lakes Region,” claimed the text.
“This ruling is also communicated to United Nations, African Union, Non-governmental Organisations, UN appointed delegate Mr Chissano, President Joseph Kabila Republic du Congo, President of Republic of Kenya, Government of Southern Sudan President Kiir, President of Central African Republic, Uganda Government and international observers.”
UNDER heavy fire from a joint military offensive, the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) leader, Joseph Kony, has intensified his appeal for a ceasefire.
The LRA spokesperson, David Nyekorach Matsanga, led a delegation to Maputo over the weekend to deliver a letter to the UN envoy to the LRA-affected areas and former Mozambique president, Joaquim Chissano.
“I have just delivered a special message from General Kony to president Chissano. We want a halt in fighting. We are calling for a ceasefire. We are for peace,” Matsanga said on telephone from Mozambique yesterday. [...]
The LRA letter addressed to Chissano, who was a key player in the Juba peace talks, was also copied to presidents Yoweri Museveni, Joseph Kabila (DRC), Mwai Kibaki (Kenya), Salva Kiir (South Sudan), Africa Union chairman, Jakaya Kikwete (Tanzania), the UN Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon and the chief peace talks mediator, Dr Riek Machar.
Matsanga declined to state the content of the letter and what response his team had received from Chissano.
However, in a copy of the letter seen by the New Vision, the LRA says the call for a truce was based on the past failure of the army to defeat the rebel group rather than feeling the heat of the operation.
“That’s why the LRA peace delegation has been left with no option but ask you to convene an urgent meeting,” Matsanga wrote.
He singled out the International Criminal Court warrants of arrest for Kony and his top commanders as the biggest stumbling block to signing the peace agreement.
“The matter of the ICC warrants has overshadowed the very nerve centre of our peace process since inception in 2006,” he wrote.
President Museveni’s press secretary Tamale Mirundi said the rebels were given one option by the President, to assemble at Ri-Kwangba.
“By the time the Government took the decision of the military offensive, the President had realised that these people were not for peace. They continued to kill and abduct civilians,” Mirundi noted.
On Matsanga’s assertion that the operation will not crush the LRA, Mirundi asked the Matsanga not to waste his breath.
“In wrestling, someone on top cannot call out to be separated. It’s the person suffocating who cries out,” Mirundi explained.
This is the second time the LRA is pleading for a ceasefire since the military offensive was launched. On December 31, Kony appealed to President Museveni to declare a cessation of hostilities.
Meanwhile, according to The Sudan Tribune, of January 10, a statement purporting to come from the LRA, announced the immediate termination of its negotiating team. [...]
“We have found mass graves. Our soldiers found the bodies decomposing but we could not establish if any of the top LRA commanders are among those because they were rotten,” Brig. Kankiriho replied when asked if LRA top leaders were among the dead.
The UPDF troops combing DRC jungles have found decomposing bodies of LRA rebel fighters buried in mass graves, the operations top military commander, has said.
Brig. Patrick Kankiriho, the UPDF overall commander for Operation Lightning Thunder, told Daily Monitor last evening that the troops also discovered bodies of rebel fighters floating on rivers.
“We have found mass graves. Our soldiers found the bodies decomposing but we could not establish if any of the top LRA commanders are among those because they were rotten,” Brig. Kankiriho replied when asked if LRA top leaders were among the dead.
“After checking the graves, we have covered them, this shows the operation caused substantial damage even when they were able to carry away the dead and later bury them.”
But Brig. Kankiriho said because of the state of the bodies, the army could not give the numbers of the dead. “The rebels we have captured say some of the dead were killed during parade and others died later because of wounds,” he added.
The UPDF, alongside South Sudan and the DRC troops on December 14 launched air strikes on the LRA bases in Garamba National Park.
Brig. Kankiriho said they have so far destroyed gardens of food crops, uncovered dry ration, captured communication gadgets, recovered guns and an assortment of war materials including documents.
“On January 5, we rescued abductees, one was from Central African Republic, we recovered a computer monitor and a gun,” Brig. Kankiriho said.
He appealed to Ugandans to be patient as the army pursues the rebels. “Ugandans should know that the place where we are there are no roads. It is almost the size of Uganda. These are forests but we are doing our best,” he added.
The latest army report could not be independent from the LRA leaders as for days their satellite telephone contacts have been switched off.
Brig. Patrick Kankiriho, the commander of operation against the rebels, is in touch with some LRA commanders who want to come out. Kony might remain alone.
The Chief of Defence Forces (CDF), Gen. Aronda Nyakairima, on Friday told the MONUC commander, Gen. Bubacar Gaye, that the allies would deploy more forces to exert pressure on rebels.
THE UPDF is in touch with some top Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) commanders who are fed up with war and want to surrender.
The UPDF spokesperson, Maj. Paddy Ankunda, currently in the Democratic Republic of Congo said the development shows that the LRA leader, Joseph Kony, is increasingly becoming isolated and vulnerable.
“Brig. Patrick Kankiriho, the commander of operation against the rebels, is in touch with some LRA commanders who want to come out. Kony might remain alone,” Ankunda told Sunday Vision on telephone from Congo.
A joint force comprising Uganda, Congo and South Sudan is engaged in the military offensive against the rebels in northeastern Congo and parts of South Sudan.
The offensive, code-named Operation Lightning Thunder, with its tactical headquarters in Dungu, Congo, was launched on December 14, after Kony refused to sign the final peace agreement reached in Juba, the South Sudan capital.
The lightning surprise attack which started with air bombardment by helicopter gunships and fighter planes obliterated the rebel’s bases in the Garamba forest. Since then the rebels and their commanders, including Kony, have been wandering in the vast jungle with no shelter and food.
According to Ankunda, rebels who have surrenderd and those captured had also informed UPDF that most of the LRA fighters were tired of the war and wanted to return home.
Asked whether the captured fighters had also stated that Kony was still in charge of the central command of all his fighters scattered Ankunda replied: “Yiko wapi? (Where is it?). Kony ran on his own just like other commanders did after the UPDF air force bombardment.”
Ankunda said the rebels who surrender and the captured are taken to the child protection centre managed by UNICEF, Save the Children and United Nations Peacekeeping Mission in the Congo (MONUC).
At the centre the returnees are given psycho-social support and rehabilitation. The International Organisation for Migration (IOM) will arrange their repatriation.
Meanwhile, the Congolese forces clashed with and repelled LRA rebels who had invaded Faradge town and ransacked homes, shops and gardens for food.
The Congolese army rushed to the town after learning about the marauding rebels from residents. A shoot out ensured but the number of casualties had not been established by press time.
“Our allies of FARDC (Congolese army) engaged the rebels in the north of Faradge. They made them drop food they had stolen,” Kankiriho said.
He said the rebels had also attacked Duruma and when the allies command was informed, the UPDF swung into action and beat them back into the densely forested park.
Ankunda observed that the UPDF and allies were “on top of the situation. If someone comes to your house, kicks you out, destroys your food and you are starving, you are as good as finished”.
“They are more vulnerable than ever before. They are running around for food and we have kept the pressure on them,” he stressed.
The Chief of Defence Forces (CDF), Gen. Aronda Nyakairima, on Friday told the MONUC commander, Gen. Bubacar Gaye, at External Security Organisation offices in Kampala that the allies would deploy more forces to exert pressure on rebels who, during the Christmas period, killed 400 civilians in Congo.
A few months ago, I signed a petition calling for MONUC to arrest Laurent Nkunda. I signed the petition because I am against people using violence to get what they want. As stated in my blogs many times before, my political compass is that of the late great Mahatma Gandhi. Gandhi's great Salt March (see here below) was far more powerful than any army. Who knows if petitioning works? It's worth a try. It's not right that criminal law does not apply to everybody.
Here is a copy of an email received today:
Thank you for signing this petition !!!
Dear signer of the petition:
Thank you for supporting calls to end impunity, sexual violence, and other war crimes in the Democratic Republic Of Congo.
Our records show that you're one of the 1027 people who have already signed the on going petition calling for the Mission of the UN in Congo (MONUC) to immediately arrest the war crminal Nkunda now.
Please help us to inform other people regarding this campaign by forwarding the petition to at least 10 friends and acquaintances and kindly ask them to do the same thing after signing the petition also. http://www.gopetition.com/online/23604.html
Merci de soutenir les appels à mettre fin à l'impunité, la violence sexuelle, et d'autres crimes de guerre en République démocratique du Congo.
Nos informations indiquent que vous êtes l'une des 1027 personnes qui ont déjà signé la pétition en cours, qui appelle à la Mission de l'ONU au Congo (MONUC) à arrêter immédiatement la guerre de Nkunda crminal maintenant.
S'il vous plaît, aidez-nous à informer d'autres personnes au sujet de cette campagne en envoyant la pétition au moins à 10 amis/connaissances et leur demander de bien vouloir faire la même choseaprès avoir signé la pétition également. http://www.gopetition.com/online/23604.html
Mahatma Gandhi's biographer, Louis Fischer, once said that his greatness "lay in doing what everyone could do but doesn't". Gandhi's Salt March to Dandi in 1930 can be examined as a version of this message (Source: A Living Sermon/Tom Weber)
On 12th March 1930 Mahatma Gandhi, then aged 61, started walking from Sabarmati Ashram with a band of 78 handpicked volunteers. Their destination was a beachhead 241 miles to the south, Dandi. On the 5th of April 1930, when Mahatma Gandhi and his band of followers reached Dandi, thousands had joined him en-route; the eyes of the world were riveted on this tiny and as yet insignificant beachside village in South Gujarat.
The Salt March is today worldwide acknowledged as the one event that shook the British Empire to its core. The year 2005 was the seventy-fifth anniversary of the Great Salt March.
To commemorate this historic event on an international scale the Mahatma Gandhi Foundation proposed to organise a re-enactment of the Salt March. Click here for a report of the Salt March Event. (Source: saltmarch.org.in)
Photo: Gandhi on the Salt March. The Salt Satyagraha was a campaign of non-violent protest against the British salt tax in colonial India which began with the Salt March to Dandi on March 12, 1930. It was the first act of organized opposition to British rule after Purna Swaraj, the declaration of independence by the Indian National Congress. Mahatma Gandhi led the Dandi march from his Sabarmati Ashram to Dandi, Gujarat to make salt tax free, with growing numbers of Indians joining him along the way. When Gandhi broke the salt laws in Dandi at the conclusion of the march on April 6, 1930, it sparked large scale acts of civil disobedience against the British Raj salt laws by millions of Indians. (Photo/caption source: Wikipedia) - - -
Birth place of Mahatma Gandhi
Porbandar on India's west coast is famous for being the birthplace of India's independence leader Mahatma Gandhi.
Sadly, many of Gandhi's dreams have disappeared.
There is another facet of Gandhi's vision which has disappeared from the land of his birth.
He believed in economic self-reliance, with the village as the centre of economic production.
That ideal appears to have disappeared in the smoke that belches out of the cement and soda-ash factories that dot Porbandar. - - -
The Pebble Pond
Extract from a piece by Gandhi's grandaughter:
"I was once told by my mother, who along with Father spent all her life working for nonviolent change, that there is a big difference between throwing a pebble in a pond and throwing a big rock. The pebble causes gentle ripples that go a long way. The rock makes a big splash that quickly disappears."
- - -
Source: Gandhi photos/text from the archives of my personal blog ME AND OPHELIA - - -
UPDATE 23 January 2009: Laurent Nkunda arrested
"Ex-general" Laurent Nkunda was arrested on Thursday, January 22 at 2230 hours while he was fleeing on Rwandan territory after he had resisted our troops at Bunagana with three battalions," a Congolese-Rwandan official statement said.
Source: BBC report published 06:34 GMT, Friday, 23 January 2009:
Gen Laurent Nkunda, the leader of the main rebel group in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, has been arrested, the military says.
He was arrested as he fled into Rwanda while trying to resist a joint Rwandan-Congolese military operation, the operation's joint command said.
Some 3,500 Rwandan troops crossed the border to help Congolese forces disarm Rwandan Hutu FDLR rebels there. Gen Nkunda has been leading the rival CNDP Tutsi insurgency.
"The joint operations command... informs the public that the ex-general Laurent Nkunda was arrested on Thursday, January 22 at 2230 hours while he was fleeing on Rwandan territory after he had resisted our troops at Bunagana with three battalions," a Congolese-Rwandan official statement said.
Gen Nkunda is being detained in Rwanda, and is expected to be handed over to Congolese authorities soon, the BBC's Karen Allen reports from Goma in DR Congo's North Kivu province.
The CNDP launched a major offensive in August, which displaced more than a quarter of a million people in North Kivu and raised fears of a wider regional war.
Gen Nkunda and his group says they are fighting to protect the Tutsi community from attack by Rwandan Hutu rebels based in DR Congo, some of whom are accused of taking part in the 1994 genocide.
The Congolese government has often promised to stop the Hutu forces from using its territory, but has not done so.
However, others see the CNDP as a Rwandan proxy and the biggest reason why DR Congo is yet to benefit from landmark elections in 2006 intended to draw a line under decades of conflict.
Human rights group have accused CNDP forces, along with those of the government, of numerous killings, rapes and torture.
Talks in Kenya aimed at ending the conflict became deadlocked last month, with UN mediator Olusegun Obasanjo complaining that the CNDP's negotiators lacked the authority to make concessions.
- - -
Snapshot of Google's newsreel 23 January 2009 19:00 hrs GMT
DR Congo warlord Laurent Nkunda seized by Rwandan army Telegraph.co.uk, United Kingdom - 54 minutes ago A rebel leader who inflicted misery on the Democratic Republic of Congo, forcing hundreds of thousands to flee their homes, has been arrested after losing ...
Congo rebel arrest offers a glimmer of hope Telegraph.co.uk, United Kingdom - 2 hours ago David Blair says that the arrest of Laurent Nkunda is a genuinely optimistic moment for Congo and central Africa. By David Blair, Diplomatic Editor Laurent ...
Questions, answers about Congo rebel leader The Associated Press - 2 hours ago The surprise arrest of Congolese rebel leader Laurent Nkunda by his former Rwandan allies raises many questions. Here are some answers. ...
Congolese rebel general calls himself man of peace The Associated Press - 4 hours ago KINSHASA, Congo (AP) — Gen. Laurent Nkunda is a career soldier who describes himself as a man of peace and Christ. But his force's reputation for killing ...
Video: Nkunda arrested in Rwanda; Kinshasa demands extradition france24english - 4 hours ago IN THE FIELD: Congolese Tutsi rebel leader Laurent Nkunda has been arrested in Rwandan territory by the Rwandan army. The former army general, ... Show video
Video: An alliance between congolese and rwandan armies france24english - 4 hours ago WEB NEWS: The Congolese and Rwandan armies had realized a military operation against the Hutu rebels. The Brazilian blogosphere identify for Gaza habitants. Show video
Profile: Laurent Nkunda guardian.co.uk, UK - 5 hours ago Laurent Nkunda, the Congolese warlord with a penchant for sunglasses and crisp uniforms, is generally described as a "rogue general" but experts, ...
Video: Former Rwandan allies arrest Tutsi leader Nkunda - 23 Jan 09 AlJazeeraEnglish - 5 hours ago Rwanda and Congo have announced the arrest in Rwandan territory of Laurent Nkunda, the Congolese Tutsi rebel leader, during a joint military operation on ... Show video
Congo rebel chief arrest: Your views BBC News, UK - 5 hours ago Gen Laurent Nkunda, leader of the strongest rebel group in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, has been arrested in Rwanda. He crossed the border after ...
Nkunda's spectacular fall BBC News, UK - 6 hours ago By Peter Greste By almost any measure, it has been a spectacular reversal of fortune for General Laurent Nkunda. Two weeks ago, he was widely regarded as ...
Congolese Rebel Leader Nkunda Captured in Rwanda Bloomberg - 6 hours ago By Franz Wild Jan. 23 (Bloomberg) -- Democratic Republic of Congo renegade General Laurent Nkunda, who led a rebellion against the government that extended ...
DR Congo requests extradition of Nkunda from Rwanda AFP - 7 hours ago KINSHASA (AFP) — The authorities in the Democratic Republic of Congo want Rwanda to extradite Tutsi rebel leader Laurent Nkunda, who they have captured and ...
Profile: Laurent Nkunda, the Tutsi rebel leader toppled from power Telegraph.co.uk, United Kingdom - 8 hours ago News of the arrest in Rwanda of Tutsi rebel leader Laurent Nkunda confirms a spectacular reversal of fortune for the former general, who only months ago was ...
DEM. REP. CONGO: LEADER OF TUTSI REBELS NKUNDA ARRESTED Agenzia Giornalistica Italia, Italy - 8 hours ago (AGI) - Kinshasa, Jan. 23 - The leader of the Congolese Tutsi rebels, general Laurent Nkunda, was arrested last night in Rwanda, as announced by the chief ...
WORLD BRIEFING Los Angeles Times, CA - 10 hours ago A joint Rwanda-Congo force converged Thursday on Nkunda's stronghold in the Congolese town of Bunagana on the Ugandan border, said Capt. ...
Rebel Leader Nkunda Arrested in Rwanda Washington Post, United States - 11 hours ago Tutsi rebel leader Laurent Nkunda was arrested in Rwandan territory after he tried to resist a joint Rwandan-Congolese military operation in eastern Congo, ...
Congo rebel leader arrested in Rwanda International Herald Tribune, France - 12 hours ago HONG KONG: Laurent Nkunda, the feared and flamboyant Congolese rebel leader, was apprehended Friday by a joint force of Rwandan and Congolese army troops, ...
Concerns Grow in DRC as Joint Operation With Rwanda Continues Voice of America - 20 hours ago By Derek Kilner Rwandan and Congolese troops are trying to disarm a Rwandan-Hutu militia in a joint operation in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. ...
Congo says Rwandans could open fire on militias eTaiwan News, Taiwan - 22 hours ago By EDDY ISANGO AP AP Rwandan troops deploying in Congo this week are part of an effort to peacefully demobilize Rwandan militias, but they will fight if ...
Kabila decision to embrace Rwanda angers Congolese AFP - Jan 22, 2009 KINSHASA (AFP) — President Joseph Kabila's decision to allow Rwandan troops into eastern DR Congo for a joint military operation to rid the region of armed ...
Bloody history, unhappy future Economist, UK - Jan 22, 2009 NO ONE doubts the scale of the war in Congo. Ten African countries dispatched troops there in 1998. Two, Uganda and Rwanda, were trying to overthrow their ...
UN force demands role in Congo anti-rebel push Reuters - Jan 22, 2009 By John Kanyunyu GOMA, Congo, Jan 22 (Reuters) - United Nations peacekeepers in Congo demanded on Thursday to be given a role in joint military operations ...
Rwandan, Congolese troops heading for Nkunda stronghold AFP - Jan 22, 2009 RUTSHURU, DR Congo (AFP) — Congolese and Rwandan troops in the east of Democratic Republic of Congo are on Thursday heading towards the stronghold of Tutsi ...
UN peacekeepers not involved in military offensive against armed ... Xinhua, China - Jan 21, 2009 UNITED NATIONS, Jan. 21 (Xinhua) -- The joint military operation in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) against a Hutu militia does not involve UN ...
UN: Rwandan troops in Congo for joint operation CNN International - Jan 21, 2009 (CNN) -- Rwandan troops have crossed into the Democratic Republic of Congo to prepare for a joint operation with Congolese forces against a Hutu militia, ...
The World TIME - Jan 21, 2009 By Harriet Barovick Wednesday, Jan. 21, 2009 1 | Congo Cooperation Amid Chaos Nearly 1500 Rwandan troops have joined the Congolese army to hunt down Hutu ...
January 07, 2009 Steve said... Ingrid: Any thoughts on the LRA's predilection for massacre of civilians? I understand the murder of noncombatants has become a hallmark of low-intensity warfare, particularly in Africa, but I was hoping to get some feedback on the LRA's strategic logic in pursuing such vile tactics. Simply, WHY?
Yesterday I replied, saying this:
January 08, 2009 Steve: Mind altering substances? Not knowing or trusting who is who, uniformed or not? How to identify who is a civilian or not? Psychos pretending to be LRA so that the LRA are blamed? Are the LRA disciplined enough to use strategic logic? Voodoo? brainwashing? I really have no idea. The savagery is beyond my comprehension. What do you think? In the report posted here, Joseph Bangakya said. "Most were killed with machetes. (The LRA) are trying to save their ammunition."
Soon I shall be publishing here an exclusive 2,000 word report by Rob Crilly (a British freelance journalist writing about Africa for The Times) that helps shed more light on the LRA. Meanwhile, if any readers here have any thoughts on the LRA, please do share in a blog post or in the commenting facility here at Congo Watch - or email me. Thanks.
Note: Peter Eichstaedt recently posted a comment here at Congo Watch with information of a book he had written on the LRA entitled: First Kill Your Family: Child Soldiers of Uganda and the Lord’s Resistance Army.
After publishing this post, I shall respond to Peter's comment with a link to this post in the hope that he might enlighten us as to why the LRA have a predilection for the massacring of civilians.
Sorry for the delay in responding to comments. Google's Blogger email notification of comments is not working so it takes a day or two or longer if I don't visit my Dashboard.
Here are some reviews and photos extracted from those websites:
Synopsis
“Richard Opio has neither the look of a cold-blooded killer nor the heart of one. Yet as his mother and father lay on the ground with their hands tied, Richard used the blunt end of an ax to crush their skulls. He was ordered to do this by a unit commander of the Lord’s Resistance Army, a rebel group that has terrorized northern Uganda for twenty years. The memory racks Richard’s slender body as he wipes away tears.”
For more than twenty years, beginning in the mid-1980s, the Lord’s Resistance Army has ravaged northern Uganda. Tens of thousands have been slaughtered, and thousands more mutilated and traumatized. At least 1.5 million people have been driven from a pastoral existence into the squalor of refugee camps.
The leader of the rebel army is the rarely seen Joseph Kony, a former witchdoctor and self-professed spirit medium who continues to evade justice and wield power from somewhere near the Congo~Sudan border. Kony claims he not only can predict the future but also can control the minds of his fighters. And control them he does: the Lord’s Resistance Army consists of children who are abducted from their homes under cover of night. As initiation, the boys are forced to commit atrocities—murdering their parents, friends, and relatives—and the kidnapped girls are forced into lives of sexual slavery and labor.
In First Kill Your Family, veteran journalist Peter Eichstaedt goes into the war-torn villages and refugee camps, talking to former child soldiers, child “brides,” and other victims. He examines the cultlike convictions of the army; how a pervasive belief in witchcraft, the spirit world, and the supernatural gave rise to this and other deadly movements; and what the global community can do to bring peace and justice to the region. This insightful analysis delves into the war’s foundations and argues that, much like Rwanda’s genocide, international intervention is needed to stop Africa’s virulent cycle of violence.
Publishers Weekly
Eichstaedt (If You Poison Us) offers a heartfelt if sometimes lopsided look at the consequences of prolonged civil war. Northern Uganda has been under siege by the rebel group the Lord's Resistance Army, or LRA, for 20 years, leading to death tolls rivaling those in Darfur, Sudan, which has garnered considerably more media attention. The LRA is known for employing brutal techniques, including mutilating community members who inform on them, kidnapping children to serve as male child soldiers or female "brides," sex slaves for rebel soldiers.
Interviewing victims of these crimes, as well as perpetrators, government officials and non-governmental actors, Eichstaedt weaves a story of a decimated culture caught between merciless violence and the chaos of refugee camps. The result is a close analysis of this underreported crisis, which has only recently shown signs of abating. However, some of Eichstaedt's conclusions seem uninformed at best, including his one-sided look at religious views in Uganda, which prompt his remark, "There is no moral center of gravity here, no spiritual compass that one can hold against the horizon to escape the clamor and chaos."
Peter Eichstaedt is the Africa editor for the Institute of War and Peace Reporting in The Hague. He is a veteran journalist who has reported from locations worldwide, including Slovenia, Moldova, Afghanistan, Albania, Armenia, and Uganda, and a former senior editor for Uganda Radio Network. He is the author of If You Poison Us: Uranium and Native Americans.
Kirkus Reviews
Veteran journalist Eichstaedt (If You Poison Us: Uranium and Native Americans, 1994) blows the lid off atrocities in East Africa involving alarmingly young war recruits. After working with the Institute of War and Peace Reporting (IWPR) in the Hague to successfully establish an independent news agency in Afghanistan, the author in 2005 went to Uganda to do the same. The nation had been racked by civil war for 20 years, and nearly 95 percent of its citizens lived in refugee camps. But the desperate situation received little international media coverage.
Eichstaedt's attention soon focused on Uganda's northern region, ravaged by the Lord's Resistance Army. This guerrilla group, formed in rebellion against the government, was comprised mainly of children. The author personally interviewed eyewitnesses to the LRA's slaughter of Ugandan citizens, its own high-ranking officers and the child soldiers themselves. Their tales of savagery repulsed him. "That humans were capable of doing such things for years on end was hard to fathom," he writes.
Dense, in-depth reporting showcases LRA leader Joseph Kony, a self-proclaimed witch doctor and prophet whose adoption of the name Lord's Resistance, and of the Ten Commandments as a "moral guide," was bitterly ironic in light of his tactics. The LRA kidnapped thousands of young male soldiers and child "brides," forcing them into military service and sexual servitude.
The young soldiers' first assignment was often to kill their family members. Interviews with former LRA members give an intimate spin to this concentrated narrative; those who managed to escape frequently returned home to find themselves ostracized by their families for the violence they had done. A shaky truce has been established between warring factions, Eichstaedt writes, but the LRA and the elusive Kony remain formidable obstacles to lasting peace. A chillingly lucid report on a terminally tragic catastrophe. Agent: Michele Rubin/Writers House
What People Are Saying
Desmond Tutu You must read this powerful book. Peter Eichstaedt has given voice to the victims of the largely unheard-of tragedy of Uganda. This story calls out to our very humanity.
Mac Maharaj A book filled with haunting images that leave one groping for answers. (Mac Maharaj, South African author and activist)
Douglas Farah This fine firsthand account should be read by anyone seeking to grapple with the challenges of war and peace in coming decades. (Douglas Farah, author, Merchant of Death and Blood from Stones)
John Dau This book is a call to action to help our brothers and sisters in Africa that we can no longer ignore. (John Dau, president, John Dau Sudan Foundation, and coauthor, God Grew Tired of Us: A Memoir)
Some Customer Reviews
December 28, 2008 For two decades, a bizarre guerrilla movement called the "Lord's Resistance Army" - part Christian-animist cult, part ethnic uprising, part simple banditry - has plagued northern Uganda and the adjoining areas of Sudan and the Congo. Its chieftain, Joseph Kony, is a former witch doctor who claims to be "fighting for the Ten Commandments". Its principal method of recruitment is the abduction of pre-teenagers, who are compelled to serve as porters, concubines and soldiers. Its trademark atrocity is cutting off the lips and noses of captives who are not pressed into service. Though its numbers have never been large, it has disrupted life throughout its area of operations. Casualties are estimated at 100,000 dead and nearly two million displaced into refugee camps.
Journalist Peter Eichstaedt's account of this long conflict is disjointed, pedestrian and overloaded with platitudes, but not ineffective. Interviews with memorable figures, ranging from former boy soldiers to Catholic missionaries to rebel and government leaders, are interspersed with the author's travelogue through a desperate land. The montage manages to convey the horror and hardship suffered by the war's victims, both those killed, maimed or abducted by the LRA and those forced into overcrowded, unhealthy and ill-defended camps by the dubiously competent Ugandan government. (Many refugees believe that the southern-dominated regime welcomes the excuse to debilitate traditionally hostile northern tribes, a view whose merits the author has trouble evaluating.)
As the book proceeds, the prospect nears of a happy ending. Community militias organize an effective resistance to the LRA. It loses the tacit backing of the Sudanese junta and is forced back to an enclave in the Congo. Peace talks begin. They never quite reach fruition, however. Again and again, the sides reach ostensible agreement, Kony announces that he will appear to sign the final accords, and then he reneges at the last minute. (Another round of this fandango took place after the book went to press, leading to a joint Ugandan-Sudanese-Congolese offensive that may (emphasize "may") be on the verge of dismantling the LRA at long last.)
A couple of morals are quite plain, though the author not only doesn't see, but actively denies, them: First, in dealing with enemies on the fringes of rationality, an ounce of military effort is worth many pounds of peace-making initiatives overseen by cosmopolitan do-gooders. Second, the International Criminal Court, which has brought formal charges against Kony and several of his top lieutenants (its very first indictments, in fact), can accomplish nothing. In this case, it may be hindering the attainment of peace, since the LRA's commanders are, not too surprisingly, unwilling to give themselves up for trial and have demanded the quashing of the indictments as a condition for signing peace terms. Useless at best and counterproductive at worst, the ICC nonetheless has Mr. Eichstaedt's whole-hearted support, perhaps because, as he reveals in a throwaway paragraph, he hopes to see American leaders someday facing "justice" before it.
Americans pay far too little attention to Africa. Therefore, books like this one can be commended to the importance of their subject and the excellence of their intentions, if not for the quality of their execution. - - -
December 24, 2008 This is a chilling book about the strife in Africa. I couldnt put this book down. Parts of it made me ill, seeing the souls of the worst people that have ever existed in history. A hundred thousand little Stalins and a bad idea. It sent chills up my spine knowing some of these murderers have immigrated. - - -
December 18, 2008 This courageous book is dedicated to the people of northern Uganda who lost their lives or suffered at the hands of the Lord's Resistance Army. Peter Eichstaedt has given voice to the child soldiers and other victims of the largely unheard-of tragedy of Uganda. We rarely hear about this on the evening news!
I highly recommend this firsthand account of events that are taking place in our lifetime for anyone seeking to understand the state of the world. We are all connected. "First Kill Your Family" should be read by the young people of our country as soon as they are old enough to comprehend the content, so that they can begin to understand the challenges humanity is faced with.
The book opens with a quote by Martin Luther King Jr.:
"Man's inhumanity to man is not only perpetrated by the vitriolic actions of those who are bad, it is also perpetrated by the vitiating inaction of those who are good."
--Suza Francina, yoga teacher, author, activist and volunteer with Global Resource Alliance (GRA),an organization based in Ojai, California, that is dedicated to improving the quality of life for the people of Africa. www.globalresourcealliance.org. - - -
December 18, 2008 "First Kill Your Family" is the story of one reporter's journey to Uganda and examination of the "Lord's Resistance Army" or the LRA. The author goes to different parts of Uganda to find out the effects of the long war that the LRA has waged in northern Uganda. It is fascinating reporting - but each chapter is a story in and of itself. The next chapter is usually only tangentially related to the previous one. The only common theme is the effects of the LRA on Uganda.
While a similar subject, "A Long Way Gone" is much more readable because it is the story of one captured boy soldier and his experiences as a boy soldier in Sierra Leone. It is still worth a read if you are interested in this particular war, but it reads much better if you think of it as a collection of news reports from the battlefield in Uganda. - - -
Product Details ISBN: 1556527993 ISBN-13: 9781556527999 Format: Hardcover, 336pp Publisher: Chicago Review Press, Incorporated Pub. Date: February 2009
POSTSCRIPT FROM CONGO WATCH Afterthought - 5 minutes after publishing this post: What is this about I wonder? (I have highlighted it in red): "Many refugees believe that the southern-dominated regime welcomes the excuse to debilitate traditionally hostile northern tribes" Note to self to find out more.
JUBA, Sudan, Jan 8, 2009 (AFP) - Ugandan rebels of the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) have killed at least 40 people in south Sudan since Christmas, an official said on Wednesday.
The rebels attacked villagers, looted houses and burnt huts in the Western Equatoria region of Sudan, as fighters fled attacks on their jungle bases across the border in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
"They have killed around 40, mostly in the Mundri and Maridi districts," said Colonel Joseph Ngere Paciko, deputy state governor for Western Equatoria.
"One or two they may have shot, but mostly they have hacked people with machetes, or just clubbed them to death."
Troops from Congo, Uganda and south Sudan launched a joint operation in mid-December against the rebels in the northeast DR Congo -- an isolated region near the Ugandan and Sudanese borders.
"Where I am now, they have killed three more with machetes," Paciko said, speaking by satellite telephone from the field.
"Some huts have been burnt, but mostly they are looting -- taking food and medicines."
Tens of thousands of people have also been killed and nearly two million displaced in Uganda in two decades of fighting between the LRA and Ugandan government forces.
Blamed for widespread human rights violations over the years, the LRA is accused of killing hundreds of civilians in northeastern DR Congo -- at least 400, according to Catholic aid group Caritas -- during the Christmas period.
"They are desperate because they are running away from their bases that have been attacked," Paciko added. "But they are also angry with the people of south Sudan, because they think it is these people who have betrayed them."
He was not able to give precise figures on the numbers of fighters in the area, but said several groups are active.
"They are moving in small groups of 15 to 20 fighters -- classic guerilla tactics that are causing havoc to the region," he added.
The joint offensive was launched after LRA leader Joseph Kony repeatedly refused to sign a peace agreement with Kampala aimed at ending one of Africa's longest conflicts.
Tuesday, January 06, 2009 UNHCR report by Margarida Fawke in Bunia, Democratic Republic of the Congo:
UNHCR staff have taken part in a joint assessment mission to an area of north-eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (Congo) hit by deadly attacks in recent weeks by a rebel Ugandan group.
A UN team, gathering members of UNHCR and sister agencies, met local officials, representatives of local non-governmental organizations (NGO), and displaced civilians during last weekend's visit to the towns of Tadu and Faradje in Orientale province.
The rebel Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) attacked Faradje, some 100 kilometres west of the border between the DRC, Sudan and Uganda, on December 25-26, leaving at least 70 people dead and forcing some 37,000 to flee.
According to initial estimates, LRA fighters have killed up to 500 Congolese civilians in various attacks in the region since the launch on December 14 of a joint Congolese, Sudanese and Ugandan military operation against the rebels. The UN estimates more than 50,000 people have been displaced since mid-December, which is in addition to the 50,000 displaced during an earlier escalation of violence between September and November last year.
The latest rebel attack came on Monday in the Orientale village of Napopo. According to a sketchy report received by UNHCR, up to eight people were killed and houses set ablaze. An unknown number of people were reportedly kidnapped. Two days earlier, rebels attacked the village of Nagero, 24 kms north-west of Faradje, killing at least eight people and displacing some 3,500.
Meanwhile, the joint UN team found that most of those displaced by the LRA's Christmas attack on Faradje and its surroundings were still hiding in the bush. Some of the displaced moved towards Tadu, 37 kms south of Faradje where more than 1,000 displaced people have been registered, mostly women and children.
According to the displaced from Faradje and local NGOs, 225 people, including 160 children, have been kidnapped by the LRA and more than 80 women raped. The mission reported that people in the area were shocked and traumatized by the brutality of the attacks.
UNHCR team members said Faradje had been pillaged and destroyed by fire. More than 800 houses, three schools, government buildings and medical facilities were burned down. Most of Faradje's households lost their annual rice harvest in the fires.
Registration of the newly displaced population is under way in Tadu, Faradje and neighbouring villages. The population is in dire need of food, shelter, medicine, clothes and other aid items. However, the area remains highly volatile and insecurity is a key obstacle for access by UNHCR and other aid agencies. The refugee agency is working with the local authorities and others to find ways of managing assistance in these inaccessible areas.
The Uganda People’s Defence Forces (UPDF) have captured more military equipment and food from the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) rebels.
During yesterday’s cordon-and-search operation, the troops recovered the items from rebel bases in the west of Garamba Forest.
The items include 1,000kgs of sugar, four sub-machine guns with 60 rounds of ammunition, a radio communication charging system with three batteries, two Codan manpack radios, two frequency military radios, a satellite phone and one Mageran Global Positioning System.
“The rebels become more vulnerable as they lose the will and means to make war,” said army spokesperson Maj. Paddy Ankunda.
“The operation against the rebels will continue unless (LRA leader) Joseph Kony signs the Juba peace agreement and assembles at Ri-Kwangba,” he added.
On Sunday, the army recovered a grenade launcher near Camp Swahili. This is the rebel group’s main camp.
Other items captured at the start of the operation were passports, communication equipment and 30 machine guns.
Ankunda said the joint forces were working together to protect civilians. Meanwhile, the army extended condolences to families that lost their loved ones to the rebel attacks during the festive season.
Forces from Uganda, the Democratic Republic of Congo and South Sudan launched a joint operation against the LRA in north-eastern part of DRC on December 14.
As the rebels fled, they massacred over 400 civilians in Dungu. UN, Congolese and Ugandan officials said the rebels split into small groups.
Yesterday, there were reports that some of the rebels were seen in the Ango region heading towards the Central African Republic (CAR). In February and March last year, the rebels crossed over Congo’s border with CAR, where they attacked villages and abducted over 150 people.
It is said the abducted people were used as porters, sex-slaves and child soldiers. Despite claims of early success and the unanimous backing of the UN Security Council, the offensive has failed to find Kony.
The military operation follows Kony’s refusal to sign a peace deal since July 2006. He demands that the International Criminal Court arrest warrant issued against him and his top commanders be dropped.
Officers in the main rebel group in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo say they have ousted their leader, Gen Laurent Nkunda - a claim he denies.
CNDP officers told the BBC they had removed Gen Nkunda because of what they described as "bad governance".
But a spokesman for Gen Nkunda then told the BBC that this was not true.
The decision to remove Gen Nkunda as leader of the National Congress for the Defence of the People (CNDP) reportedly came after a meeting of the rebel group's military high command on Sunday.
In a statement sent to the BBC and signed by Brig-Gen Bosco Ntaganda, the rebels' chief of staff, the high command said Gen Nkunda's "bad leadership" and "bad governance" had distracted the CNDP from undertaking its normal activities and was dangerous for the Congolese people.
The high command had also resolved to set up an ad-hoc "transitional council" to run the group until further notice, the statement said.
A spokesman for the high command, Kamanzi Desire, said the council would ensure that the peace process continued.
"The new leadership has pledged before CNDP members, the Congolese people and the international community to create favourable conditions for peace to return to eastern DR Congo with the help of the international community and Monuc (UN Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo)," he told BBC Afrique.
But a spokesman for Gen Nkunda then told the BBC by phone that the rebel leader had not been ousted - and during that phone call what appeared to be the voice of Gen Nkunda could be heard in the background.
The general had called a meeting of senior rebel leaders to take place on Tuesday, the spokesman said.
In recent weeks, Gen Nkunda has reportedly been in Rutshuru, a town in North Kivu, along with a battalion of his troops.
The reports indicate that a power struggle may be taking place within the CNDP.
If the CNDP splits, it could just mean another rebel group is added to a deadly cocktail of armed militias, correspondents say.
According to some of the latest news reports reprinted here below:
Currently, LRA commanders Okot Odhiambo and Bok Abudema are heading to CAR; Okeny Opwa is in Maridi, South Sudan. Kony is shuttling between these places. Killing LRA’s notorious commanders could leave Kony bare. It is already reported that Odhiambo and Abudema are in a critical condition, both suffering from gout and probably injured during the December 14 air raids.
Kony is in the fringes of Garamba, North of Maridi but in the Sudan territory.
On Friday morning, LRA fighters attacked an SPLA truck at Tori and a commercial truck in Yei, Sudan. In the overnight raid, dozens of the fighters attacked the headquarters of the Garamba National Park in Magero town, a few kilometres from the Sudan border. Local authorities said the rebels had retreated to the north of the Garamba jungles on the Sudan border. Twenty people were killed local officials said today (Monday January 05, 2009).
U.N., Congolese and Ugandan officials have said the rebels, estimated to number between 800 and 1,000, have splintered into smaller groups. Only some are believed to be headed for CAR. LRA forces have been seen in the Ango region on the border with CAR. There was no sign the rebels had crossed into CAR.
During three days of raids beginning on December 25, fleeing LRA fighters attacked several Congolese towns, slaughtering civilians and looted and burned hundreds of homes.
The deputy governor of Orientale province, where the attacks happened, told Reuters on Saturday that the bodies of 271 victims had so far been buried, but the death toll was rising.
"The number is going up every day," Joseph Bangakya said. "Most were killed with machetes. (The LRA) are trying to save their ammunition."
Catholic humanitarian charity Caritas said it believed more than 400 people had died in the attacks.
Uganda has sent more troops to the area to prevent more LRA raids. Congo's 17,000-strong U.N. peacekeeping mission, MONUC, has said it is assisting the deployment of additional Congolese forces but is not participating directly in the joint offensive.
The UN has expressed support for the assault on the LRA. “We cannot condemn this military action because we can see the merit of it,” the UN envoy to northern Uganda, Joaquim Chissano, said last month.
“The aim of the attacks now is to force Kony out because he should not be given opportunity to entertain other options than are open to him through the peace process. The negotiations are over... what is remaining is the signing of the final peace agreement.”
Under the current agreement, if Kony signed, the government of Uganda would go to the Security Council or the International Criminal Court and request for the suspension of the arrest warrants. Then Kony could move freely into Uganda where justice would be applied according to what is foreseen in the agreement. In May, a special war crimes court was established in Uganda to deal with cases of human rights violations committed during the two-decade insurgency.
Note, Operation Lightning Thunder did not begin on time as instructed. President Museveni ordered attack for 7:30 am, but was it carried out at 11:30 am. And ground troops were also not deployed in time to start the cordon-and search operation. This, they said gave the rebels ample time to carry the dead and move out of the danger zone.
Ugandan rebels blame the Christmas massacres on the joint force currently in eastern Congo.
Map showing Maridi, Southern Sudan
Credit: www.joshuaproject.net - - -
Ri-Kwangba
Sorry, unable to find a good map.
Ri-Kwangba is a site in West Equatoria, Sudan, near the border with the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It, along with Owiny Ki-Bul, is one of two assembly points for the rebel Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) under the Cessation of Hostilities Agreement agreed to by the LRA and government of Uganda on 26 August 2006.
In September 2006, the only structures at the location, which was essentially a 200-by-300 meter clearing in the jungle, were five huts.
June 2007 peace talks held in Ri-Kwangba resulted in an improvement of facilities, in order to handle the gathering of delegates. (Source: Wikipedia) - - -
The Lord's Resistance Army rebels on Friday raided a Congolese army base in the Garamba jungles to get food, local officials said yesterday. In the overnight raid, the rebels attacked a park ranger station in Magero town, a few kilometres from the Sudan border.
He said he had no details of casualties but no civilians had been hurt.
Efforts to get comments from the UPDF yesterday were fruitless.
On Friday morning, the rebels attacked an SPLA truck at Tori and a commercial truck in Yei, Sudan.
Local authorities said the rebels had retreated to the north of the Garamba jungles on the Sudan border.
There were reports that some LRA fighters were heading towards the Central African Republic (CAR).
Congo's information minister Lambert Mende said yesterday that the CAR government was deploying troops at its borders with DR Congo.
LRA forces have been seen in the Ango region on the border with CAR, Bangakya said.
Meanwhile, a group of civilians from the chiefdom of Mopoyi in Ango, have organised patrols to prevent attacks by the LRA.
Remnants of the rebel Lord's Resistance Army are fleeing towards Central African Republic, having been routed by a three-nation military operation, a Democratic Republic of Congo official said.
The Ugandan rebel force, which is being tracked down by DRC, Ugandan and south Sudanese troops, has suffered heavy losses in fighting that has uprooted tens of thousands of people, Joseph Bangakya, deputy governor of Orientale province, said.
"The LRA has been routed," said Bangakya, whose province spanning the Ugandan and Sudanese borders has been the target of the military operation.
But Bangui authorities said there was no sign the rebels had crossed into CAR, even as they announced they were reinforcing security on their border with Democratic Republic of Congo.
Blamed for widespread atrocities over the years, the LRA stands accused of killing hundreds of civilians in several parts of the Orientale region during the Christmas holidays - some 400 according to the Catholic NGO Caritas.
"What we know is that the LRA have suffered serious casualties and lost their food stock plus equipment," Captain Chris Magezi of Uganda said.
The latest clashes add to a host of troubles plaguing this conflict-wracked central African country, with local authorities estimating they have displaced some 68 000 people in just over two weeks.
"The humanitarian situation remains very critical," Bangakya said, adding regional officials were eagerly awaiting medical and other supplies promised by Kinshasa.
Photo: Operation Lightning Thunder soldiers before they were airlifted to DR Congo
UGANDAN troops entered the Democratic Republic of Congo 20 days ago to flush out the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) rebels, after its leader, Joseph Kony, refused to sign a peace accord.
The joint military attack on the LRA is expected to bring the 22-year-old rebellion in northern Uganda to an end with the prospect of arresting Kony himself or eliminating him.
But the reality is that the operation, backed by the regional forces, the UN and the US, seems to have made northern leaders more wary than ever before, given that the most affected region had experienced peace for the last two years. They fear that the offensive may have fatally undermined any chance of achieving permanent peace.
The Government, however, argues that the operation was successful because it sent Kony scampering and his fighters in disarray. It continues to assure and announce that they will achieve their objective ‘sooner’.
The warring parties entered into a peace negotiation in July 2006, mediated by Southern Sudan vice-president Riek Machar in Juba. A final peace agreement was drawn, but Kony refused to sign, demanding that the International Criminal Court (ICC) arrest warrant issued against him and his commanders for crimes against humanity be dropped.
The offensive, also aimed at forcing Kony back to sign the agreements, has taken a new turn with the troops now planning to increase their dominance in the vast Garamba jungle in northeastern Congo.
Sources said more battalions are being ferried into the region, in a bid to boost the ground forces, code-named Operation Lightning Thunder.
Dislodged from their hideout in Garamba National Park in Congo, the rebels are said to be scattered in the jungle and the army is closing in on them. Kony is reportedly heading towards the Central African Republic (CAR).
A Savimbi-like end
The Juba talks attracted a lot of international support and funding from the US, European Union, African Union and United Nations. This is believed to translate into support for the offensive against the LRA, putting more pressure on the rebel group.
Last week the UN Security Council extended their stay in Congo and revised the mandate of the UN mission in Congo (MONUC) to deal with negative forces such as the LRA. MONUC is gathering intelligence information against the LRA and also providing helicopter gunships. The UPDF is also using its strategic base in Dungu as a centre of operation. Growing international interest in the region, especially the American interest in oil-rich South Sudan and DR Congo, Congo Brazzaville and the French in CAR, could trigger a Savimbi-like operation whose end was brought about by a growing international interest both in Angola’s oil and politics.
The LRA and Angola’s UNITA (National Union for total independence of Angola) have several tactics in common and analysts argue that Uganda could borrow a leaf from the war against the rebel group. Its leader, Jonas Savimbi, after surviving more than a dozen assassination attempts, was killed on February 22, 2002, in a battle with Angolan government troops, who had support from South African mercenaries and Israeli Special Forces.
The army offensive dubbed Kissonde was sustained for six months, with the Angolan government isolating Savimbi by targeting and killing his commanders. LRA, just like UNITA, applies diversionary tactics to draw attention away from its leader. The death of Savimbi’s commanders was a serious setback, as it deprived him of diversionary troops who had until then concentrated on attracting attention away from their leader.
Currently, LRA commanders Okot Odhiambo and Bok Abudema are heading to CAR; Okeny Opwa is in Maridi, South Sudan. Kony is shuttling between these places. Killing LRA’s notorious commanders could leave Kony bare. It is already reported that Odhiambo and Abudema are in a critical condition, both suffering from gout and probably injured during the December 14 air raids.
Isolation
Savimbi was further weakened when he lost important means of communication by radio. At the moment, the LRA rebel leader and his commanders have abandoned their satellite phones and walkie-talkies for fear of being tracked.
Sources, however, said Kony has acquired a Zain line. Kony’s second-in-command, Odhiambo, military intelligence says, has been able to switch his satellite phone on only for a minute every day.
Gulu Resident District Commissioner Walter Ochora believes that with the LRA’s communication being cut off, the Government soldiers would succeed in capturing or killing the rebel leader. He argued that the operation has been a success given that the fighters are scattered and could be vulnerable to the UPDF as they are now in small groups. “This operation has disrupted his plan to reorganise,” said Ochora
His escape to South Sudan or the CAR could, however, lay him bare. In South Sudan or CAR, the ground troops would also be able to move faster compared to the difficult Garamba terrain.
Kony at a crossroads
During the last attempt to sign the final peace agreement on November 29, Kony seemed more paranoid than times past, reportedly allowing his guards to conduct an embarrassing body search of the Ugandan delegation — a group of elders. When they returned, according to the state minister for defence Ruth Nakabirwa who camped nearby, some could hardly talk about what had happened. The rebel leader also claimed he had been told that his supporters in the diaspora were breaking away from him and starting another insurgency.
Keen LRA watchers argue that the combination of imminent starvation following the air strikes, the razing of large food gardens and the cutting off of supply lines from Caritas and the threat by the UPDF, could have forced the LRA to show eagerness to surrender or sign the peace deal before it is too late.
Regional problem
“The LRA is now a regional problem,” said Capt. Chris Magezi, in November 2008, while still the peace talks spokesperson.
One game-changing move is that Kony was reckless enough to provoke a border incident between South Sudan, DR Congo and Uganda. He attacked and killed civilians in DR Congo and South Sudan. On December 5, according to President Yoweri Museveni, he had sent a team to attack northern Uganda via South Sudan.
The Congolese government has turned their attention to Kony after he killed hundreds of civilians in DR Congo over the Christmas period. South Sudan’s involvement is, however, expected to grow because the US, South Sudan’s patron, has long urged three-way action — by the Ugandans, Congolese, and the South Sudanese against the LRA.
UN backs action
The UN has expressed support for the assault on the LRA. “We cannot condemn this military action because we can see the merit of it,” the UN envoy to northern Uganda, Joaquim Chissano, said last month.
“The aim of the attacks now is to force Kony out because he should not be given opportunity to entertain other options than are open to him through the peace process. The negotiations are over... what is remaining is the signing of the final peace agreement.”
Under the current agreement, if Kony signed, the government of Uganda would go to the Security Council or the International Criminal Court and request for the suspension of the arrest warrants. Then Kony could move freely into Uganda where justice would be applied according to what is foreseen in the agreement. In May, a special war crimes court was established in Uganda to deal with cases of human rights violations committed during the two-decade insurgency.
Will not capture him
“They cannot capture him (Kony) they will not succeed,” said the LRA spokesperson Matsanga, who claims he speaks to Kony often. “Those claiming they hit Kony are lying,” he added.
Matsanga’s confidence is based on his claims that the group is getting intelligence briefing from a section of soldiers in both SPLA and Battalion 105 of the UPDF. The 105 Battalion, composed of LRA combatants, was only formed in 2004.
The troops made a few blunders at the start of the operation and this could cost the operation a great deal. But these, the President said were ‘challenges’ that could be corrected. The operation did not begin on time as instructed. President Museveni ordered attack for 7:30am, but was it carried out at 11:30am. And ground troops were also not deployed in time to start the cordon-and search operation. This, they said gave the rebels ample time to carry the dead and move out of the danger zone.
Gulu District chairman Norbert Mao, describes the operation as ‘unnecessary’ and points that the operation failed right from the start. Mao suggests that the troops be withdrawn and negotiations reopened.
Aswa MP Reagan Okumu, suggests that the troops go back to the drawing board and plan a two military approach based on how to assassinate the LRA leadership, as it is the top commanders who are holding everybody.
Alternatively, the troops should allow the rebels to regroup, and plan a precise rescue mission. “If they continue now, Kony is likely to disappear underneath and the chief culprit will be difficult to get, but if they allow them to regroup, then they can get them.”
Those opposed to the operation call it a miscalculated, hurried offensive, with a very broad objective. They suggest that the Government should have designed a rescue mission that would target the leadership, not the entire force.
Since the launch of the attack, allied forces are yet to make contact with the elusive rebel leader and the other five notorious commanders. Kony, Odhiambo, Dominic Ongwen and Ceasar Achillam have managed to conceal themselves.
Ugandan Lord's Resistance Army rebels, who killed hundreds of Congolese villagers in a Christmas week massacre, are preparing to enter neighbouring Central African Republic, Congo's government spokesman said.
Hundreds of LRA fighters are fleeing a nearly 3-week-old multinational assault led by Uganda against their bases in Garamba National Park, in northeastern Democratic Republic of Congo.
"According to intelligence we have received, they are preparing to enter Central African Republic. A pursuit is underway," Congo's Information Minister Lambert Mende said.
"(The Central African Republic government) is sending troops to the border," he told Reuters on Saturday.
Central African Republic authorities could not be reached.
The LRA was driven out of northern Uganda, where its two-decade bush war killed thousands of people and displaced 2 million more, but the group has continued to carry out raids in Congo, Sudan and Central African Republic.
In February and March last year, LRA fighters crossed over Congo's porous border with Central African Republic.
Over 10 days, they attacked villages in the impoverished former French colony's sparsely populated east, abducting about 150 people for use as porters, sex slaves and child soldiers.
Uganda, Congo and South Sudan launched a joint assault on December 14 after LRA leader Joseph Kony again failed to sign a deal to end his rebellion against Uganda's government.
Ugandan military officials have said bombing raids destroyed the majority of the LRA's jungle strongholds.
U.N., Congolese and Ugandan officials have said the rebels, estimated to number between 800 and 1,000, have splintered into smaller groups. Only some are believed to be headed for CAR.
In an overnight raid on Friday, dozens of rebels attacked a park ranger station in the town of Nagero, several hundred kilometres from the border with Central African Republic.
RISING DEATH TOLL
Despite claims of early success and the unanimous backing of U.N. Security Council members, the offensive has failed to find Kony, a reclusive self-styled mystic, or crush his rebellion.
An LRA spokesman said Kony, who is wanted for war crimes along with two deputies by the International Criminal Court in The Hague, survived the camp bombings.
Human rights campaigners are increasingly worried by heavy civilian casualties from assaults by fleeing LRA fighters.
During three days of raids beginning on December 25, fleeing LRA fighters attacked several Congolese towns, slaughtering civilians and looted and burned hundreds of homes.
The deputy governor of Orientale province, where the attacks happened, told Reuters on Saturday that the bodies of 271 victims had so far been buried, but the death toll was rising.
"The number is going up every day," Joseph Bangakya said. "Most were killed with machetes. (The LRA) are trying to save their ammunition."
Catholic humanitarian charity Caritas said it believed more than 400 people had died in the attacks.
Uganda has sent more troops to the area to prevent more LRA raids. Congo's 17,000-strong U.N. peacekeeping mission, MONUC, has said it is assisting the deployment of additional Congolese forces but is not participating directly in the joint offensive.
Ugandan rebels blame attacks on the joint force currently in eastern Congo.
The beleaguered Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) has denied any involvement in the killing of hundreds of civilians in northeastern Congo. Mr Justine Labeja, deputy leader of the LRA peace delegation said that the atrocities being blamed on the LRA were perpetrated by the Uganda People's Defence Forces (UPDF) and the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) currently in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
"The whole world knows that the UPDF has gone to Congo to kill innocent civilians and blame it on the LRA. When they drop bombs from helicopter gunships, do they expect them to land on trees?" Labeja wondered.
He justified his assertion, referring to the UPDF occupation of Congo between 1996 and 2001 during which thousands of Congolese civilians were killed. Then, as now, the UPDF went to eastern Congo ostensibly to flush out the LRA. But the UPDF failed to capture the LRA insurgents and instead unleashed terror on the civilian population, besides plundering DRC's resources. The Kinshasa regime took Uganda to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) which in 1995 ordered Uganda to pay $10 billion in reparations.
"The UPDF and SPLA are already in north-eastern Congo where it is alleged that LRA fighters are killing civilians. If it is true the LRA soldiers are killing innocent civilians, how come not a single LRA fighter has been captured or killed by the combined force?" Labeja asked.
According to him, the UPDF and the SPLA are in the DRC not to fight the LRA but to exploit the minerals. He further claimed that the UPDF has joined Laurent Nkunda's National Congress for the Defence of the People (CNDP) as part of Museveni's grand scheme to topple President Joseph Kabila.
"The UPDF did not go to DRC to pursue the LRA. We have information that a contingent of the UPDF has joined Nkunda's forces with a bid to overthrow President Kabila as this is one of Museveni's grand plans", Labeja said.
Labeja was responding to reports by Caritas, an international NGO and the UN Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) that implicated the LRA in the murder of approximately 400 civilians on Christmas day and the subsequent period. According to the two organizations, the LRA soldiers attacked villagers in Faradge (some 80 km from the Sudanese border) and abducted children as they fled a joint military onslaught by the UPDF, SPLA and the Congolese army launched on Dec. 14.
But Labeja and his boss David Matsanga maintain that Kony has no intention of avenging the attacks on his camps and will only defend himself when the forces finally catch up with him.
"Uganda, Southern Sudan, DRC and the international community should wake up to the reality that a military option has never and will never bring peace to northern Uganda and the country at large," Labeja added.
On the issue of abduction, Labeja defends the LRA, saying that no rebel movement conducts an open and voluntary military recruitment, citing President Museveni who as a rebel leader also recruited children known as "Kadogo" (small ones) into his ranks.
Twenty people were killed in a raid by Ugandan Lord's Resistance Army rebels on a park ranger station in northern Democratic Republic of Congo, local officials said on Monday.
Dozens of LRA fighters attacked the headquarters of the Garamba National Park in the town of Negero, in Congo's Orientale province, late on Friday.
"Ten people were killed, including two women, two park rangers, an electrician and five other civilians who have not yet been identified," Orientale's Deputy Governor Joseph Bangakya told Reuters.
Ten rebels were also killed in the four-hour gunbattle with armed park rangers and Congolese soldiers based at Negero's airstrip as part of a three-week-old multinational assault on LRA strongholds in northeastern Congo, Bangakya said.
In two separate attacks on Sunday, LRA gunmen raided a protestant mission in the Congolese village of Napopo and attacked Laso, a village in Sudan, local officials said. It was not immediately clear whether anyone died in the incidents.
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International Criminal Court
Photo: Joaquim Chissano, UN Special Envoy for LRA-affected areas, briefed the UN Security Council on 17 December 2008. The Coalition urged the Security Council to honor the Court’s arrest warrants for LRA members. Credit: CICC
