Lord's Resistance Army's Atrocities Continue in Central Africa

Published: April 01, 2012

By Mina Fabulous ?

Lord's Resistance Army's (LRA) attack is on the rise in central Africa, leading to the displacement of thousands of people.

Reports say the attacks have taken place in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), the Central African Republic (CAR) and South Sudan.

According to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) 13 attacks in the DRC were recorded which resulted in two killings and 13 abductions, and the displacement of 1,230 people mostly from the Dungu territory in the country's north-east.

In CAR, LRA attacks have resumed after a lull since April 2011 with 11 attacks recorded this year.

UNHCR spokesperson Melissa Fleming said the security situation in south-eastern CAR remains extremely fragile.

One exception is the city of Obo, where US troops were deployed in October 2011 to bolster efforts by the joint CAR-Ugandan armed forces to hunt down the LRA and its leadership, Ms. Fleming added.

UN staff on the ground say that patrols around Obo by the two national armies supported by the US military advisers have helped local authorities to ensure security within a 25-kilometre radius from Obo, Ms. Fleming noted.

"The extended security is allowing residents to tend their farms." -Ms. Fleming

In addition, the LRA has also conducted attacks in South Sudan, which last year led to 7,382 people fleeing their homes.

LRA-related violence is seriously hampering humanitarian work in the province. According to UN data some 2,000 people have been killed and 2,500 abducted, including 892 children, in attacks against civilians in villages and towns across the Orientale province since December 2007.

Those abducted are used as porters, forced to work in the fields or use as sex slaves or new recruits. Attacks are often accompanied by extreme cruelty, including murder, mutilation, or amputation of the lips and ears - apparently aimed at terrorizing people with a view to displacing entire populations. Trauma lasting months or years is common among those who have fled.

The LRA was formed in the 1980s in Uganda and for over 15 years its attacks were mainly directed against Ugandan civilians and security forces, which in 2002 dislodged the rebels.

The LRA, a brutal rebel group responsible for Africa's longest-running armed conflict, has been murdering and mutilating innocent civilians across four countries. Kony uses fear and psychological manipulation to control his forces, which are primarily made up of kidnapped children who are forced to fight his illogical war.

This humanitarian crisis has been occurring for over two decades, but credible data about the scope and even the location of the LRA's violence has been difficult to attain because of the remoteness of the territories in which they operate. The LRA attacks and loots villages that are disconnected from outside communications and are unable to even send warning to neighboring villages just a few kilometers away. The difficulty in collecting, verifying and compiling credible information on the LRA has led to many of the mis-statements made recently about the President's big announcement.

The Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) and its self-appointed messiah, Joseph Kony, have been terrorizing Central Africa for 25 years, with up to 80 percent of attacks going unreported - until now.

Mina Fabulous follows the news, especially what is going on in the US State Department. Mina turns State Department waffle into plain english. Read more stories by Mina Fabulous. Contact Mina through NewsBlaze.

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