Den ugandiske oprørsbevægelse LRA, Lord’s Resistance Army med Joseph Kony i spidsen vokser sig tilsyneladende – og mod forventning – stadig større og stærkere. LRA opererer nu i DR Congo (tidl. Zaire), Sydsudan og Den Centralafrikanske Republik (CAR).
,ZEMIO, 21 November 2011 (IRIN): When Joseph Kony’s Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) was forced out of northern Uganda, it was safely assumed by many observers, including senior commanders in the Ugandan People’s Defence Force (UPDF), that a fast-diminishing, ill-defined insurrection (oprør) would quickly burn itself out, unable to survive in alien terrain, losing access to what remained of its already disaffected Acholi support base.
After the final collapse of the Juba peace process in late 2008 and the failure of several less high-profile peace initiatives, the government of Yoweri Museveni warned repeatedly that Kony loyalists faced a stark choice: arrest or elimination, ruling out fresh attempts at dialogue, but still holding out the possibility of amnesty to would-be defectors (afhoppere).
LRA at large
But while the LRA has been largely inactive in northern Uganda since 2006, it has made its presence felt in the DR Congo, southern Sudan and Central African Republic (CAR).
All three states have known their own conflicts, but the LRA has added a whole new dimension to their internal problems, waging an on-off bush war that has mercilessly targeted civilians and left a trail of destruction across large swathes (stykker) of territory, forcing thousands from their homes.
Bungled operations
Congolese, southern Sudanese and CAR forces have presented an easy enemy, easily out-manoeuvred and slow in pursuit. But the real humiliation befell the UPDF.
From Operation North in April 1991, through Operation Iron Fist in December 2002 to Operation Lightning Thunder in the DR Congos Garamba National Park in December 2008, the UPDF has unleashed (sluppet løs) huge resources on the LRA, often discreetly supported by successive US administrations.
But for all the UPDF’s intelligence capability and superior fire power, including the use of helicopter gunships and MiGs in Garamba, its military operations have delivered little beyond the killing or capture of several of Kony’s senior subordinates.
The dead include two who were targeted with International Criminal Court (ICC) arrest warrants in 2005 for crimes against humanity and war crimes: Vincent Otti, reportedly killed on Kony’s instructions, and Raska Lukwiya, killed by the UPDF.
Kony’s insistence that the ICC lift the warrants before the LRA signed a peace deal was one of several key stumbling-blocks in the Juba peace process.
Where is Kony?
Læs videre på
http://www.irinnews.org/InDepthMain.aspx?indepthid=92&reportid=94256
