The Spotlight » LRA

LRA Chief Negotiator Calls for Dialogue

ugandaspotlight — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 21:27:12 +0000

By Robert Egwea in London, February 8, 2009

In reaction to the determination of UPDF to capture LRA leader Joseph Kony alive, David Nyekorach Matsanga (pictured) contacted us a short while ago and refuted the claim that Kony is in DRC.

“I have an official letter as the leader of the peace delegation from President Kabila on this issue. What is in the letter from President Kabila whom I spoke to on Thursday is different from what NRM propagandists in Kampala are saying”, said Matsanga

The LRA peace delegation leader stressed that Joseph Kony is not in DRC. “The UPDF can continue cutting down teak timber for export but as far as I am know Kony and the bulk of LRA are not in DRC”.

“I have also explained to President Kabila all facts regarding UPDF. Let us push for peace. A military solution will never bring peace to northern Uganda. Our people have suffered a lot and 23 years of deadline politics must be brought to an end through dialogue”

Matsanga added that our country needs peace not militarism and stressed that the global trends are in for dialogue not confrontation. “I value total peace, not half peace through the barrel of the gun”, he added.

The LRA peace negotiations leader concluded by saying: “Let us give our people the dignity that they have lost. Military option leads to more violence which I have condemned on both sides as LRA peace negotiator”.

UPDF to Stay in DRC and Capture LRA Rebel Boss Alive – Capt Deo Akiiki

ugandaspotlight — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 20:51:55 +0000

By Ronald Odongo in Gulu, February 8, 2009

UPDF Commandos boarding a military chopper to hunt down LRA rebels

The UPDF in Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) are upbeat to capture the elusive LRA rebel boss Joseph Kony and his top commanders alive. They have also maintained that they would continue with operation “Lightning Thunder” against LRA rebels in the jungle of Garamba, quashing several reports in the media that they were supposed to quit DRC today, Sunday the 8th February.
The UPDF and the joint task force spokesperson in Garamba Capt.Deo Akiiki told us that on the 23rd of January 2009 their stay in DRC was extended by 21 more days during a meeting organized by the General Chief of Staff of Congo and the Chief of Defence Forces of Uganda, Gen Aronda Nyakairima and held at Dungu Joint Task Force Tactical Headquarters. The meeting was also attended by intelligence chiefs of the two countries on behalf of DRC and Uganda governments.
Capt. Deo Akiiki noted that UPDF’s stay in DRC under a new arrangement would expire on the February 13, 2009, but he was expecting top military and intelligence officials of the from the two allied countries to would meet next week to review their operation.
Akiiki also said that since “Operation Lightning thunder” was launch on December 14, 2009, the UPDF and allied forces from DRC and the Southern Sudan have registered several achievements on daily basis, citing the killing of Kony’s fighters and capturing others including top commanders.
“Going by our score board, we have fully destroyed the rebels, we continue to rescue women and children and of course kill and capture LRA fighters while others are continuing to report after every fight” UPDF Garmba publist told us on Sunday, and added that the LRA are on the verge of total defeat.
He intimated to us that the pressure on LRA terrorists has hugely increased as more special squads close in on their senior commanders sending some to begin looking for ways of surrender or defection.
“This has happened at a time when our ground troops are fully taking charge of the Garamba jungles and steadily mastering the terrain. Common to UPDF, the wananch in DRC have joined hands and helping us with human intelligence on the whereabouts of this snake that has infiltrated them and the results of recent are more vivid than when we had just started the operation”, Akiiki added.
UPDF is mainly hosted by DRC and FARDC is a friendly force in this operation, therefore DRC still holds the bigger chunk of the determination of whether we should continue with the operations or not, although as members of the region and the international community which supports this operation we have a say and cause for being in Congo.
Of recent LRA has been starved and UPDF shall continue to starve them as long as they opt to fight on, according to Akiiki. “This was manifested by the current attempt by an LRA “senior” officer Maj Opori Okello who dared return to check if he could reach his former granary in former camps”.

Akiiki maintained that the UPDF advised those LRA rebel fighters and their commanders to surrender or defect as other commanders have done saying that whoever wants to come out would not be harmed.
“Okot Odhiambo and other commanders who want to surrender should not look any step behind but instead just make more strides forward to avoid extinction or death in the Congo jungles. It is still better to come out in the open than be captured or killed by our boys whose morale have gone wild as they play the game they know best”
“Leaving Kony in Congo may come with even more devastating terrorism as he may turn on helpless Congolese in revenge as he has ever done before to the people of Northern Uganda who would dare say his whereabouts. Halting a joint military Action, deadlines or UPDF leaving Congo or not therefore should not be the question, but the fact is that LRA has continued to terrorize the region and he must be stopped, period”, Capt Akiiki concluded.

Pictures From the Frontline

ugandaspotlight — Sun, 01 Feb 2009 05:39:26 +0000

As the allied forces from Uganda, Democratic Republic of Congo and Southern Sudan comb Garamba Forest where the barbaric LRA rebels have been hiding, our correspondent Ronald Odongo has posted pictures from the frontline which disprove claims by some Acholi Legislators that government troops bombed empty camps and killed only monkeys. Some of the pictures haven’t been published because they are too graphic, but they do confirm that LRA rebels have been hit hard and are being effectively eliminated.

A top Ugandan army Commander arrives in DRC

Capt Deo Akiiki (left) meets MONUC officer in DRC

Ugandan & DRC army officers share information

UPDF soldier tracking down Kony rebels

UPDF commandos boarding a helicopter

Ugandan and DRC officers shake hands

UPDF soldiers inspect the bodies of LRA rebels

The body of one of the rebels

One of the rescued women being welcomed by a UPDF officer

Women rescued from LRA rebels being interviewed

Barlonyo Massacre Rebel Commander Surrenders

ugandaspotlight — Sun, 01 Feb 2009 05:34:28 +0000

By Ronald Odongo in Dungu, DRC, January 28, 2009

The feared LRA Deputy Chief Maj. Gen. Okot Odhiambo, who spearheaded massacre of innocent civilians in Barlonyo IDP camp in Lira in 2004 is reported to have abandoned Kony?s war with over 100 other fighters and handed himself over to allied troops in DRC.

Military source in Uganda revealed that Okot Odhimabo and other famous commanders have been in close contacts with the allied forces in the jungle of Garanmba negotiating to surreneder and later be given amnesty instead of being taken to international criminal court based in Hague.

Okot Odhiambo who is the 14th Kony?s Deputy was appointed last year by the blood thirsty rebel leader Gen. Joseph Kony following the execution of his former deputy Vincent Otii in October 2007.

Otii according to the military source was executed by Abudema one of Kony?s top commanders wanted by the ICC.

It is highly believed that Okot Odhiambo who was promoted to the rank of major general was wounded by the allied forces following series of clashing in the jungles of Gramaba.

Maj. Gen.Okot Odhiambo is one of the notorious commanders who commanded several massacres in Northern Uganda.

Odhiambo is also reported to have been the head of the rebels that killed over 360 innocent civilians innocent civilians in Barlonyo IDP camp in Lira district in 2004.

UN Denounces ‘Appalling Atrocities’ by Ugandan Rebels in DR Congo

ugandaspotlight — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 08:59:31 +0000

30 December 2008 – United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today strongly condemned the “appalling atrocities” reportedly committed by the Ugandan rebel Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and southern Sudan, and demanded that they respect all rules of international humanitarian law.

The UN Mission in the DRC, known by its French acronym MONUC, said an increasingly high number of civilians had been killed by LRA rebels fleeing a joint military operation by the DRC, Uganda and Southern Sudan in the far north-east of the DRC, although it was not possible to give an exact figure due to the remoteness and lack of communications in the region. Read more »

UN Council Backs Offensive Against Uganda’s LRA

ugandaspotlight — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 21:18:55 +0000

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) – The U.N. Security Council on Monday backed a recent military offensive by Uganda, Congo and southern Sudan against the Lord’s Resistance Army.

Forces from Uganda, the Democratic Republic of Congo and South Sudan launched a joint assault on LRA leader Joseph Kony’s base in eastern Congo on December 14 after he repeatedly failed to sign a 2006 peace accord.

The 15-member council issued a unanimous statement Monday that “commends the states in the region for their increased cooperation, and welcomes the joint efforts they have made to address the security threat posed by the LRA.” Read more »

LRA War – Peace Detractors Exposed

ugandaspotlight — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 22:52:41 +0000

Individuals from the Diaspora and Uganda implicated

LRA rebel leader Joseph Kony - failed to sign pact again

After nearly two years of painstaking negotiations to secure permanent peace in northern Uganda, the elusive leader of Africa’s most brutal rebel groups the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) once again refused to sign the peace agreement.

Two reasons have emerged for the snub. Firstly, according to LRA spokesperson David Nyekorach, Kony did not sign the agreement because of the ICC indictment. Secondly, some individuals in the Diaspora and in Uganda have been accused of discouraging Kony from signing the pact.

The latest snub led to a swift offensive, code-named “Operation Lightning Thunder”, on rebel bases in Garamba National Park, DR Congo by the joint forces of Uganda, Southern Sudan and DR Congo.

Sensitive security documents and communication equipments recovered from LRA bases after the strike have provided vital clues to sources of support for the rebels.

While addressing Ugandans on radio on Monday 22 December 2008, President Museveni said: “We have now gathered more intelligence on Kony’s activities and those who support him by entering Kony’s camps in Garamba. As we continue operating, we shall gather even more information against him”.

President Museveni also lambasted politicians who have been drumming support against military option and urging Kony not to sign the pact. “Those criminal politicians who encourage Kony to avoid peace maybe, paradoxically, God’s agents in bringing about Kony’s death”, he said.

Members of Parliament under the Acholi Parliamentary Group (APG), opposed to military option, listed a number of people whom they accuse to be involved in the deviation of the peace process that seeks to end conflict in Northern Uganda.

APG Chairman Livingstone Okello Okello revealed that in a meeting held before the strike between LRA leader Joseph Kony and leaders from Acholi and Lango sub-regions, Kony revealed that there are some people who have been threatening him and others discouraging him from signing the Final Peace Agreement.

Okello says that Kony mentioned Brigadier Otema Charles Awany, the 4th Division Commander, who in a text message threatened Kony that if he does not sign the peace agreement, he (Kony) would be killed.

Brigadier Otema has vehemently denied the allegation. He said the allegation was a creation of MPs Jimmy Akena and Livingstone Okello-Okello. “These opposition politicians are mad; they just oppose things for the sake of it,” Otema said.

Some of the people who allegedly discouraged Kony from signing the peace agreement, according to Okelo, include former Pader Woman MP, Santa Okot who was part of the LRA delegation and Onen Ogwang, an Acholi living in the United Kingdom who warned Kony that he would be putting himself in danger if he signed the peace agreement.

According to Rupiny, a northern Ugandan vernacular newspaper, some individuals from the Acholi and Lango communities in the Diaspora sent messages to the rebel leader discouraging him from signing.

Jimmy Akena, MP for Lira Municipality, said some messages were from a former woman MP from the north, a prominent Acholi living in the UK, and a humanitarian worker based in Pader.

Various individuals and groups of northern Ugandan origin from Europe and USA also expressed unwavering sympathy with the rebels soon after the military strike on LRA bases. Some have gone to the extent of issuing death threats against peace activists.

APG chairman Livingstone Okello notes that most of those discouraging the signing of the peace agreement have benefited from the peace talks and are fearful that once the agreement is signed, they will end up losing out.

Other people see LRA rebellion as an expression of long standing grievances of northern Ugandans against the NRM government and would like to use the rebellion as a bargaining chip for the affected people.

Another group of Ugandans in the Diaspora view the conflict as proof of instability in Uganda which thus provides valid reasons for political asylum.

Nevertheless, there is widespread support among Ugandans for government action against the rebels in spite of opposition from APG and some Ugandan exiles.

Assault on LRA – Hopes and Fears

ugandaspotlight — Sun, 21 Dec 2008 10:21:21 +0000

By Rosebell Kagumire in Kampala, Patrick Okino in Lira, Caroline Ayugi in Gulu, and Peter Eichstaedt in The Hague

Institute for War & Peace Reporting (IWPR)

A dramatic strike against the Ugandan Lord’s Resistance Army, LRA, in northern Democratic Republic of Congo is intended to force rebel leader Jospeh Kony back to the negotiating table, Ugandan officials insisted on Tuesday, December 16. But whether the military operation, which began Sunday and involves Ugandan, DRC and South Sudan forces, will succeed remains in doubt.