COIN case: LRA Lords Resistance Army

[davidbfpo]

Evidence of the massacre (by the LRA) of at least 321 people in Democratic Republic of Congo has been uncovered by the BBC.

Link:http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/8587305.stm

[Rex Brynen]

DR Congo: Lord’s Resistance Army Rampage Kills 321
Regional Strategy Needed to End Rebel Group’s Atrocities and Apprehend Leaders

Human Rights Watch
MARCH 28, 2010
Anneke Van Woudenberg, senior Africa researcher

(Kampala) - The rebel Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) killed at least 321 civilians and abducted 250 others, including at least 80 children, during a previously unreported four-day rampage in the Makombo area of northeastern Democratic Republic of Congo in December 2009, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today.

"The Makombo massacre is one of the worst ever committed by the LRA in its bloody 23-year history, yet it has gone unreported for months," said Anneke Van Woudenberg, senior Africa researcher at Human Rights Watch. "The four-day rampage demonstrates that the LRA remains a serious threat to civilians and is not a spent force, as the Ugandan and Congolese governments claim."

The 67-page report, "Trail of Death: LRA Atrocities in Northeastern Congo," is the first detailed documentation of the Makombo massacre and other atrocities by the LRA in Congo in 2009 and early 2010. The report, based on a Human Rights Watch fact-finding mission to the massacre area in February, documents the brutal killings during the well-planned LRA attack from December 14 to 17 in the remote Makombo area of Haute Uele district.

[Michael F]

I've been reading this report and a few things AMAZE me:

First, it took 12 weeks for MONUC to send an enquiry team. They say it was because of the remoteness of the killings grounds but it seems like a STUPId excuse: The FARDC and UPDF had troops there 2 days after the massacre (and they went on foot, MONUC has helicopters), refugees from this area have been flooding the city of Niangara (2 days of walk from the killing grounds)...so MONUC can't do with helicopters or on foot what FARDC, UPDF or civilians can do ?????

Second, MONUC knew end Dec 09, UPDF, FARDC a few days before,....and they kept on saying the LRA was "neutralized", with Rudia II being a "mop up" operation. These were overoptimistic statements despite knowing the truth ? a Lie thus ?????

Finally, the LRA now has some 200 new recruits via this operation and has proven to be able to do a lot of damage in a very short time. The months before, they were walking around in the same area without being hindered by any UPDF-FARDC actions (despite UPDF or FARDC forces never more than 50 Km from them).

My conclusion, everybody kept on saying the LRA was neutralized in DRC but knew it was false. Rudia II failed completely and MONUC, FARDC, UPDF (AFRICOM?) refused to admit it publicly.

Knowing the LRA, their next attack would be even more violent to make sure no "cover up" is possiblle.

[M-A Lagrange]

"The population in DRC is not concentrated. So, for the LRA to get time to collect 300 people and kill them, they need days not hours to do so," he said, adding: "In Barlonyo, they were able to kill about 200 because people were in an IDP camp. What about people settled in their villages in a forested region?"
Col. Kulayigye wondered whether the Congo army would not have got wind of LRA activities within those four days and gone to rescue its people. He said the UPDF intelligence indicates that the LRA has less than 200 fighters who have no capacity to kill with impunity.
http://allafrica.com/stories/201003290001.html

Personally, I hate whem officials denie killings in Africa. It always reminds me the sentence: in those countries (African countries), massacres does not count...

But unfortunatelly, may be we do have copy cats there...

[Michael F]

Personally, I hate whem officials denie killings in Africa. It always reminds me the sentence: in those countries (African countries), massacres does not count...

But unfortunatelly, may be we do have copy cats there...

The HRW clearly states that FARDC have been informed of the LRA incursion 02 days after it started and immediately informed the UPDF. Both UPDf and FARDC immediately dispatched local small units to the area and reached it 02 days later.

UPDF is trying to shift the blame for its inefficiency to the FARDC (an easy usual suspect in that matter).

Also, the fact that the information about those massacres only leaked now (12 weeks after FARDC, UPDF, MONUC and others...knew) is for me a clear prove of a cover up. Now it has been leaked they can only minimize it.

BTW it doesn't really matter as the US Senate already passed its LRA bill giving Kampala more money and FOA in that matter.

[M-A Lagrange]

"These claims of massacres coming almost four months late are yet another fabrication by NGOs, which are advocating war," Justine Labeja, LRA’s Nairobi-based spokesman, told Reuters.
"Yes, we are in Congo but we have no problem with the Congolese people or its government and we continue to call for a ceasefire to end this war," he further said.
The rebel official also slammed the United Nations saying they want to use their group to justify their return into Congo. "The U.N. are being kicked out of Congo against their will but they now want to use us as an excuse to stay there," he said.
http://www.sudantribune.com/spip.php?article34588

Now, all this is becoming silly. The LRA can now denie its participation into those massacres. Thanks UPDF...
Well thanks also to MONUC to be SO efficient!
Unfortunately, no one is expecting anything from FARDC and that's may be the best thing.

[M-A Lagrange]

LRA Rebel Pins Sudan On Support

Kampala — THE Sudan government is in touch with the Lord's Resistance Army command and has given the rebels fresh supplies of food and medicines, a captured commander has said.
The LRA political commissar, Okello 'Mission', told journalists in Kampala that he was part of the LRA team that trekked to the Darfur region in Sudan where they met officers of the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) on October 4, 2009.
He said their delegation was led by Caesar Acellam and they met with the SAF brigade commander in Darfur, Col. Hamdou, and an un-named lieutenant colonel said to be the regional chief of intelligence.
He said Khartoum solicited for the meeting.
"The subject of the discussion was to resume the partnership with the government of Sudan," Okello Mission said.

Okello Mission, 30, was captured by UPDF soldiers at Ezo in Southern Sudan after a brief shoot-out in the evening of March 31. Okello was in a unit of 10 rebels, led by Felly Otimi, an escort to LRA leader Joseph Kony.
He graduated from Makerere University in 2004 with a bachelor's degree in computer science and joined the LRA as a peace negotiator in 2006. A relative of Kony, he hails from Lalogi in Gulu district and holds a Democratic Party (DP) membership card.
He joined the Juba peace talks at the same time with Santa Okot, Peter Obina, Yusuf Adek and Quinto Kidega. He said he remained with the rebels to explain the draft final peace agreement to Kony.

http://allafrica.com/stories/201004060006.html

An interesting article on the LRA. I really recommend it for all those who follow the question.