LRA rebels kill one and abduct five in W. Equatoria
* Article
* Comments (7)
email Email
print Print
pdfSave
separation
increase
decrease
separation
separation
*
*
*
*
Richard Ruati
May 12, 2011 (KAMPALA) - Five people, including an eleven-year old
girl were abducted and one killed when the Lord’s Resistance Army
(LRA) raided a funeral procession in Bangu between Nagero and Tambura
counties of Western Equatoria state on Tuesday.
JPEG - 50.6 kb
Many children in Western Equatoria have been abducted and many others
remain vulnerable facing the world’s forgotten dire humanitarian
crisis - By Richard Ruat
The commissioner of Tambura county Babiro Charles Ngbamisi said the
attacks began at 6.00pm.
“LRA rebels brutal attack happened when people were at a funeral
service. A group of about ten too fifteen LRA soldiers came in the
evening rounded them up and at 7.00pm some villagers managed to escape
and reported the LRA to the police,” said the commissioner.
He stated that after he received the report he ordered the police and
the community guards to intervene, with him leading the team. They
followed the fleeing LRA troops and were ambushed, resulting in one of
the commissioner’s team being shot.
The LRA is a militia which has terrorised the region since the late
eighties. They were formed in Uganda and are led by the International
Criminal Court indited Joseph Kony, who describes himself as a
’spokesperson’ for God. They commit atrocities in the Democratic
Republic of Congo, the Central African Republic and Sudan. There have
been allegations that they LRA are operating a mercenaries for the
northern Sudanese government, Khartoum vehemently denies this.
He stressed that the county is working hard to straighten capacity of
the home guards so that when such attacks happen they can respond
directly.
The home guards are local vigilantes who use firearms to provide
protections to the local communities from the atrocities of the LRA.
The civil vigilante’s often use traditional weapons such as bow and
arrows. Babiro said the local authorities and the council of
traditional leaders under the chairmanship of the new paramount chief,
Tambura Mboribamu Baabe Reinzi, has pledged contributions to the home
guards to help boost their operations.
Earlier this year the chiefs of Yambio county contributed funds to the
home guards to help them protest the local communities as they
cultivate their land.
The state government says the presence of vigilante groups is
"welcome". Though elements from the Sudan People’s Liberation Army
(SPLA) have been cautious of the Arrow boys, as they are otherwise
known fearing that the guns or arrows might be turned against them one
day.
In many LRA attacks the army tries to send soldiers out on patrol with
as many vigilante groups as possible, but with few SPLA soldiers
deployed in the region, lack of logistical support and welfare to an
army which is emerging a long civil war this is difficult.
Until five years ago, the infamous LRA rebels enjoyed safe passage
after looting, abducting and burning the streets of the villages.
However, with the presence of Arrow boys, the LRA had had difficulty
making their way with villages at a large scale.
In Uganda LRA rebels are no longer a threat, most rural villages are
peaceful and there is sense of peace in northern Uganda, a region
which bore the brunt of LRA brutal campaign to topple the regime of
Uganda’s Museveni
(ST)
--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "JFD
info" group.
To post to this group, send email to [email protected].
To unsubscribe from this group, send email to
[email protected].
For more options, visit this group at
http://groups.google.com/group/jfdinfo?hl=en.
