Lord’s Resistance Army Update All military operations against Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) groups in the Central African Republic (CAR) remain suspended since the overthrow of the Bangui regime on 24 March 2013 by the coalition rebel force Seleka. The anti-LRA offensive was being carried out by Ugandan soldiers based in the CAR towns of Obo, Zemio, and Djemah, but Ugandan army chief Gen. Katumba Wamala said in June 2013 that his troops were on standby awaiting further orders from Kampala. The Ugandan contingent is the main force of the so-called Regional Task Force (RTF), the military arm of an African Union (AU) Regional Cooperation Initiative against the LRA (RCI-LRA).
The Special Representative of the AU Chairperson on the LRA, Francisco Madeira, travelled to Bangui in May and June of 2013 to ask Michael Djotodia, the new leader of CAR, to recognize the RCI’s mandate and allow the Ugandan soldiers to resume counter-LRA operations. Mr. Djotodia reportedly agreed to the AU Chairperson’s demand, signing a letter affirming his commitment to the RCI mission. However, Ugandan commanders on the ground and officials in Kampala remain reluctant to restart military operations as Mr. Djotodia has been unable to exercise control over the entire territory of CAR. The AU Commission has also refused to recognize Mr. Djotodia’s rule, a fact Ugandan authorities have also mentioned as a reason for their inaction in CAR. An incident that took place on 24 May 2013 caused tensions between the Kampala and Bangui governments and highlighted the fluid and dangerous security situation in CAR in the period following Djotodia’s coup. A group of at least 80 men from the South Sudanese town of Tamboura, armed with AK-pattern rifles and locally manufactured guns, launched an assault on the border town of Obo. The group was quickly neutralized by a combined force of the Ugandan army present in Obo and the remnants of the old CAR army, the Central African Armed Forces (Forces armées centrafricaines, or FACA). More than 40 South Sudanese men were captured and taken into FACA and Ugandan army custody. No one was harmed during the operation but seven men died overnight in FACA custody, allegedly due to torture. The incident raised tension in Bangui where, according to an African Union report, Seleka forces agitated to deploy to Haut Mbomou as they accused the RTF forces of not protecting the local population. In a public address on 17 June 2013, the AU Peace and Security Commissioner Ramtane Lamamra referred to the group as ‘South Sudanese rebels’, which prompted denials from South Sudanese army officials. The AU mission is suffering from numerous problems, including a lack of qualified and well-resourced troops. At least 500 soldiers from the Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA) based in Western Equatoria State are supposed to be part of the AU RTF but they lack even basic supplies such as food and materiel*.* Similarly, a Congolese army unit based in DRC’s Province Orientale is poorly trained and supplied. There is little coordination from the RTF headquarters—also lacking in communication equipment—over the Congolese and South Sudanese troops. As the Ugandan contingent of about 1,000 troops in CAR remain idle, the AU military mission risks becoming obsolete. In the meantime the LRA has continued attacks in CAR and DRC. On 11 June 2013, The Resolve <http://www.theresolve.org/>, a US non-governmental organization that monitors LRA attacks, reported that there were 51 LRA attacks in the first quarter of 2013, an increase from 36 in the last quarter of 2012. There were fewer abductions in the first three months of 2013 however—69 compared to 111 in the previous quarter. Almost three-quarters of all LRA attacks took place in DRC while the rest occurred in CAR. This follows the trend established for most of 2011 and 2012. Attacks in DRC in June and July 2013 were located mainly in the eastern part of Province Orientale, DRC, on the Dungu-Faradje road and surroundings, including small villages on the western outskirts of Garamba National Park on the way to South Sudan. The attacks were mostly carried out by very small groups of fighters looking for food. A relatively large attack took place on 22 July 2013 about 90 km east of Dungu towards Faradje, where 35 LRA attackers reportedly looted a truck carrying food. While attacks in CAR have been sporadic and of low intensity over the last six months, a particularly violent assault took place in Bria on 15 June 2013. A large LRA group targeted two small hamlets near Bria, where they killed 10 people. Upon being confronted by local militiamen, the LRA fighters allegedly returned later that day and killed and decapitated six more people. It is unclear why this incident elicited such a fierce response from the LRA in an area that had been relatively quiet for much of 2013. There have been no recorded LRA attacks in South Sudan since June 2011, although South Sudanese hunters have been looted and at times killed in the forested border area of CAR in Haut Mbomou. In the meantime, accusations of support for rebel groups have continued between Khartoum and Kampala. On 19 July 2013 Xinhua reported that the Sudanese government had lodged a complaint at the AU against the Ugandan government for its support to Sudanese armed opposition forces. In an interview with the *Sudan Tribune* on 21 July 2013, Uganda’s Minister of State for International Affairs Henry Okello Oryem dismissed the claims, counter-claiming that the Government of Sudanese is supporting the LRA: ‘When Kony was in Darfur the Sudan government invited him to a military facility and offered him intelligence and military equipment,’ he said. Interviews with former LRA members indicate that Kony and a group of about 100 others stayed in Kafia Kingi, a disputed area between Sudan and South Sudan, controlled by Sudan, until at least the end of February 2013. The Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) were aware of the LRA presence but there is no evidence to support that claim that the LRA received military equipment from SAF. Updated 21 August 2013 -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "South Sudan Info - The Kob" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. 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