Anti-Kony war now back on track

 

Joseph Kony, leader of Uganda’s Lord’s Resistance Army. Even with renewed operations to track the fugitive rebel leader, only elements of his outfit have surrendered or been captured in combat, while Kony’s whereabouts remain unknown. Photo/FILE/TEA Graphic  

By JULIUS BARIGABA The EastAfrican

In Summary

• The group is led by Lt-Col Obur Nyeko, and surrendered at Zamio near Obo in CAR to a UPDF detachment that is part of the African Union regional task force hunting the LRA.
• Today, even with renewed operations by the AU force and US Special Forces intelligence efforts to track the fugitive rebel leader, only elements of his outfit have surrendered or been captured in combat, while Kony’s whereabouts remain unknown.
• Kampala remains optimistic that LRA is getting weaker, with recent defections and now the surrender of the latest group bringing its remaining strength at about 200 fighters, down from previous estimates of 250.

The operation against the Lord’s Resistance Army in the jungles of the Central African Republic is proving increasingly successful with the killing three weeks ago of a senior commander and the surrender earlier this month of 19 fighters.

Uganda People’s Defence Forces spokesman Lt-Col Paddy Ankunda confirmed this development on Wednesday last week, saying the group of 19 who were announced by the African Union on December 6 as having surrendered, are yet to be repatriated to Uganda.

The group is led by Lt-Col Obur Nyeko, and surrendered at Zamio near Obo in CAR to a UPDF detachment that is part of the African Union regional task force hunting the LRA.

Apparently, the AU force led by the UPDF, comprising troops from DR Congo and South Sudan, has recovered from earlier setbacks when there was change of government in Bangui in March this year, with the new administration, the Seleka group, at first appearing to be accommodative to the LRA and hostile to all foreign forces in the country.

READ: Are LRA fighters being drafted into CAR army?

The Seleka government gave orders that foreign troops — which, besides the AU-mandated force, also included South African troops that were supporting former president François Bozize’s regime — vacate CAR territory.

But even with the logistical challenges that the AU regional task force, supported by US Special Forces, face in the vast territory, the tide has recently turned, with the AU force regaining momentum in the operation to rout the LRA, following a change of heart by the government in CAR, according to Lt-Col. Ankunda.

“We received a memo in July this year in which the Seleka government said they had no problem with us continuing the operation. So we are now back at our offensive best; that’s why in the past few weeks the operation is succeeding,” he said, citing the earlier offensive of November 28 that resulted in the killing of Col Samuel Kangul and 13 others.

Capacity waning

While this development points to growing optimism that the LRA’s fighting capacity is on the wane, it also confirms what The EastAfrican reported in November that there are rifts within the rebel group’s ranks and command structure, forcing some senior to mid-level officers in the rebel force to surrender and abandon the 25-year insurgency that has spread from northern Uganda to South Sudan, Democratic Republic of Congo and CAR

These rifts within the LRA have led to confusion over whether the rebel group’s leader Joseph Kony wants to surrender, as the BBC reported last month when one such group made contact with the AU Special Envoy on the LRA conflict, Francisco Madeira.

READ: False hope or is Kony nightmare finally drawing to an end?

But there was nothing concrete to suggest that Kony had made contact with proposals to end the rebellion that has left millions displaced, tens of thousands abducted and others killed in Uganda, South Sudan, DRC and CAR.

When in an e-mail exchange, The EastAfrican asked Mr Madeira to clarify if he had been in contact with the LRA rebel leader himself, the envoy said, “At this moment I have no new developments on the LRA front that I can share with you.”

UPDF Chief of Land Forces Maj-Gen David Muhoozi said that Kampala is not aware of any official communication over Kony’s surrender, which he described as “media hype