The Lord's Resistance Army (LRA)
2008-2009
On 19 February 2008, the Ugandan government and the LRA signed a significant agreement on accountability and reconciliation. This annex agreement envisioned the setting up of a special division of the Uganda High Court to try those accused who planned or carried out war crimes and other widespread attacks on civilians during the conflict.
In March 2008, LRA leader Joseph Kony was reported to have relocated from his base in the jungle in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to the Central African Republic (CAR). This development was perceived by some UN Security Council members as a negotiating maneuver.
In April 2008, LRA leader Joseph Kony refused to show up for a much-publicized signing of the permanent truce in Ri-Kwangba on the Sudan-DRC border, he insisted first on the removal of ICC warrants against the LRA leadership.
In May 2008, the LRA renewed abducting children in southern Sudan, the DRC and the CAR. Joseph Kony had set up base in the DRC again.
In June 2008, against the backdrop of reports that the LRA was rearming and had been training for possible attacks, DRC, southern Sudan, and Ugandan military officials held a series of meetings in Kampala to map out a strategy to curb LRA activity in the region.
In September 2008, the LRA carried out attacks on Congolese villages in the Haut Uelé District of the DRC (Dungu Territory). On 18 September 2008, suspected LRA elements allegedly attacked a Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) detachment in South Sudan. One SPLA soldier and 3 LRA rebels were killed, villagers were abducted and houses had been looted and burnt.
On 30 November 2008, Joseph Kony failed to sign the Final Peace Agreement. He demanded the deferral of the ICC arrest warrants. President Museveni of Uganda had reportedly assured Kony his government would not hand him over to the ICC if he signed the agreement.
On 14 December 2008, the militaries of Uganda, the DRC, and South Sudan launched a campaign (Operation Lighting Thunder) against LRA bases in the forested area of Garamba, in eastern DRC. The main camp of Kony was reportedly destroyed. Between 25 and 27 December 2008, the LRA reportedly struck the village of Faradje in the DRC, killing 40 people. 149 more people were killed by the LRA after they attacked 2 more villages, Doruma (89 reported deaths) and Gurga (60 reported deaths). The death toll included 45 civilians who were hacked to death in a Catholic church near Doruma. Approximately 20 children were abducted from Faradje, 120 houses were set on fire, and numerous buildings, including the hospital and the police barracks, were looted. The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reported the entire population of Faradje, some 30,000 people, had left.
In January 2009, Uganda's government reportedly dismissed a demand by the LRA for an immediate ceasefire. 20 LRA fighters had reportedly surrendered and 10 others were killed in the first week of January 2009. On 12 January 2009, the CAR's defense minister, Jean Francis Bozize, said it would send more troops to its border with the DRC to guard against incursions by the LRA. OCHA estimated LRA violence had left 900 people dead and uprooted 130,000 others, with more than 8,000 Congolese taking refuge in Southern Sudan. On 27 January 2009, 13 LRA rebels massacred more than 100 civilians in the remote Congolese village of Tora.
In February 2009, Dominic Ongwen, a senior LRA commander that had an outstanding ICC arrest warrant against him, reportedly indicated his intention to surrender. On 20 February 2009, a Colonel in the CAR Army said his soldiers had been ambushed by LRA fighters during a patrol in the remote southeast of the country.
On 3 March 2009, Ugandan troops captured a senior LRA officer, Thomas Kwoyelo. On 13 March 2009 LRA spokesman, David Matsanga, announced a cease fire which was to take effect on 18 March 2009 to give the peace dialogue a chance. Matsanga proposed a Stakeholders Peace Conference be convened by the UN Special Envoy Chissano in Tanzania on 27 and 28 March 2009, where the length of the ceasefire would be discussed.
On 11 June 2009, the Ugandan army said it detained 11 people over alleged rebel activity in the north of the country. Uganda army and defense spokesman Maj Felix Kulayigye said the 11 were coordinators of a new rebel group. He said 5 had been arrested in Gulu and Pader districts of the Acholi sub-region, which was the epicenter of the conflict pitting government forces against the LRA from the late 1980s well into this century, and that weapons and communications equipment had been unearthed in Pader.
In August 2009, attacks carried out by the Ugandan rebel group, LRA, uprooted thousands of people and spread panic in southern Sudan, which forced the United Nations to suspend its humanitarian work in the area. The 12 August 2009, attacks by the LRA in Ezo district, in the remote Western Equatorial region near Sudan's border with the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), reportedly killed two people and injured three others.
On 24 September 2009, the Ugandan rebel leader Joseph Kony renewed contact with the Ugandan government, and sought an immediate ceasefire and resumption of peace talks.
In October 2009, African leaders met with each other in the summit at Kampala in order to discuss the regional problems that were plaguing Africa. During the course of the discussions the LRA was brought up and there was speculation that the LRA intended to move toward the Darfur region in Sudan. It was predicted that the LRA would move into the Darfur region of Sudan because of the instability of the area and the spoils of the war-torn area would help fuel the LRA. There had been continued attacks by the LRA in the eastern parts of the DRC, southern Sudan, and in remote locations of CAR.
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