The Lord's Resistance Army (LRA)
2010
In March 2010, Human Rights Watch issued a report which stated that the LRA had massacred the village of Makombo. The human rights group said LRA rebels attacked at least 10 villages during a 4-day rampage in December 2009, killing at least 321 people. Human Rights Watch said most of the massacred villagers were men who were tied up and killed by blows to the head or machetes. It said the dead included 13 women and 23 children, which included a 3-year-old girl who was burned to death.
In May 2010, the UN refugee agency issued a statement which stated that the LRA had increased the brutality and the frequency of their attacks since 20 March 2010. Between 20 March and 6 May of 2010, the LRA carried out at least 10 raids in Haut-Mbomou Province in the far east of Central African Republic (CAR), which claimed 36 lives. Some 10,000 people were uprooted, and more than 400 fled across the border into the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
In May 2010, President Obama signed into law the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) Disarmament and Northern Uganda Recovery Act, which reaffirmed the U.S. commitment to support regional partners’ efforts to end the atrocities of the LRA in central Africa.
2011
In the beginning of 2011, the LRA were responsible for increased violence in north-eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, primarily directed at civilians there. Attacks were also directed at those working with NGOs. By 01 March 2011, the UN said that dozens have been killed and thousands forced to flee their homes in the new wave of attacks.
On 12 October 2011, President Barack Obama announced that he had authorized the deployment of combat-equipped US forces to central Africa. There they would help regional forces fight the notorious Lord's Resistance Army and its leader, Joseph Kony. The US forces were not engage LRA forces unless necessary for self-defense, and were primarily to be involved in training local military forces in Uganda, the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and South Sudan. The personnel deployed would be sent to regional capitals and other areas to work with governments, their militaries, and the peacekeeping missions in order for these forces to counter the LRA threat and protect civilians. The State Department would oversee the 3 other parts of the plan: to protect civilians, disarm and dismantle the LRA, and provide humanitarian relief to areas affected by the guerrilla militia.
On 25 October 2011, Alexander Vershbow, assistant secretary of defense for international security affairs, told the House Foreign Affairs Committee that the deployed forces were expected to remain in the region for months, not years. After the unspecified period, the advisors would report on whether significant progress had been made and then a decision would be made on whether or not there would be a continuing commitment.
In November 2011, President Barack Obama offered a fresh plan to defeat the LRA. The plan had 4 objectives that supported regional and multilateral efforts: (a) increase protection of civilians; (b) apprehend or remove from the battlefield Joseph Kony and senior commanders; (c) promote the defection, disarmament, demobilization, and reintegration of remaining LRA fighters; and (d) increase humanitarian access and provide continued relief to affected communities. Given the necessity of bringing political, economic, military, and intelligence support to bear in addressing the threat posed by the LRA, the development of the strategy relied on the significant involvement of the Department of State, the Department of Defense, the US Agency for International Development, and the Intelligence Community. These partners were to help with the implementation of the plan. President Obama stressed that "there is no purely military solution to the LRA threat." However, his policy document notably avoided any mention of reviving peace talks with Kony. President Obama's plan noted the importance of protecting civilians still vulnerable to LRA attacks.
2012
The Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), driven out of Uganda in 2006, continued to hold children forcibly abducted from the country. The governments of Uganda, South Sudan, the Central African Republic (CAR), and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) continued military actions against the LRA.
Since 2000 the government has offered blanket amnesty to former LRA and Allied Democratic Forces rebel combatants to encourage defections. The Amnesty Act expired on 23 May 2012, effectively ending amnesty. On May 28, the government extended part of the act dealing with settling and integrating at least 26,300 persons who have received amnesty. Officials of the Uganda Amnesty Commission reported that of these, the government only integrated approximately 6,000 and more than half of these were former LRA combatants. During the year the government approved 60 amnesty cases.
In September 2011 the Constitutional Court ordered the release of LRA Colonel Thomas Kwoyelo from prison. Authorities accused Kwoyelo of dozens of murders, mutilations, and abductions, and the government claimed his alleged crimes made him ineligible for amnesty and refused to release him from prison. Kwoyelo remained in custody pending a Supreme Court ruling on his right to amnesty. On 18 October 2012, Kwoyelo’s lawyer petitioned the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights seeking a declaration that his continued detention was illegal and authorities should release him. A response from the commission was pending at year’s end.
Although LRA members who were abducted as children continued to leave the LRA and return home, an estimated 250 to 400 LRA fighters remained as of 2012. Despite a significant reduction in LRA size since 2008, the LRA continued to hold women and children against their will, although increasingly the group abducted children from neighboring countries. The government led regional efforts to counter the influence of the LRA in coordination with South Sudan, the CAR, and the DRC.
2013
Although LRA members who were abducted as children continued to leave the LRA and return home, an estimated 250 LRA fighters remained in the region in 2013. Despite a significant reduction in LRA size since 2008 due to military operations, the LRA continued to hold women and children against their will, and the LRA increasingly abducted children from neighboring countries. The government led regional efforts, backed by an African Union-mandated mission, to counter the influence of the LRA in coordination with South Sudan, the Central African Republic, and the DRC.
As of December 2013, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UN OCHA) estimated that approximately 326,000 people were displaced or living as refugees across the Central African Republic (C.A.R.), the Democratic Republic of the Congo (D.R.C.), and South Sudan as a result of the LRA threat.
Between 2010 and 2013, based on reporting from UN OCHA, there was a 50 percent decrease in the number of people abducted by the LRA and a 75 percent decrease in the number of people killed by the LRA. Since 2012, the African Union-led forces have removed two of the LRA’s top five commanders from the battlefield, and we have credible reporting that a third, Okot Odhiambo – who was the LRA’s second-in-command and an International Criminal Court indictee – was killed late last year. During that time, the number of defections and releases from the LRA has also dramatically increased, further reducing the LRA’s capacity. According to UN reporting, as of December 2013, the number of people displaced by the LRA threat had decreased by over 25 percent from a year ago.
Attacks by LRA in 2013 largely took place in remote areas in the north-eastern region of Haut-Kotto prefecture of the Central African Republic, and in the Uélé districts of Orientale Province, Democratic Republic of the Congo. The United Nations recorded 353,000 persons, among them many children, displaced in areas affected by LRA.
2014
Despite continuing reports of sporadic attacks and abductions of children by LRA across the LRA-affected region, LRA has morphed into smaller cells and appears to have changed its modus operandi owing to the military pressure of the African Union regional task force. However, the instability in the Central African Republic and South Sudan could heighten the risk of an LRA resurgence in those areas.
On December 10, 2014 the Security Council held consultations on instability in central Africa, including the threats posed by the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) to international peace and security. In the nearly three years since the African Union launched this effort, there has been significant progress to erode the capacity of the LRA to wreak havoc on civilians. The number of people displaced by the LRA dropped to less than 135,000, significantly down from the 1.8 million displaced at the height of the conflict. The 250 people who defected or were released since 2012 had done so in large part due to a comprehensive approach that combines an expanded military campaign with enhanced efforts to promote the defection, disarmament, demobilization and reintegration of remaining LRA fighters and increasing humanitarian access to affected communities.
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