New York, US - Four African countries, affected by the activities of the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), are launching a joint military task force backed by the UN and AU to pursue the rebel fighters, including the group’s leader, Joseph Kony.
AU Special Envoy for the LRA issue, Francisco Madeira, who spoke with UN reporters in New York late Friday evening, said: that, "The idea is to put in place a strategy, which has been discussed here (New York) on Friday, and then on Saturday we are going to Juba in the Republic of South Sudan to launch the joint operations tasks force".
Madeira said that, "the force will be made up of forces from Uganda, Central African Republic, South Sudan and Democratic Republic of Congo".
He said the regional task force headquarters will be located the South Sudanese town of Yambio, close to the border with the DRC.
He also said the four countries are represented in the Joint Coordination Operations Centre and have agreed on free movement of troops across borders to pursue the LRA.
The AU envoy, as well as the UN Secretary-General’s Special Representative and head of the UN Office for Central Africa (UNOCA), Abou Moussa, and Major-General Adrian Foster, the Deputy Force Commander of the UN Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO), spoke to reporters via video link from the Ugandan city of Entebbe, where they met to finalize the details of the task force.
Also speaking, Moussa said that, "the meeting was convened to draw up what I call a regional strategy paper as has been called for by the UN Security Council in November 2011".
"We have been able to meet with the Government of Uganda and update them on developments on where we stand so far in our initiative to address the threat of Kony and his team," he noted.
Asked about a popular video about Kony and the LRA, posted recently on YouTube by a US film-maker and promoted on social media, Moussa said that although controversial, the video had brought “unprecedented attention” and raised awareness about the LRA’s activities.
"The central theme of this video remains valid, first, Kony continues to kill and maim innocent civilians, second, Kony and his people should be put under arrest,” the UN envoy noted.
On his part, Maj-Gen. Foster said MONUSCO, which has been involved in anti-LRA activities in DRC for several years, was happy to join the new regional initiative.
He also pointed out that the insurgents have in the past benefited from their ability to avoid capture by moving across national borders.
The UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations said that, "although current estimates suggest that the LRA comprises less than 500 combatants operating under Kony’s leadership, its capacity to attack and terrorise and harm local communities remains".
After a lull in LRA raids in the second half of last year that resulted in improved security in the DRC’s north-east, new attacks on civilians have been reported during the past few weeks in the DRC’s territories of Dungu, Faradje, Watsa, Niangara, Bondo and Ango.
The LRA was formed in the 1980s in Uganda and for over 15 years its attacks were mainly directed against Ugandan civilians and security forces, which in 2002 dislodged the rebels.
They then exported their activities to Uganda’s neighbouring countries, with practices that include the recruitment of children, rapes, killing and maiming, and sexual slavery.
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