A 5,000-strong force will move to capture or kill Joseph Kony. A
meeting between the United Nations and central African governments in
Uganda has agreed to the operation.lRegional UN envoy Abou Moussa said Mr Kony, leader of the Lords Resistance Army (LRA), was believed to be in the Central African Republic. He has been wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague for crimes against humanity since 2005.
Francisco Madeira, the African Union’s special envoy on the LRA.
“We are on a mission to stop him.”
Kony has been the focus of renewed international attention because of the controversial ‘Kony2012′ campaign and a video seen by tens of millions of people.Moussa said that soaring international interest in Kony had been “useful, very important”.
The force will be based in Yambio, in the west of South Sudan, near the border with the Central African Republic and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
Last week, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) voiced concern over the recent displacement of several thousand people as a result of fresh attacks by the LRA in DRC’s north-eastern province of Orientale.
After a lull in LRA raids in the second half of last year that resulted in improved security, new attacks on civilians have been reported in the territories of Dungu, Faradje, Watsa, Niangara, Bondo and Ango in Orientale. The fresh attacks have caused 3,000 people to flee their homes.
There was no mention in the announcement of reports that Kony’s Lords Resistance Army has entered Darfur in Sudan or of what the role of US military advisers will be. Neither was it clear how Ugandan troops are involved (the force is supposed to be under a Ugandan commander), given that Ugandan troops are reportedly banned from entering DRC, according to Inner City Press, which closely follows United Nations news.
Inner City Press say:
Read more: http://www.care2.com
