LRA terrorists continue to loot and undermine security in W. Equatoria

Feb 26, 2007 — On the 2nd February 2007, the Azande World-wide Organisation brought to the attention of the world mass media the secret movements of Uganda Lords Resistance Army (LRA) rebels toward Central African Republic via Western Equatoria coupled with their looting of Azande villages as they marched through Azande territories .

Since then the LRA have continued, unabated , their barbaric actions of looting and terrorising Azande villagers. Every day one or more villages are looted. Surprising even an RLA spokesman tried to deny their looting spree in Western Equatoria but now Azande reports of their villages being continuously looted by LRA had been substantiated by reports from NGOs working in the fields in Western Equatoria.

Although hundreds of LRA rebels are reported to have now crossed over into Central African Republic , small groups continue to loot villages belonging to Tombura town, which is the last major Western Equatoria town on route to Central African Republic .

Yesterday the villages of Baranga in Namutina Payam wars reported looted and a number of Azande civilians abducted by the RLA. The LRA then moved on to loot the nearby village of Mawa overnight. The LRA are so much in the habit of looting the villages without interference from any organised forces that they even loot and stay overnight in the village which they did in this case with the village of Mawa .

In the previous weeks the LRA had moved from one village such as Sakure to another such as in Naadiangere Payam. In Sakure where LRA looted villages they were even reported to have asked the local chief to collect food for them from his people or else they will do it themselves. Thousands of Azande have lost their food stuff and seeds which they were hoping to plant in the coming rainy season starting in April.

Hence the continued LRA raids and looting of food stuffs is spelling disaster for the Azande people and this will have lasting implications because if people do not have seeds to plant when the rainy season starts then they won’t cultivate and hunger will await the people when the next harvest season kicks in. Also hundreds of people who would be preparing their fields now for cultivation with the start of rainy season in April have been forced to seek refuge in towns and forests. All these could spell disaster for the people of Weston Equatoria.

The Azande and all the people of the Western Equatoria would like to appeal to the UN and other humanitarian organisation to intervene to save the situation in Western Equatoria from LRA barbaric acts. It is no secret that our own Government of WES and GoSS have already failed the people of Western Equatoria miserably doing nothing whatsoever since the episode of RLA marching through Azande villages while looting in the process started. Not a single LRA rebel has been apprehended nor had the Government sent any forces to protect the villages from the LRA even when the route the LRA were taking were well known and many villagers had been reporting their movements to the authorities all the time. As such our only hope to help the people in Western Equatoria is the intervention of UN forces. It is high time that UN forces come to Western Equatoria boarder with Central Africa republic and have Joseph Kony trekked and arrested to be taken to The Hague to face ICC. This is the only solution to the LRA menace throughout the region as Kony’s menace is now bound to spread to Central African Republic .

Charles B. Kisanga M.Sc, MBCS, MIET

Eng. Kisanga is former SPLM NLC member and chairman of Western Equatoria Azande Community World-Wide Organisation. He is currently living and working in exile in the UK and he can be reached on cbkisanga@yahoo. co.uk