Uganda rebel leader kills 9 LRA senior officers

April 14, 2008 (KAMPALA, Uganda) — Nine senior members of a Ugandan rebel group notorious for its viciousness were murdered – apparently on their fugitive leader’s orders – in the latest blow Monday to international efforts to end two decades of civil war, an army spokesman said.

Rebel leader Joseph Kony reportedly killed or ordered the killings of his second-in-command as well as eight other leaders of the Lord’s Resistance Army in factional fighting, army spokesman Paddy Ankunda said.
Rebel sources said differences over the proposed agreement had triggered gun battles between LRA factions earlier this week that killed nine people, including Okot Odhiambo, LRA second in command.

Kony – in hiding since 2006 – had been scheduled to sign a peace deal with the government last Thursday. But he failed to turn up to the ceremony on the Sudan-Uganda border and on Monday, a member of his negotiating team admitted he has had no contact with Kony since October.

Other members declined to say when they last spoke to Kony although the former chief negotiator of peace talks, David Matsanga, told reporters last week he hadn’t spoken to Kony for the four days preceding the scheduled ceremony and didn’t know whether the rebel leader ever intended to sign.

Both of Uganda’s main newspapers carried reports about the killings, citing sources within the rebel movement, and an official close to the peace talks said rebels had also told him of the incident. Information about the reclusive rebel group is difficult to confirm and it was unclear exactly who ordered the killings, carried them out or when.

“There seems to have been some kind of fight between the group. …The LRA now function as two factions with as many as five separate groups,” he said.

He added that complications caused by infighting, a lack of leadership and a breakdown in communication had probably begun when another senior rebel — Vincent Otti — reportedly was killed last year.

There has been a spate of defections from the rebel group recently, and remaining commanders are reportedly bitterly divided over the peace talks and the threat of prosecution by the International Criminal Court.

The group is notorious for abducting children into sexual slavery, mutilating civilians and forcing family members to rape, torture and murder each other.

(AP)