Study warns against current approach to LRA insecurity

April 15, 2009 (WASHINGTON) – A recent study by the non-governmental organization IKV Pax Christi critiques the international offensive launched against the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) in December 2008, and warns against half-hearted responses to the insecurity that followed this event.

The report, authored by Joost van Puijenbroek and Nico Plooijer, is titled “How EnLightning is the Thunder?” – a heading which implicitly questions the effectiveness and rationale behind the so-called “Operation Lightning Thunder” carried out jointly by Southern Sudan, Uganda and DR Congo with US backing.

If the current situation is prolonged, it could result in further arming of local self-defence units and “disastrous” humanitarian and security consequences, says the NGO.

IKV Pax Christi’s involvement with LRA issues started in 1997, seeking ways to bring the conflict in Northern Uganda to an end. The NGO organized a cross-border conference on security held in Arua, Northwest Uganda in September-October 2008.

LRA is responsible for simultaneous Christmas day 2008 massacres in the towns of Faradje, Doruma and Gurba in DR Congo, carried out in concert before the guerillas fanned out in small groups across a wide area.

The study says that the operation bears a “striking resemblance” to the Ugandan army’s Operation Iron Fist of 2002, in that neither operation planned adequately for protection of civilian populations which were particularly vulnerable to reprisals.

“The humanitarian situation in the region affected by the LRA is dramatic,” explains the report. “In Congo over a 130,000 people are internally displaced, 896 killed and 711 people abducted, among whom 540 children. As far as we know, more than a hundred people among whom children have been abducted in the Central African Republic and an unknown number have been killed. In Sudan over a hundred people have been killed, over 60 people abducted and 30,000 people have fled their homes.”

In the period of months prior to the Christmas Massacres, security worsened day by day resulting in a near total depopulation of an area close to 10,000 square kilometers. During the same period, local defense groups ballooned as they even demanded the departure of ineffective national and UN forces, according to the report.

However, Operation Lightning Thunder commenced on December 14 in northeastern DR Congo, relying heavily on air strikes and spearheaded by Ugandan forces. When the LRA camps were taken, no casualties were found.

As the international military operation faded and the guerillas scattered, retaliatory massacres soon extended into Southern Sudan. According to figures cited by IKV Pax Christi, the LRA killed over 40 people and abducted others near Mboroko Payam, abducted 13 at Payam Tore Wandi, and killed four and abducted ten at Bangolo,

By January 2009, 7000 Congolese fleeing the LRA had sought refuge in Western Equatoria State (WES), with the highest concentration of them being hosted in Gangura, Yambio Town and Sakure. In addition, a cumulative total of 22,527 Sudanese were displaced by the LRA attacks in Southern Sudan.

IKV Pax Christi claims that Vice President Machar was presented with pleas from WES authorities to arm a local security unit, but that he rejected the proposal, as it contradicts the government policy of disarming the civilian population of Sudan.

“The SPLM deputy secretary general voiced extreme caution on arming civilians, citing negative security repercussions. This is most probably linked to the very tense relationship between different groups within the states of Equatoria, especially Azande versus Dinka in this context,” says the report.

Western Equatoria does not have a long history of armed militias, unlike other states of South Sudan. One historian has posited that the ferocity of SPLA raiding against other areas hosting militias discouraged the same development in WES.

Meanwhile, in its conclusion the NGO recommends trying to pursue a peace agreement that builds upon the Juba Peace Process, noting that a second-best scenario would be effectively executing the warrants of the International Criminal Court against LRA leaders.

According to the study, Uganda should unilaterally implement some elements of the Juba Peace Agreement, especially the provision for the Northern Uganda Peace Recovery and Development Plan (PRDP).

Finally, the NGO says that an international contact group should be established comprised of the nations whose military forces are pursuing the LRA. The contact group would include Uganda, DR Congo, Sudan and Central African Republic, the United States, the United Kingdom, France, the UN envoy for the LRA-affected areas, the UN envoy for the Great Lakes, the AU envoy and the EU envoy.

(ST)