By Henry Mukasa
Five LRA camps destroyed as rebels surrender
TROOPS from Uganda, South Sudan and the DR Congo yesterday continued their offensive against the LRA, with ground troops advancing on the rebels’ camps in the Garamba jungles.

Brig. Patrick Kankiriho is commanding the joint offensive code-named Lightning Thunder. He is assisted by Col. Moses Rwakitarate, the Chief of Staff of the UPDF Airforce and Lt. Col. Muhoozi Kainerugaba of the Special Forces Division.

“The operation is on until we achieve our objective to destroy LRA and eliminate or capture rebel leader Joseph Kony, ” said spokesperson Capt. Chris Magezi from the command base at Dungu in Congo. “We are sending troops for a ground assault.”

During the air raid on Sunday, Magezi said, five LRA camps were destroyed by helicopter gun-ships and MiG23 jetfighters. The camps were Nyere, Fuke, Piripiri, Baoute and Bawesi in the Garamba forests. No casualty figures were available yet.

“The pilots and aircraft did a good job. They hit the enemy camps. One of the camps, Swahili, where Kony was said to be, was thumped thoroughly,” Magezi explained.

After a thick fog which had reduced visibility, the air force resumed the onslaught, he said.

Last evening, the allied forces were anxious to receive two LRA fighters who had surrendered to the Congolese forces at Kuliwa.

Magezi did not say their ranks. He said vehicles, which had been sent to pick them up, would arrive at Dungu today.

“Those are the first signs of the impact of our attack,” Magezi said. “The LRA is in disarray.” He said the operation was meant to be short but could become protracted until the LRA is wiped out.

“The regional leaders have decided that they cannot fold their hands when their people are being attacked by terrorists. We painstakingly negotiated a peace agreement for two years only for Kony to refuse to sign. He left us with no alternative,” Magezi explained.

The UPDF was well received at the Congolese army headquarters and MONUC (the UN force in Congo) unit at Dungu. Magezi said Brig. Mundos Muhindo of the Congolese army briefed them on the area, the people and troop deployment.

“It was a big brotherly gesture. Our coordination is excellent. This is the spirit we want to maintain because we have a common enemy.”

On fears that the attack would kill innocent children and women in LRA camps, Magezi said the armies took the issue into consideration.

“According to our intelligence, LRA fighters have been living separately from their families. These (fighters’ camps) are the ones we have attacked. We will ensure that women, children and captives are spared as we did in northern Uganda and South Sudan.”

The LRA and the Government have been involved in peace talks since July 14, 2006. The Government of South Sudan and the UN brokered the talks but Kony thrice this year refused to sign the final agreement.

Kony argued that the International Criminal Court (ICC) should first lift indictments against him for war crimes and crimes against humanity.

South Sudan Vice-President Dr. Riek Machar, the chief mediator, said the LRA had itself to blame. “As long as LRA is not in the assembly area, it’s vulnerable to attack by other forces, that I have told them before.”

Under the agreement concluded in April, the rebels were expected to assemble in Ri-Kwangba in South Sudan.

Machar said the mediators would remain ready to facilitate the signing of the final agreement.

Asked what the fate of Kony could be after the aerial attacks on his hideout, Machar retorted: “Ask the leader of (the LRA) delegation that question.”

LRA delegation leader David Nyekorach Matsanga said the attack would escalate the war and anguish of the people in the north. He said Kony and his fighters were safe.

“I have had contact with him today. Everybody is well,” Matsanga asserted. Pressed to state whether no one was injured in the bombardment, Matsanga quipped: “I don’t have the finer details.”

He accused the UPDF of making pre-emptive attacks whenever the rebels were close to signing a peace agreement. Matsanga said the four times Kony had failed to sign the agreement should not have led to the attack, saying such setbacks were “part of the game” in peace talks.

“Mandela was in jail for 25 years. He never lost hope. Why do we lose hope so easily?” he lamented. He said the attack came when Kony was preparing to talk to President Museveni directly. “Some people in government want military action. Let them try. As negotiators, we played our part,” Matsanga said.

The spokesperson of the Sudanese People’s Liberation Army, Gen. Peter Pernyane, said they joined the offensive to protect their citizens.

“The LRA was harming our people. There were also elements against our government who would harm our people and claim that they were LRA. We want to get rid of that.”

He said the SPLA would not cross to Congo to pursue LRA unless the rebels attacked Sudan. The LRA threat on its soil overcame Congo’s differences with Uganda, a Kinshasa government spokesman said yesterday.

“The goal was so important we made a deal with the Ugandans, even if we have not always been in agreement in the past,” Lambert Mende said.

“Our three governments decided on a joint strike to eradicate this breeding ground of terrorists who take our people hostage, particularly our children.”

“In view of the seriousness of the threat” and “for that operation alone, we accepted” the deployment of Ugandan troops on Congolese soil.

Relations between Kampala and Kinshasa have been strained since the 1998-2003 war in the former Zaire, when Uganda sent troops in support of rebel movements.

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