A total of 34 rebels of the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) have surrendered to the UPDF intelligence squad in Faradje in eastern Congo Nzara, according to military sources.
“They turned themselves in at 11:00am on Thursday with their commander, Capt. Obale,” Brig. James Mugira, the Chief of Military Intelligence, told Saturday Vision.
Of the 34, he said, 10 were Ugandans, 2 Sudanese and 22 Congolese. “They returned with 12 sub-machine guns, two walkie-talkies, 11 mobile phones and two solar panels.”
This was the last group that surrendered from the Faradje area, according to the army. “That area has now been cleared,” said Mugira.
The group’s over-all commander, Col. Charles Arop, turned himself in to the UPDF earlier this month after most of him men had either defected or been killed.
The unit of originally 71 rebels had been operating around the Faradje area since late last year and was responsible for the Christmas massacres that left at least 143 people dead.
Military sources estimate the total number of LRA rebels left in the Democratic Republic of Congo at 80.
The rest is in the Central African Republic, together with LRA leader Joseph Kony.
