Kony Changes LRA Tactics

By Dennis OjweeREBEL chief JOSEPH Kony has split his Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) into three groups.The units are commanded by Matata, Vincent Otti and Kony reportedly commands the largest.UPDF commanders said the move was intended to “dodge and outdo the UPDF onslaught against the LRA in south Sudan.”UPDF spokesman Maj. Shaban Bantariza yesterday said all three groups were moving towards the Sudan-Uganda border. He said, however, the movements were not a threat.“We learnt that Kony had divided his forces into three forces whose sizes we have not established. But all that cannot harm or disrupt our military operation against them,” Bantariza said.“We are not bothered by their plans or tactics. All we know is that we (UPDF) shall get them. and that is what the UPDF has gone to do in Sudan,” Bantariza said.The UPDF have overrun five Kony camps in southern Sudan, defence minister Amama Mbabazi said this week.The offensive is provided under a protocol which allows Uganda to pursue Kony inside Sudan.He said if Kony crosses back to Uganda, it will ease the UPDF war against him.The US has listed the LRA as a terrorist organisation.Bantariza said the 14 days that Sudan granted Uganda to defeat Kony expired on April 2 but that would not affect the offensive.Mbabazi told Parliament on Thursday that the deadline had been pushed to April 18.Bantariza said, “The most important thing is not the deadline but the mission that the two governments of Sudan and Uganda have agreed upon allowing the UPDF to enter and finish their enemy inside Sudan. I don’t think we should continue to discuss the UPDF deadline in Sudan,” he added. “We are going on until the job against Kony rebels is complete,” he said.Ends