Sudan arms militia to fight Joseph Kony
Sep 27, 2010
JUBA-South Sudan is to provide community militia groups with weapons to fight the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) rebel group, the governor of the hardest hit region said yesterday.
JUBA-South Sudan is to provide community militia groups with weapons to fight the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) rebel group, the governor of the hardest hit region said yesterday.
Self-defence groups, known as “Arrow Boysâ€, armed with basic weapons such as machetes, already guard the rural communities affected by the LRA fighters, since the mainstream armed forces are stretched too thin across the vast jungle region.
Now the southern parliament has allocated five million Sudanese pounds (sh4.5b) to supply them with guns, communication systems and training, said Joseph Bakasoro, the governor of Western Equatoria state.
“The homeguard units will be trained and armed so that they can provide effective defence until the regular forces can intervene,†said Bakasoro, speaking by telephone from Yambio, the state capital.
“The LRA deliberately target civilians and villages with attacks every week, and the people are suffering very badly.â€
Tens of thousands of people have been killed in two decades of fighting since LRA chief Joseph Kony took up arms, initially against Uganda.
Long since driven out of Uganda, LRA have carved out a vast region of control in the dense forests of south Sudan, northeastern DR Congo and the Central African Republic.
The militia groups will be trained and maintain close contact with the south’s military, made up of former rebel fighters of the Sudan Peoples’ Liberation Army (SPLA), Bakasoro added.
“Once the LRA have been overcome and the rebellion ended, then the SPLA will go and collect the weapons back from the units,†he said.
Many fear the LRA could destabilise the region in the runup to a landmark referendum for the south due in January.
AFP
Self-defence groups, known as “Arrow Boysâ€, armed with basic weapons such as machetes, already guard the rural communities affected by the LRA fighters, since the mainstream armed forces are stretched too thin across the vast jungle region.
Now the southern parliament has allocated five million Sudanese pounds (sh4.5b) to supply them with guns, communication systems and training, said Joseph Bakasoro, the governor of Western Equatoria state.
“The homeguard units will be trained and armed so that they can provide effective defence until the regular forces can intervene,†said Bakasoro, speaking by telephone from Yambio, the state capital.
“The LRA deliberately target civilians and villages with attacks every week, and the people are suffering very badly.â€
Tens of thousands of people have been killed in two decades of fighting since LRA chief Joseph Kony took up arms, initially against Uganda.
Long since driven out of Uganda, LRA have carved out a vast region of control in the dense forests of south Sudan, northeastern DR Congo and the Central African Republic.
The militia groups will be trained and maintain close contact with the south’s military, made up of former rebel fighters of the Sudan Peoples’ Liberation Army (SPLA), Bakasoro added.
“Once the LRA have been overcome and the rebellion ended, then the SPLA will go and collect the weapons back from the units,†he said.
Many fear the LRA could destabilise the region in the runup to a landmark referendum for the south due in January.
AFP