UN to meet with central African governments to fight Lord's Resistance Army

[News_Editor]

UN to meet with central African governments to fight Lord's Resistance Army

2012-03-15 00:15:08 GMT+7 (ICT)

LIBREVILLE, Gabon (BNO NEWS) -- The United Nations (UN) on Wednesday said it will meet in Uganda with government officials from central Africa next week to establish a comprehensive regional strategy to combat the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), which came under worldwide media attention this month as a result of a YouTube documentary.

The meeting is scheduled to take place on Thursday and Friday next week in the Ugandan city of Entebbe. The meeting follows a previous one in January in the capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Kinshasa, when African countries affected by the LRA agreed to toughen measures against the group.

Led by Joseph Kony, rebel group LRA gained notoriety for its atrocities in Uganda, many of them in the country's north in the 1990s. But in recent years, the group has extended its violence and operations to neighboring countries after a sustained military effort drove them from parts of Uganda in 2004. Remnants of the insurgency continue to attack civilians in South Sudan, the Central African Republic and DRC.

The group is notorious for carrying out massacres in villages, mutilating their victims, abducting boys for use as child soldiers, and forcing girls into sexual slavery.

In Libreville, Gabon, UN Special Representative of the Secretary-General and head of the UN Office for Central Africa (UNOCA) Abou Moussa spoke during a press conference, explaining that the meeting in Entebbe will also be in pursuance of the mandate given to UNOCA by the UN Security Council last year.

The mandate was issued to develop, in cooperation with UN missions and the African Union, a regional strategy for international humanitarian and development assistance, as well as peacebuilding in areas affected by the LRA violence.

"After the meeting in Entebbe, one of the milestones of our commitment will be the presentation to the Security Council of the Secretary-General's report on UNOCA activities, including measures taken to combat the LRA and ensure development in the affected areas," said Moussa.

Last week, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) voiced concern over the recent displacement of several thousand people as a result of fresh attacks by the LRA in DRC's north-eastern province of Orientale.

After a lull in LRA raids in the second half of last year that resulted in improved security, new attacks on civilians have been reported in the territories of Dungu, Faradje, Watsa, Niangara, Bondo and Ango in Orientale. The fresh attacks have caused 3,000 people to flee their homes.

There have been at least 20 new attacks in Orientale since the beginning of this year, with one person killed and 17 abducted, according UNHCR.

Kony was indicted for war crimes by the International Criminal Court (ICC) in the Netherlands in 2005 but has evaded capture. Kony received a surge of attention earlier this month when campaign group 'Invisible Children' released a 30-minute documentary which called for an increased international effort to capture the LRA's leader. As of Wednesday, the YouTube video has more than 78 million views.

-- © BNO News All rights reserved 2012-03-15

[toenail]

Interesting how for 10 years, how the world (does China care- nope) or the United Nations didn't focus on Kony or the atrocities of LRA seriously until the "Invisible Children" Youtube clip came out. The use of the internet demonstrates how powerful (good and bad) it can be to inform the whole world, not just your local community. The problem with this one incident in Africa is that this is only the "tip of the iceberg" with chidren being mistreated by various political groups and tribes through out Africa- child slavery; child armies, children raising chldren (because of death of parents), malnutrion of children...the list is endless.

[maidu]

I've been hearing about (and troubled by) the central African atrocities for a decade or more. A few months ago, Obama said he was sending in US military to attempt to deal with it. What happened with that? Now, we hear the UN will get involved. I like the UN overall, but as a military force (which is what's needed) they're ineffective.

Because Africans can't clean up their own back yards, it usually falls on westerners to do the dirty work. Of course China won't be involved, even though it wants to get a reputation as a world player. And Thailand? They're late followers at best, might send in a piddling few men after the dirty work's been done.

[metisdead]

An off topic post has been removed.