Rikwangba in Southern Sudan remains open as assembly area for LRA rebels

Posted: 29 Dec 2008 09:19 AM CST

Article from Sudan Tribune December 15, 2008 (JUBA) by James Gatdet Dak:
SOUTH SUDAN VP CONFIRMS ATTACKS ON LRA REBELS

The Government of Southern Sudan’s Vice President and Chief Mediator of the Uganda peace process, Dr. Riek Machar Teny, confirmed on Monday that military offensive against the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) was under way inside DR Congo.



Photo: LRA Joseph Kony is shaking hand with southern Sudan’s vice president Riek Machar. (Reuters).

A regional joint force carried out a surprise attack on LRA positions in eastern DR Congo on Sunday.

Machar said as mediators they were aware of the offensive shortly before it was announced in Kampala by the Ugandan government.

He blamed the LRA leader Joseph Kony for not signing the peace deal.

“We understand the frustration involved because Kony has failed to sign [the final peace agreement] five times,” he explained.

He further explained that Kony failed his arrangement to sign twice, former Mozambican President Joachim Chissano’s once, northern Ugandan leaders’ once and lastly failed to talk to President Museveni on the phone despite Museveni’s offer to dialogue with him directly.

Machar added that his government has closed its borders and would not allow the renewed fighting with the rebels to over spill into Southern Sudan again.

He however said the Government of Southern Sudan has made an important decision that incase Joseph Kony reconsiders to sign, Rikwangba in Southern Sudan remains open as assembly area for the rebels.

He said he considered the military offensive as a pressure on Kony to sign.
- - -

Article from Sudan Tribune by James Gatdet Dak December 20, 2008 (JUBA)

CHIEF MEDIATOR CALLS ON UGANDAN REBELS TO ASSEMBLE TO DE-ESCALATE HOSTILITIES
The Chief Mediator of the Uganda peace process, Government of Southern Sudan’s Vice President, Riek Machar Teny has called on the rebels of the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) to assemble in Ri-Kwangba to “de-escalate” the ongoing hostilities with regional forces.



Photo: Riek Machar

A joint regional force launched offensive against the LRA bases inside north-eastern DR Congo last week and still escalating.

In his 2nd report on the status of the Juba peace process, dated 15th December and of which copy the Sudan Tribune received today, the Chief Mediator stated that it was the Ugandan army that carried out the attacks on LRA on 14th December in Garamba forests, but was to be joined by Congolese forces while the SPLA would deploy along Southern Sudan borders to prevent the LRA from infiltrating into the semi-autonomous region.

He urged the LRA rebels to assemble in Ri-Kwangba area, respect the terms for assembling, sign and implement the peace deal.

The Government of Southern Sudan’s Vice President further stated that the military action was neither intended to destroy the Juba peace agreements nor abrogate the Ugandan government’s commitments towards the peace process.

Machar blamed the LRA leadership for not signing the Final Peace Agreement (KPA), which prompted regional military offensive against the rebels and called on them to assemble.

"I would therefore invite the LRA to signal its readiness to return and assemble in Ri-Kwangba in order to expeditiously conclude the Juba process,” he stated.

Some of the rebels were already reported to have infiltrated into Southern Sudan following the fighting and were accused by government officials of killing two civilians yesterday in Western Equatoria state.

He said the LRA should contact the Mediator who would, through the Cessation of Hostilities Monitoring Team, work with the relevant forces, to arrange for safe passage to Ri-Kwangba at Sudan/DR Congo border.

Machar said the mediators were aware of the concerns raised by the LRA on the ICC which they said were impeding the signature of the FPA, but he stated that these would be addressed within the framework of the peace agreement and "should therefore not delay this process any longer."

"The LRA must act swiftly and in good faith to conclude this chapter of violence so that peace can return to this region," he concluded.
Cross posted today at Congo Watch and Sudan Watch.
Kony tapped UPDF radio - Museveni

Posted: 23 Dec 2008 09:36 AM CST

From the Monitor Kampala by Rodney Muhumuza 23 December 2008:
President Yoweri Museveni has said at least four battalions of Ugandan troops are closing in on Joseph Kony in DR Congo’s forested Garamba area, over a week after a joint force bombarded the rebel leader’s camps and forced him to flee.

Mr Museveni, who described the attack as very successful, said the reclusive rebel leader may have escaped because he acquired a gadget that he used to monitor the radio conversations of the pilots manning the helicopter gunships.

“We found that there was a manual of a certain gadget Kony may have used to monitor the radio conversations of the pilots,” Mr Museveni told a press conference in Kampala yesterday. “We captured the manual but we did not capture the gadget itself. The gadget only becomes useful if the pilots do not maintain radio silence.”

Mr Museveni, who regretted that his government spent time negotiating peace with the Lord’s Resistance Army, said the UPDF would seek to block Kony from crossing into the Central African Republic, where his troops have sometimes sneaked to recruit and cause havoc.

“The force on the western side of Garamba has detected a group of 100 fighters trying to go to the Central African Republic,” Mr Museveni said. “We shall get them before they go there.”

Mr Museveni said the operation had been successful despite delays in putting the ground forces into action.

Ugandan commandos entered Garamba last Tuesday, two days after the initial assault.

Although there have been no casualties from the attack, Mr Museveni said yesterday that LRA fighters may have returned to bury their dead. “It was a very successful operation…we attacked Kony’s main camp and devastated it,” Mr Museveni said.

“Kony only understands one language--- the language of the gun.”

Kony, indicted by the International Criminal Court in 2005 on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity, in April refused to sign a peace deal negotiated under the mediation of the South Sudan government.

Kony has said he will not sign the peace deal until the ICC withdraws arrest warrants for him and his top lieutenants.

The offensive on Garamba, where Kony had be holed up for nearly three years, was the first direct confrontation between the UPDF and the LRA since a ceasefire agreement was signed in August 2006.

“I don’t think that it was ever correct to beg Kony for peace as some groups were doing,” Mr Museveni said. “We had no other option but to act against these criminal acts.”

A section of Acholi elders, reacting to the offensive, said aerial bombardment of the LRA camps was the wrong tactic against a rebel group that still holds many women and children, most of them forcibly recruited.

Mr Museveni said yesterday he had asked the Police to examine whether the recent statements of MPs Reagan Okumu and Livingstone Okello-Okello, who claimed that the allied forces had hit empty camps, were not potentially criminal.

Mr Museveni suggested that the Ugandan contingent would stay in Garamba for an extended period as it tries to capture or kill Kony.

“If Kony tried to settle in any other region, he would be exposed to more danger than in Garamba,” he said. “I would like to assure Ugandans that this is the end of Kony as the terrorist of Uganda… As an old fighter, I wouldn’t want to be in Kony’s position. The combined operations are about to decimate him.”

Meanwhile, the LRA yesterday set new demands for talks with the government and called for a ceasefire.
Addressing a press conference in Nairobi, the leader of the LRA peace delegation, Mr David Nyekorach Matsanga, said the LRA will not go back to Juba for the completion of the talks and signing of the Final Peace Agreement (FPA).

He added LRA want a different person other than vice President of South Sudan, Dr Riek Machar, to chair the talks.
If possible, Dr Matsanga said, a UN appointed envoy should take over the process as Dr Machar “has lost credibility to mediate in the conflict.”

He termed Dr Machar as a traitor especially after the Sunday attacks. Mr Matsanga said the UN appointed envoy should report directly to the UN Security Council at every step made.

The rebel group demanded the inclusion of Sant. E-Gideo, an international NGO in Northern Uganda in the peace talks.

Kenya-Uganda-LRA-Peace talks

Posted: 22 Dec 2008 09:53 AM CST

From APA-Nairobi (Kenya) 22 December 2008:
UGANDA'S LRA REBELS DEMAND FRESH TALKS WITH GOV'T WITH UN ENVOY AS CHAIR

Uganda’s rebel Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) on Monday said that they were ready for peace talks with the Ugandan government if only the chair of the peace talks, Riek Machar who is also the Vice-President of Southern Sudan steps down, and they also demanded that a special United Nations envoy be appointed to take over as chair of the peace talks.

Addressing a news conference in Nairobi, the LRA spokesman, David Matsanga said that LRA has already lost confidence in Machar.

“He has lost credibility in the peace talks”, he said and accused him to be the stumbling block to the peace process.

He accused Machar of being sympathetic to the Ugandan government and called him a traitor in regard to the military attacks on LRA on December 14 code-named “Operation lighting thunder”.

He said that the special UN envoy will report directly to the Security Council and brief the Council on every step of the peace talks.

The spokesman said that the LRA was committed to the peace talks despite the government attacks.

Matsanga said that the LRA leader Joseph Kony has proposed a change of the venue of the peace process, saying that either Tanzania or South Africa could host the talks.

He called an end to the tripartite air raids on LRA bases by Congolese, Ugandan and Southern Sudanese forces adding that the attacks have instead intensified the long drawn 22 year-old conflict.

He further maintained that the signing of the Final Peace Agreement(FPA) has been impeded due to the arrest warrants issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC)) against Kony.

UN Security Council strongly condemns attacks by LRA in DR Congo, Southern Sudan

Posted: 22 Dec 2008 09:49 AM CST

Security Council strongly condemns attacks by Lord's Resistance Army in Democratic Republic of Congo, Southern Sudan

Source: United Nations Security Council
Date: 22 Dec 2008 (via ReliefWeb )

SC/9555
Security Council
6058th Meeting (AM)

Presidential Statement also Condemns Repeated Failure of LRA Leader Joseph Kony to Sign Peace Agreement Negotiated with Uganda

The Council today strongly condemned the recent attacks by the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Southern Sudan, and demanded that LRA cease its recruitment and use of children and release immediately all women, children and other non-combatants.

In a statement read by this month's President, Nevin Jurica (Croatia), the Council also condemned the repeated failure of Joseph Kony to sign the Final Peace Agreement negotiated between the Government of Uganda and LRA.

Recalling that the International Criminal Court had issued arrest warrants for certain LRA leaders on charges of, among other things, war crimes and crimes against humanity, including murder, rape and the enlistment of children through abduction, the Council reaffirmed that ending impunity was essential for a society recovering from conflict to come to terms with past abuses and to prevent their recurrence.

The Council welcomed the re-establishment of peace and security in northern Uganda and encouraged the country's Government to honour its commitment to accelerate reconciliation, recovery and development in that region through rapid implementation of its Peace, Recovery and Development Plan.

The Council expressed its appreciation for the efforts undertaken by Joaquim Chissano, former President of Mozambique, as the Secretary-General's Special Representative for LRA-affected areas, and agreed with his recommendation that the peace efforts should continue.

At the end of the meeting, the President bade farewell to the five outgoing members, Belgium, Indonesia, Italy, Panama and South Africa, and commended them for their hard work and contributions during their 2007-2008 term on the Council.

The meeting started at 11:51 a.m. and adjourned at 11:57 a.m.

Presidential Statement

The full text of presidential statement S/PRST/2008/48 reads as follows:

"The Security Council is grateful for the efforts undertaken by His Excellency Mr. Joaquim Chissano, former President of Mozambique, as the Secretary-General's Special Envoy for the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA)-affected areas. The Council expresses its appreciation for his briefing of 17 December 2008, and agrees with his recommendation that the peace efforts should continue. The Council welcomes President Chissano's readiness to continue in his role for a further period.

"The Security Council reiterates its welcome for the Final Peace Agreement (FPA), negotiated between the Government of Uganda and the LRA, and reached through the Juba Peace Process. The Council commends the Government of Uganda for its continued commitment to the FPA and its investment in the peace process.

"The Security Council condemns the repeated failure of Joseph Kony to sign the FPA. It calls upon the LRA to sign and honour the FPA immediately and to begin the process of disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration to ensure a peaceful, political solution.

"The Security Council strongly condemns the recent attacks by the LRA in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Southern Sudan, which pose a continuing threat to regional security. It demands that the LRA cease its recruitment and use of children and that it release immediately all women, children and other non combatants, in accordance with Security Council resolution 1612 (2005). The Council reiterates its deep concern at the long-running and brutal insurgency by the LRA, which has caused the death, abduction and displacement of thousands of innocent civilians in Uganda, the Sudan and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

"The Security Council recalls the International Criminal Court arrest warrants for certain LRA leaders on charges of, among other things, war crimes and crimes against humanity, including murder, rape and the enlistment of children through abduction. The Council recalls its statement of June 2006 (PRST/2006/28), and reaffirms that it attaches vital importance to promoting justice and the rule of law, including respect for human rights, as an indispensable element for lasting peace. The Council reaffirms that ending impunity is essential for a society recovering from conflict to come to terms with past abuses committed against civilians and to prevent their recurrence.

"The Security Council commends the States in the region for their increased cooperation, and welcomes the joint efforts they have made to address the security threat posed by the LRA. The Council calls upon these States to ensure that all actions are carried out in accordance with international humanitarian, human rights and refugee law, and to take appropriate measures to protect civilians. The Council encourages these States to keep the United Nations missions in the region informed about their actions.

"The Security Council welcomes the re-establishment of peace and security in northern Uganda. It encourages the Government of Uganda, with the support of international partners, to honour its commitment to accelerate reconciliation, recovery and development in that region through rapid implementation of its Peace, Recovery and Development Plan (PRDP) and relevant agenda items in the FPA and to disburse anticipated financing for the PRDP without delay.

"The Security Council will continue to monitor the situation closely."
LRA wants peace talks

Posted: 22 Dec 2008 09:46 AM CST

From New Vision by Reuben Olita 22 December, 2008:
LRA wants peace talks

LRA rebels have demanded the immediate halt to the UPDF attacks and resumption of peace talks, spokesman David Nyekorach Matsanga said in Nairobi yesterday.

The negotiations should be moved from South Sudan to Tanzania or South Africa, Matsanga added.

Addressing a press conference at Chester, Matsanga, flanked by another LRA activist, Justine Labeja, said chief mediators Riek Machar, the South Sudan’s vice-president, and former Mozambican President Joachim Chissano should be dropped from the talks because they are biased. Matsanga described Machar as a traitor and an enemy.

In a statement, Matsanga said the venue should be changed because the government of South Sudan “is not neutral in the conflict”.

Tanzania or South Africa , he said, were preferable given their “political stability and democratic” credentials and their capacity to “enforce the agreement”.

Matsanga said the new talks should address rebel chief Gen. Joseph Kony’s concerns about his indictment for war crimes at The Hague, which he blamed for his refusal to sign the agreement.

Uganda, Congo and South Sudan last Sunday jointly attacked Kony’s camps in the thick Garamba forest in the north-east of the DR Congo, where he had been holed up for about two years as the talks were going on in Juba, South Sudan.

The allies said the offensive, code-named Operation Lightning Thunder, was intended to push Kony into signing the final peace agreement, which he refused to do thrice this year after a painstaking process.

Operation Lightning Thunder spokesman Capt. Chris Magezi said the operation had been a success because Kony would not be able to mount serious war again.

He said weapons, Kony’s personal effects, including his wig and guitar, and household items were recovered and expansive gardens of food crops destroyed. Eight abductees have been rescued, Magezi said.

However, Matsanga insisted that Kony and his high command survived the bombardment. He would not say where he was or confirm reports that he had fled to the Central African Republic.

Matsanga said he spoke with Kony “very recently and his spirit was very high”.

President Yoweri Museveni yesterday said Kony was trapped in the forest and would not escape this time unless he signed the pact.

Kony hits dead time, says Museveni

Posted: 22 Dec 2008 09:42 AM CST

From New Vision 22 December, 2008:
Kony hits dead time, says Museveni

President Yoweri Museveni on Monday made a radio statement on the joint Sunday assault on the Lord’s Resistance Army rebels in the Garamba Park. Below are the excerpts....

Countrymen,

I greet you all and I congratulate you for reaching the end of 2008. 1 wish you a happy Christmas and a prosperous New Year, 2009.

The purpose of this broadcast is to tell you that on Sunday 14th December 2008, at 1130 hours, we attacked Kony’s camp in Garamba Park. It was a very successful operation because our Air-force, operating with the support of the brother Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and the brother Government of Southern Sudan (GOSS), attacked Kony’s main camp codenamed “Kiswahili”.

The gunships flew directly from Koboko (district), carried out the attack and refuelled in Southern Sudan. Later in the day of that same Sunday, our other assets, including MIG21 jet-fighters, landed on some airports in DRC. The airports in the three sister countries, DRC, GOSS and Uganda are now being used to end this shameful terror of Kony in the Great Lakes region. We are most grateful to the sister countries of DRC and Sudan for this correct stand on terrorism and unconstitutionalism.

We attacked Kony because of the following reasons:

1. Kony had refused to sign the agreement that had been negotiated for two years under the mediation of the Government of Southern Sudan for whom we are most grateful for the tireless effort they put in. This showed that Kony only understands one language — that of the gun. I do not think it was ever correct to beg Kony for peace as some groups were doing. We are ready to forgive Kony. It should, however, be Kony to beg for peace because he is the one that killed Ugandans, abducted women for sex-slaves, abducted children, mutilated Ugandans and other Africans, etc. Anyway, Kony proved that he was never interested in peace by refusing to sign the agreement when the signing was due, not once but many times.

2. Kony has never stopped abducting Congolese, Southern Sudanese and citizens of Central African Republic (CAR) ever since he entered Garamba over three years ago. Indeed, we are already rescuing children from these countries that Kony had abducted, including a 17-year-old girl from CAR, who is heavy with pregnancy - thanks to Kony’s thugs!

3. Kony continued to kill Ugandans even during the peace talks, including the killing of Otti. Why should Kony, who is so concerned about the International Criminal Court (ICC) indictment and always wants guarantees for his safety, kill other law-breakers like Otti? Why does he care about his life and not that of others? This impunity of Kony and those who support him must be brought to an end.

4. Kony had started dispersing his terrorists to the whole region (DRC, Southern Sudan, etc. and was trying to re-infiltrate some elements into Uganda) to ensure that in the coming dry season he causes terror in all these areas. Only yesterday the SPLA attacked a Kony group led by Kidega at Lanya in Southern Sudan. This had been sent by Kony long before the Sunday attack to disrupt Southern Sudan and possibly Northern Uganda. This group of Kidega was sent from Garamba on the 5th of December 2008 long before the attack of 14th December 2008. The aim was to start the killings in Southern Sudan and Northern Uganda.
We, therefore, had no option but to act against these criminal acts and we did with the support of the region and the international community. The region supports us through coordination, joint operations and sharing assets. The international community gives us moral support and some limited solidarity in some areas.

Was the attack mission successful? It was very successful in spite of some delays due to coordination challenges. The attack took place at 1130 hours (East African Standard time) instead of 0730 hours local time. On the first day of the attack we could not use all our assets: gunships, jets, infantry, etc, because they were not in position on account of coordination challenges, distances, weather, etc.

Nevertheless, it was a big success. Why do I say so? The following are the reasons:

I. Although we used only gunships, they were right on target. Kony’s people were on parade preparing to disperse in order to spread terror to the whole region. Many were killed and the rest scattered in the Garamba Park. Kony survived the attack because he left the camp five minutes before the attack. We suspect that somebody had given him a gadget for detecting conversation of pilots in flight. Indeed, we have captured a manual for that purpose that we are studying. This is a curable challenge. He might not be so lucky next time.

II. The Kony group was forced to abandon the huge amount of food they had got from Caritas, the huge gardens they had cultivated using slave labour and comfort of the Garamba territory they had turned into their own. They are now leading the life of fugitives in the park. Indeed, the Kony gardens are now feeding our troops, thereby saving on the costs for the airlift of food from Uganda. Without food the Kony terrorists are in great trouble.

III. On Sunday, we disrupted Kony’s cohesion and his simple supply system that was based on the locally grown food and that given to him by Caritas when he was deceiving Dr. Riak Machar that he was interested in the peace talks. We did this with the use of only one element — the gunships. The full force of the UPDF and our allies (FARDC and SPLA) is now being assembled in the region.
As an old fighter, I would not want to be in Kony’s position. The combined arms operations that are about to begin will decimate him.
This is exactly, what happened in Teso and Lango in 2003, when Kony’s notorious commanders — Tabuley, Nyeko, etc., died. That is why Otti and Kony fled to Garamba with very much reduced manpower — Kony had 120 and Otti had 120. Kony and Otti did not go to Garamba for tourism reasons. They were fleeing. I remember the battle of Apopong in Teso, in August 2003, where one of Kony’s commanders called Opio died. That was, actually, the turning point of this conflict. What happened in Teso is about to happen in Garamba unless Kony does the wise and simple thing — ask for safe passage to the Ri-Kwamba assembly area and sign the peace agreement.
That is the only safe course of action for Kony.

iv. If Kony tries to scatter in the region (Southern Sudan, other parts of DRC or tries to return to Uganda), he will be more exposed to danger than in Garamba. We have now gathered more intelligence on Kony’s activities and those who support him by entering Kony’s camps in Garamba. As we continue operating, we shall gather even more information against him.

If we could attack Kony from Koboko, 231 miles away, how will he survive if he is nearer in Southern Sudan or tries to re-enter Uganda?

Therefore, I would like to assure Ugandans that this is the end of Kony as a terrorist. We have ended cattle rustling in Karamoja precisely on account of this capacity.

There are the likes of Okello Okello and Okumu Reagan who try to cause panic in the population that Kony will come back to Uganda in order to resume his terrorism. They refer to the operation Iron Fist of 2002, when we flushed Kony out of the Kit Valley (Rubangatek, Kempaco, etc.) only for his group to go to the Imatong Hills from where we flushed them, They, then, re-entered Uganda and caused a lot of suffering until they were defeated in Teso in 2003 and, eventually, fled to Garamba. Operation Iron Fist was also a success because Kony was uprooted from his bases in Kit Valley. However, the problem we had that time was that, on account, of the interference in our defence budgeting by some external forces, our Army modernisation had lagged behind. We still relied only on infantry (Soldiers walking on foot). This one we cured when we cut 23% from budget lines of all the ministries and modernised the Army. Indeed, this was one of my campaign points in the 2001 general elections. The Army has now been modernised. It is now a bi-service force — Land forces and Air- force. This makes the Army lethal and prompt in its capacity to deal with un-constitutional e1emets. The defeat of Kony in Teso and Lango in 2003, was the first fruit of this modernisation. The pacification of Karamoja is the second big fruit from this modernisation. The Sunday 14th long jump operation into Garamba opened a campaign that will see the end of Kony either, peacefully, by him walking to Ri-Kwamba and signing the agreement or by being violently killed or captured together with those traitors that have been with him. This is how we shall liberate all the abductees as we are beginning to do. Those criminal politicians who encourage Kony to avoid peace maybe, paradoxically, God’s agents in bringing about Kony’s death. His continued failure to assemble in Ri-Kwamba will, I am almost certain, bring about his death. Kony should know how to save himself.

I would like to call upon our citizens to ignore Okello Okello and Okumu Reagan. Even Kony would be advised to keep a distance from them and their likes. Otherwise, Okello Okello and Okumu Reagan will cause the death of Kony just as they caused the deaths of Yardin, Nyeko, Tabuley, Lukwiya and even Otti. Any Kony terrorist who listens to their advice will have himself to blame. Victory is assured.

I thank you very much.

Yoweri K. Museveni
22 December 2008 - Nakasero

Security Council demands that Ugandan rebels sign peace accord

Posted: 22 Dec 2008 09:38 AM CST

From UN.org 22 December 2008 - Security Council demands that Ugandan rebels sign peace accord:
The United Nation Security Council today strongly condemned recent attacks by the rebel Ugandan Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Southern Sudan, and demanded that it immediately sign a previously negotiated peace accord.

A presidential statement, read out by Ambassador Nevin Jurica of Croatia, which holds this month’s rotating presidency of the 15-member body, condemned the repeated failure of LRA leader Joseph Kony to sign the Final Peace Agreement negotiated between the Government of Uganda and LRA.

It recalled that the International Criminal Court (ICC) had issued arrest warrants for “certain LRA leaders” on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity, including murder, rape and the enlistment of children through abduction. The ICC issued arrest warrants for Mr. Kony and two other LRA leaders, Okot Odhiambo and Dominic Ongwen, in 2005.

“The Council reiterates its deep concern at the long-running and brutal insurgency by the LRA, which has caused the death, abduction and displacement of thousands of innocent civilians in Uganda, the Sudan and the Democratic Republic of the Congo,” the statement said. “It demands that the LRA cease its recruitment and use of children and that it release immediately all women, children and other non-combatants.”

Noting that “it attaches vital importance to promoting justice and the rule of law, including respect for human rights, as an indispensable element for lasting peace,” the Council reaffirmed that “ending impunity is essential for a society recovering from conflict to come to terms with past abuses committed against civilians and to prevent their recurrence.”

It called on the LRA to sign the peace accord immediately and begin the process of disarmament, demobilization and reintegration to ensure a peaceful, political solution to the 21-year-long conflict.

The Council welcomed the re-establishment of peace and security in northern Uganda, which has seen the LRA disperse into Southern Sudan and eastern DRC, and called on the Ugandan Government to accelerate reconciliation, recovery and development in the north by disbursing anticipated financing without delay.

Last week the Council voiced support for a joint military operation launched by the DRC, Uganda and Southern Sudan to flush the LRA out of a remote national park in north-eastern DRC.

Meanwhile, the UN World Food Programme (WFP) has helped ship in 24 tons of food for 8,500 people in the DRC’s Dungu region affected by the LRA. “These people are very happy,” WFP programme manager Ibrahime Diallo said after helping to supervise the distribution. “They have been waiting a long time. Now they see that when we say we will do something, we will do something.”

Local men offloaded bags and cans of food bearing the logos of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), ECHO (European Commission Humanitarian Office) and other donors. WFP’s feeding programme in the area is expected to last two or three months.

Dungu town’s population has grown as internally displaced persons (IDPs) arrived. With the area outside Dungu now considered by many a no-go zone, hunger is on the increase.

“The harvest season begins in January and they are unable to go to their farms and fields,” WFP Dungu sub-station chief Charles Gemenze said. “There is no famine but IDPs, host families and returnees need to complement what little food they still have.”