Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Kinshasa (Agenzia Fides) – The Congolese Army has freed over 100 people who had been taken hostage by Ugandan rebels of the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) on June 2, from the village of Dakwa, 200 kilometers from the border with the Central African Republic. In the attack, carried out while the village was celebrating a funeral, the LRA sacked several homes and the Catholic mission, and took nearly 200 people hostage. The Congolese Army was only able to free some of the prisoners, with larger attack carried out by local armed forces with the support of Ugandan intelligence.
The LRA has now established its most important bases in the Eastern Province, in the northeastern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo. Following the failure of the joint military operation carried out in December by the Congolese Army, along with that of Uganda and South Sudan, against the General Headquarters of the LRA leader Joseph Kony, in the Garamba Forest, the guerrillas conducted a series of retaliation attacks on the Congolese civilians. Several towns were attacked and pillaged, and some of the inhabitants were taken hostage.
The government in Kinshasa has responded by sending in more troops to the Eastern Province and calling on the support of the UN Mission in Congo (MONUC). For political and diplomatic reasons, the Ugandan troops have retreated from Congolese territory, however they continue to provide intelligence information to the government in Kinshasa on the movements of the LRA.
Thanks to the collaboration between Kinshasa and Kampala, the Congolese military has been able to inflict severe losses for the leadership of the LRA. Two of Kony's most important collaborators, in fact, were killed in a battle with the Congolese Army: Ocan Bunia, commander of a LRA brigade and George Labongo, who led the intelligence department of another brigade of the guerrillas. Bunia was killed on April 27, however only in recent days has notice been given of his death, after his body was identified by some of his ex-prisoners. Labongo was accused of having committed the worst crimes in the history of the LRA, massacring over 300 people (including many women and children) in the internal refugee camp located in Barlonyo, in North Uganda. The massacre, which took place on April 21, 2004, was committed in a most cruel manner. The civilians were, in fact, convinced by the rebels disguised as members of the Ugandan Army, to hide inside their homes, which were later set on fire.
The anti-guerrilla collaboration between Uganda and the DRC has not prevented the two States from living out their profound differences over oil extraction from Lake Albert, on the border between the two countries. The oil reserves in the area have been observed as fairly promising by experts and are now gaining attention from various multi-national companies and powers outside Africa. (LM) (Agenzia Fides 15/6/2009)
