US to continue training regional troops against Lord’s Resistance Army

ADDIS ABABA: The US said on Thursday it would maintain training for east and central African regional forces to prevent warlord Joseph Kony’s rebels from regrouping, despite plans to pull troops from operations hunting the insurgents.

About 100 US military personnel have been providing a regional force made up of soldiers from Uganda, Democratic Republic of Congo, South Sudan and Central African Republic with intelligence, logistics and other support to track Kony’s Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA).

The rebel leader has been indicted by the International Criminal Court.

Last month, Washington announced that it was pulling its contingent out of operations against the LRA, saying the insurgent force had been “dramatically weakened.”

“We obviously have concerns about the possibility of the LRA coming back to fruition,” Marine Gen. Thomas Waldhauser, the top US military commander overseeing troops in Africa, said.

“We will continue to work with those countries with training and exercises ... because even though we are officially ending (the mission), we are certainly aware of the fact that we do not want to leave a void there.”

For nearly two decades, the LRA battled the government of Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni from bases in the north of the country and across the border in what is now South Sudan.

NAIROBI, Kenya: A South Sudanese government offensive in the Jonglei region has displaced roughly 100,000 civilians, the UN said Thursday, causing aid workers to relocate from an area that has dire humanitarian problems.

A report from the UN’s office of humanitarian affairs said that fighting in the Waat and Walgak areas last week caused scores of thousands of civilians to flee, as well as 60 aid workers.

The UN warned the government offensive may exacerbate food insecurity in the Jonglei region, which has some areas that are on the brink of famine. Food drops in one area of Jonglei have been suspended as a result of the fighting, the UN said.

“The guns have to fall silent ... ( or) the humanitarian situation will continue to deteriorate,” said Eugene Owusu, the top UN humanitarian official in South Sudan at a press conference on Wednesday in the capital Juba.

Famine was declared in two counties of South Sudan this February, but aid workers have repeatedly been blocked from delivering food aid by government and rebel forces.