Kony’s rebels still threaten Central Africa
LRA has caused deaths of about 100,000 while forcing 2.5 million others to flee homes
Lawlessness in the Central African Republic is helping Joseph Kony’s Lord’s Resistance Army continue its almost 30-year regional campaign of killings and abductions, according to a United Nations report.
The Ugandan warlord’s forces remain the main threat to peace in the diamond-rich country’s east and southeast, states a report by a UN panel of experts due to be published by the end of the year.
The militia emerged in northern Uganda in the late 1980s, spread to neighbouring South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo, and has caused the deaths of about 100,000 people while forcing 2.5 million others to flee their homes.
“Looting and killings of civilians from LRA groups remain a source of concern,” according to the report, which was obtained from an official close to the panel who requested anonymity because the document isn’t public yet. Ivory and gold smuggling generate revenue for the LRA, the experts said.
Though the Central African Republic is rich in gold and gems, more than two years of conflict has forced international companies such as Axmin Inc to suspend operations there.
Lawlessness, Reprisals
The country has been gripped by lawlessness since mainly Muslim rebel militias known as Seleka overthrew the government in March 2013, sparking reprisals by predominantly Christian fighters. The conflict has forced almost a million people to flee their homes, with more than half seeking shelter in neighbouring countries, according to the UN.
The Central African Republic was ranked as the world’s 10th-biggest diamond producer by value in 2012, according to the US Geological Survey. Trade in the country’s diamonds was banned in May 2013 after the Kimberley Process, which seeks to halt the sale of gems from war zones, said there was no way to determine whether so-called conflict diamonds had been eliminated from shipments.
The US is offering as much as $5 million (Dh18.36 million) for information leading to Kony’s arrest for war crimes and in October extended for another year a mission that began in 2011 to help fight his group. The LRA has lost support and is down to about 150 fighters, from as many as 1,000 a few years ago, US Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defence for African Affairs Amanda J. Dory said in November.