United Nations, November 18: The UN Security Council Tuesday “strongly condemned” the ongoing attacks and acts of violence of Uganda’s Christian extremist rebel group Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) in the Great Lakes region of Africa.
“The (15) members of the Security Council strongly condemned the continued and recently increasing attacks carried out by the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Central African Republic and Sudan,” it said.
The attacks “have resulted in the death, abduction and displacement of thousands of civilians,” said Austrian Ambassador Thomas Mayr-Harting, who this month holds the council’s rotating presidency.
He said the council praised the “increased cooperation” of regional governments in dealing with the “serious threat posed by the LRA,” and encouraged them to cooperate fully with the United nations to ensure the protection of civilians in the area.
The council called on UN missions in the region “to coordinate strategies for, and information on, the protection of civilians, in light of the attacks by the LRA.”
The UN missions include MONUC (UN Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo), UNMIS (in the Sudan), MINURCAT (in the Central African Republic and Chad, UNAMID (African Union-United Nations Hybrid Operation in Darfur) and BONUCA (United Nations Peace-building Office in the Central African Republic).
The LRA guerrilla group, whose chief Joseph Kony is wanted by the International Criminal Court, first appeared in northern Uganga in 1988 and has since expanded into the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Central African Republic (CAR) and south Sudan.
Earlier this year in south Sudan, LRA men attacked several food aid distribution stations, killed hundreds of civilians and kidnapped children for use as soldiers, forcing thousands of people into Western Equatoria.
And two incidents, possibly involving Kony’s men, have been reported in recent weeks in the south’s Bahr al-Ghazal region, which is wedged between the CAR and the Darfur region of western Sudan, sparking rumours the LRA is moving into Darfur.
The extremist group was founded by a former Catholic altar boy from northern Uganda, who uses biblical references to explain why it is necessary to kill people.
His Christian extremist group is notorious for abducting thousands of children, forcing them to become either soldiers for his radical views or sex slaves.
The LRA rebels say they are fighting for the establishment of a government based on the biblical Ten Commandments.
He is described as a self-styled prophet who believes in Jesus, son of God.
One of Kony’s aides, Moses, was quoted as saying: “Kony is a messenger from God! We follow the commands of the Holy Spirit!”
Moses continues to explain Kony’s reasoning: “If someone has done something bad to you, you have to kill them!”
“Go and read in Matthew, chapter what and what, it is stated that if your right hand causes trouble, cut if off! It is there in the Bible!”
“He taught us how to pray,” one of Kony’s wives said. He had named was of his sons George Bush. And like the former US president, he also claims to receive personal visions from God.
In an interview with Vincent Otti, who was LRA second in command at the time, the Christian fanatic was asked about the group’s name and its ideal system of government.
Otti’s response was: “Lord’s Resistance Army is just the name of the movement, because we are fighting in the name of God. God is the one helping us in the bush. That’s why we created this name, Lord’s Resistance Army. And people always ask us, are we fighting for the [biblical] Ten Commandments of God. That is true – because the Ten Commandments of God is the constitution that God has given to the people of the world.”
Kony uses passages from the Pentateuch to justify mutilation and murder.
LRA fighters achieved notoriety by turning on the Acholis they claimed to represent, hacking off lips, ears and noses, killing thousands and abducting more than 20,000 civilians, mostly children.
The children who have been abducted were often forced to kill their own parents so they have no way back.
People who were abducted into Kony’s forces and later escaped describe him as a crazed religious leader.
Human Rights Watch had previously accused the mainly Christian regional government of southern Sudan of ignoring an International Criminal Court’s warrants for the arrest of four top Ugandan rebel leaders.
In one occasion, Kony, who was in southern Sudan, had even met the Christian region’s Vice-President, Riek Machar.
Kony had asked the government of southern Sudan to facilitate talks between him and President Museveni of Uganda.
The LRA has killed more people than many other terrorist groups, yet few Americans or Europeans have ever heard of it.
—Agencies