Barbara Among
6 January 2009
Kampala — TWENTY fighters of the Lord's Resistance Army have surrendered to the Congolese army as the three-week multinational assault on the rebels' hideouts in the Garamba jungles continues.
The surrender comes three days after the Congolese forces and park rangers killed 10 rebels in a four-hour battle at Megero airstrip, northeastern DR Congo.
State minister for defence Ruth Nankabirwa said the fighters surrendered following increased pressure by the joint military forces from Congo, Sudan and Uganda.
"Their number has been reduced. When we bombed, they got scattered, some were killed, others are now surrendering," said Nankabirwa.
She said the 20 were being kept at the Congolese army base near Dungu, the operation centre for the joint forces.
The three armies launched an offensive code- named operation lighting thunder against the rebels on December 14.
Nankabirwa said the troops were closing in on the rebels and were recovering more items around the LRA base in Camp Swahili.
"The number which is under Joseph Kony (LRA leader) is really very small. You need to be patient to detect their movement. If they were big, it would be easier to detect them."
The minister added that the 20 would be granted amnesty but warned that this could be the last group to enjoy the general pardon.
"I don't think we can go on and on with that open amnesty. It must have an end," Nankabirwa said.
Last Friday, the Ugandan forces captured two rebel commanders, James Onen and Peter Okot, who are still being kept at the base in Dungu together with eight captives, some Congolese.
Meanwhile, the rebels killed 20 people at a park ranger station in the northeast of Congo, local officials said yesterday.
"Ten people were killed, including two women, two park rangers, an electrician and five other civilians who have not yet been identified," Orientale's deputy governor Joseph Bangakya told the new agency Reuters.
About 50 LRA fighters attacked the headquarters of the Garamba National Park in the town of Megero in Orientale province on Friday evening.
Local officials also reported yesterday that in two separate attacks on Sunday, LRA gunmen raided a protestant mission in Napopo and attacked Laso, a village in Sudan. It was not clear whether anyone was killed in the incidents.
The UN refugee agency, UNHCR, yesterday visited the towns of Faradje and Tadu, where the rebels massacred about 100 civilians over the Christmas holiday.
UNHCR said in a press statement that the people in the area were shocked and traumatised by the brutality of the attacks.
"Our mission found Faradje pillaged and destroyed by fire. More than 800 houses, three schools, government buildings and medical facilities were burned. Most of Faradje's households lost their annual harvest in the fire."
According to the UN team, 225 people are displaced from Faradje, 160 children have been kidnapped and more than 80 women raped.
UNHCR said the population was in dire need of food, shelter, medicines, clothes and other items. "However, the area remains highly volatile and insecurity is a key obstacle to access by us and other agencies."
The regional forces attacked the LRA bases after Kony failed to sign a pact to end his rebellion against the Uganda government. The operation received the unanimous blessing of the UN Security Council member states.
Ugandan and Congolese officials have said the offensive succeeded in destroying most of the LRA's bases in DR Congo.
However, the coalition are yet to locate Kony, who along with his two deputies, is wanted for war crimes by the International Criminal Court in The Hague.
Estimated to number about 1,000 fighters, Ugandan and Congolese officials say the LRA has now split into smaller groups. Some are believed to be heading towards neighbouring Central African Republic, where the rebels have carried out raids in the past.
The LRA was driven out of northern Uganda, where it had killed and maimed thousands of people and forced about two million into protected camps.
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