Ugandan rebels accused of murder in DR Congo

New York, 22 Dec-(ANA)-The rebel Ugandan Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA)  has killed some 1,300 civilians, abducted 1,400 more and displaced nearly 300,000 others, the UN has said.

Attacks in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and southern

Sudan by the LRA, notorious for two decades of murderous rampages in its

homeland, were detailed in two joint reports by the Office of the UN High

Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR)

People who helped bury the dead in the town of Batande testified to UN human

rights staff that a dozen women had been found “their hands tied, clothes torn

and legs apart.” In the most devastating wave of synchronized attacks over a

period of 24 hours.

The LRA was formed in the late 1980s in Uganda and for over 15 years its attacks

were mainly directed against Ugandan civilians and security forces, which in

2002 dislodged the rebels, who then exported their rampage to Uganda’s

neighbours.

The UN report calls on the international community, including regional governments, to cooperate with the ICC to search for, arrest and hand over the accused LRA leaders.

It recommends that UNMIS exercise its protection of civilians mandate
to prevent further loss of life and continue monitoring the situation.

It also calls on the Government of Southern Sudan to take steps to tackle LRA crimes, as well as to devote adequate resources to ensure effective judicial processes to bring perpetrators to justice.(ANA)

FA/ANA/22 December 2009---