Weekly Roundup April 4-10: HRW documents LRA massacre of 321 Congolese in December 2009

April 12th, 2010 by michael in: Conflict Watch

After 9 weeks on the road in central Africa (and one week resting at home), I'm happy to be back in DC and doing my familiar late week routine of working on the Weekly Roundup. However, what I'm feeling and writing these days is anything but routine. The stories I've heard, faces I've seen and courage I've witnessed throughout central Africa will not soon leave my memory. 

These experiences also reminded me that our actions and those of our leaders can, and do, have an impact on the lives of people affected by this conflict. For me, this knowledge has generated a feeling of responsibility to do what is in my power to see a lasting peace in the region. As I found several times during my travels, sometimes our individual capacity to affect change can seem minuscule in comparison to what is needed. But I take some strength in knowing that many of you feel as deeply as I do, and that our collective action just may be able to help stop the violence and help communities recover. So, thank you…and let's get to work.

The Good: A shocking report by Human Rights Watch about an LRA massacre in the DR Congo last year has sparked much needed discussion across the world about what should be done to permanently stop the rebel group's attacks.  

The Bad: It took over three months for the scale of the massacre, during which at least 321 people were killed, to become known to the international community.

The Ugly: LRA attacks are also taking a heavy toll on communities in the Central African Republic (CAR), but this violence is still barely registering on the international radar. 

Regional Security

  • An LRA officer captured by the UPDF last month claimed that an LRA delegation met with Sudanese government officials in Darfur last year in an effort to renew Sudanese support for the rebel group. The officer also said that LRA leader Joseph Kony is now in the DR Congo, and sent him to Uganda to deliver a message that the rebel leader wants to resume peace talks. 
  • In a recent report the UN's top official states that the LRA has the "military capacity to cause widespread insecurity for the civilian population and State institutions" in the DR Congo and that military operations targeting LRA forces there have "made little progress" since December 2009.


Situation in Northern Uganda

  • Amnesty International released a report this week documenting the prevalence of rape in Uganda and the inadequacy of efforts to prevent sexual violence and bring perpetrators to justice. An Amnesty researcher also said that little has changed since they released a similar report three years ago focused on sexual violence in northern Uganda.
  • Note: In our last Weekly Roundup we mistakenly reported that the UPDF had recently tapped a phone conversation between LRA leaders in which they threatened to resume attacks against civilians. The incident referenced actually occurred in 2004.  


International Community

  • The UN Secretary-General said in a report last week that "an enhanced military strategy, including greater air mobility and intelligence capabilities, as well as MONUC support for cross-border operations in pursuit of LRA, will be required to deter LRA attacks and to target the group's command structure more effectively."