Grace Matsiko | Kampala | Monitor
Nineteen days after the UPDF Mig23 fighter jets bombed Garamba the hitherto base of Joseph Kony’s Lords Resistance Army (LRA) , the army is yet to make contact with the elusive international war crimes suspect , highlighting the discreet nature of the former altar boy.
Kony has shed off his usually larger security detail to avoid detection and could be lurking in the jungles between Garamba National Park in the Democratic Republic of Congo and North of Maridi town in South Sudan, the intelligence and military experts monitoring the LRA activities, but who did not want to be named given the sensitivity of the operation told Saturday Monitor. Other top LRA commanders who have gone underground following the December 14 air raids led by the UPDF and supported by DRC and South Sudan troops, are Kony’s deputies, Okot Odhiambo and Dominic Ongwen.
The three are the only surviving LRA leaders indicted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) in July 2005 for war crimes and crimes against humanity. “We are looking at high value targets. Kony, Odhiambo and Ongwen are in that category but it is difficult to know where exactly they are. If we knew definitely we would eliminate them,” the spokesman for Operation Lightning Thunder, Capt.
Chris Magezi told Saturday Monitor by telephone. “However, much as they try to hide, we will get at them unless they turn themselves in,” he added. But what is puzzling military and intelligence experts who spoke to Saturday Monitor is how Kony, Odhiambo and Ongwen have managed to conceal themselves for this long when the UPDF had gathered enough information about their presence at the LRA headquarters at Camp Swahili in Garamba on December 13, a day before the air strikes. The armed forces of Uganda (UPDF), DRC (FARDC) and Southern Sudan (SPLA) in a joint inteligence-led military operation, on December 14, launched an attack on LRA in Garamba Forest.
President Yoweri Museveni told a press conference on December 22 that abductees told UPDF that Kony left five minutes before the attack. “Fact number one is that Kony left five minutes before the attack, and I have independent confirmation of that,” Mr Museveni told journalists. But Museveni said although Kony escaped, he cannot be anywhere else other than Garamba.
The President dismissed claims by the LRA peace delegation chairman, Mr David Nyekorach Matsanga that Kony was in Central African Republic.
Military and intelligence sources have since backed Mr. Museveni’s statement about Kony’s location arguing that Mr Matsanga’s claim was intended to divert the army pursuit of their prized target. “Our contacts on the ground indicate Kony is in the fringes of Garamba, North of Maridi but in the Sudan territory,” one of the military sources said.
The suspected area where Kony is said to be hiding is estimated to be over 1200 sq kilometres. Maridi to Garamba using Yambio-Iba Road is over 200km, with most parts covered by dense tropical forests and rivers. Sources said, Kony escaped in the Maridi direction, which is located on the route to Uganda via Yei, close to Koboko so that the pursuing forces can be pulled backwards towards Uganda and he attempts to flee to CAR.
Capt. Magezi said apart from the bad terrain, Kony has separated from his main fighting group to avoid detection by the pursuing allied forces led by the UPDF. “He (Kony) moves alone for fear of being detected,” Capt. Magezi said adding that, “the rest of the LRA have split into small numbers. Even those killing civilians are not many.”
Intelligence sources said that Kony is believed to be left with a force of not more than 600 fighters who are armed and unarmed ‘brigade’ of about 200 including children and women who are still held in captivity. The rebels use the captives to cultivate food and carry their loot. It is reported that Kony avoids communicating on his satellite telephone and instead uses junior commanders to pass on his instructions to his units scattered in Garamba, which is estimated to be close to 5000 square kilometers.
It is through such guarded links that he reportedly ordered a raid on Faradje on Christmas Day in which over 150 civilians were killed as the fighters looted food and other supplies to replenish their stock. LRA however denies this.
Capt. Magezi said Kony’s fighters are armed with light weapons mainly the Sub-Machine Guns (SMGs) while the heavier guns they had have ran out of ammunitions. “They do not have heavier guns because they can’t be swift during movement,” he added.
http://www.monitor.co.ug/artman/publish/news/LRA_war_Army_yet_to_make_contact_with_Kony_77633.shtml
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