Three African Countries Attack Ugandan LRA Rebels

A combined force of Ugandan, Congolese and South Sudanese troops have began a military campaign to eradicate Uganda’s rebel Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA). The joint operation, which has been launched in the forested Garamba border region of DR Congo, follows two years of failed peace talks between the Ugandan government and the rebels that began in 2006. The talks concluded in April 2008, but LRA leader Joseph Kony refused to sign the final peace agreement to end his 21 year insurgency, demanding to be absolved from all charges filed against him by the International Criminal Court (ICC). The LRA has long launched guerilla attacks against the Ugandan government and villagers in all the three countries from the porous border areas between DR Congo, Uganda, South Sudan and the Central African Republic.[PE]