Congo: Thousands Flee LRA Attacks

Thousands of people in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) have fled their homes following a series of attacks from Uganda’s rebel Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA).

Medecins Sans Frontière’ Central Africa coordinator Luis Encinas said the local population has suffered violence, murder, kidnapping and sexual abuse at the hands of the LRA rebels, who set up base in the DRC after being forced out of Uganda.

The LRA has gained notoriety for abductions, murders and recruitment of child soldiers, with tens of thousands estimated to have fallen into its hands since its inception in Northern Uganda two decades ago.

Its leader, Joseph Kony, is suspected to be hiding either in the DRC or in the Central Africa Republic to avoid arrest and trial by the International Criminal Court, which indicted him on 33 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity in 2005.[ES]