Alarm as LRA rebels launch fresh attacks in remote South Sudan village
3 min readBy Machel Amos Nation correspondent
Posted Friday, September 9 2011 at 20:31
In Summary
- SPLA spokesman says rebels headed back to Central African Republic after looting property
The Ugandan Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) rebels crossed into South Sudan from Central Africa last week and attacked a village in Raja County in Western Bhar al-Ghazal state, South Sudanese authorities said on Friday.
The spokesman of the Sudan People’s liberation Army, Col. Philip Aguer, said the rebels looted property and headed back to CAR, but said no casualty figures were reported.
“The LRA rebels were moving in large numbers. For the first time they were 80 but they are moving with their families and they came to Raja County and went back to CAR,” Aguer said.
The incident is the latest such violence from the rebels in South Sudan since the country gained independence on July 9.
Aguer said that despite their big number, they could not ascertain where they were headed to.
“Their movement is a bit confusing because of thick forest. They were coming from CAR,” he said.
Rebel leader Joseph Kony is wanted by the International Criminal Court to answer charges of abuse of human rights.
Since he declined to sign a peace agreement in Juba with the Ugandan government in 2008, seeking the deferral of ICC indictment, Kony has been on the run.
A joint military offensive by Uganda, South Sudan and Democratic Republic of Congo flashed out the rebels from their hide-outs in the thick Garamba forest in DRC in 2008.
The LRA is one of the several armed groups, alongside ethnic cattle rustlers, that South Sudan is struggling to contain.
The army also announced that it captured a senior leader of one of the rebel movements headed by George Athor Deng.
General Philip Lasuba was arrested as he tried to cross to Kitgum District in northern Uganda, where he would later fly to Nairobi and finally to Khartoum to get arms and ammunition, according to the army.
Military trial
“We arrested him and he is being interrogated and then later on he will be evaluated by SPLA military justice,” Aguer said.
Lasuba was captured by the rebels while fighting for the SPLA during a clash in a remote village in Jonglei state.
Athor promoted him from private to the rank of general and deployed him as mobiliser for Eastern Equatoria State.
Lasuba said he was arrested after recruiting 94 youths ready for a military operation and alleged that he travelled from Khartoum to Nairobi with the assistance of the country’s main opposition party chairman Lam AKol.
Lam has denied the allegation.
At the same time, Sudan has deployed additional troops in the fragile border state of Blue Nile, where fierce fighting broke out last week between the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) and forces formerly commanded by the South Sudanese army.
A source said Popular Defence Forces (PDF) had been deployed in large numbers as the new military governor enforced his authority and plans to flash out the remnants of “enemy” forces.
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