Kony Is Weak & Desperate

The numerical strength of the Lord’s Resistance Army-LRA has progressively declined from 250 active combatants to 165 active male fighters, a new report from Invisible children and ‘The Resolve LRA Initiative’ points out.

The report compiled annually on the activity of the LRA now indicates that the group is growing weaker and more desperate.

However despite a decline in numbers, LRA instigated attacks rose by 10% and their abductions by a 32% margin during the period under review.

LRA, which has been fighting in the jungles of Garamba, DRC and parts of Sudan, has lost 13 Ugandan male fighters who defected, were killed or captured.

Prominent among these is Dominic Ongwen a member of the LRA’s control altar that defected from the LRA and is now appearing before the ICC.

The report comes at a time when the weakening strength of the LRA is being tested with increased military action from the African Union Regional taskforce soldiers in Central African Republic.

It notes that the LRA has been forced to carry out attacks focused on looting basic goods that the group can use to survive.

Lisa Dougan, the Central African Programs manager of Invisible children told URN in an interview that they had monitored an increase in the attacks on the CAR communities by the LRA.

The LRA may as well be in its dying days basing on information that has been gathered from the report.

It is written, in the report, that 127 women and children who spent months in LRA captivity returned home to Uganda after fleeing the force’s command.

This new number is almost twice the number 64, of persons that defected the year before.

Some allegations have continued to stick even in this report, of the Lord’s Resistance army actively trafficking in ivory, gold and diamonds in the region and also using the same revenues to purchase guns.

Invisible Children, an NGO focused on resolving the LRA crisis and its effects releases annual reports that reflect the activity of the LRA.

The reports are gotten out of the LRA crisis tracker that monitors on a day to day basis any activity that has been carried out by the Lord’s Resistance Army.