US Uses Advanced Intelligence in Fight Against LRA in Central Africa

For years, Joseph Kony and his Lord's Resistance Army, or LRA, have terrorized the folk of central Africa, abducting thousands of youngsters and killing hundreds of folks in a brutal insurgency.  Plenty of people hope the appearance of U.S. special forces within the region will bring an end to the crowd.  

At Radio Zereda in Obo, Central African Republic, an announcer broadcasts a unique program for LRA victims.

He tells those that was kidnapped by the rebel group to flee and return to their homes, where their families will accept them it doesn't matter what atrocities they could have committed.

Emmanuel Daba, one of the most broadcasters at Radio Zereda and the pinnacle of an LRA victim's association was abducted by in 2008, and spent a year with the rebels. "We conducted raids on villages in South Sudan and the Congo," he says.  "We killed many people with machetes, with sticks and clubs," he said.

Daba was considered one of thousands of girls and boys abducted by the LRA because the group launched an insurgency in Uganda greater than twenty years ago.

Since then, the crowd has expanded into South Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo and the Central African Republic.  Once numbering within the thousands, the LRA now's believed to have only some hundred fighters on the most.

People here in Obo are optimistic that the hot arrival of U.S. special forces might actually help deliver the ultimate blow to the elusive group.

Inside the Counter-LRA Operations Fusion Center within the Central African Republic, U.S. advisors meet with their counterparts from the Ugandan military and the Central African Military.

Maps of Central Africa line the walls more often than not conference room, in addition to photographs of LRA commanders, including the group's leader Joseph Kony.

The center is a part of the U.S. advise and assist mission in central Africa, a deployment authorized by President Barack Obama last year.

U.S. commanders say the troops aren't going out on patrols, but are working within the background, to enhance the capacity of regional militaries.

“Information on this theater is necessary, said Navy Captain Ken Wright, the Commander of U.S. Counter-LRA activities. “And so our ability to push quite a lot of information round the area is where we offer various 'gap fillers,' in case you will, where our partner nations would not have those capabilities.  And we see those because the strong points where we bring things to the table that a pair more people on a patrol would just not provide as much affect.”

Ugandan military spokesman Army Colonel Felix Kulayigye says U.S. intelligence support would be the turning point seeking Kony. “As you might be aware, an army without intelligence is pretty much as good as a blind person.  We believe this support will certainly help us capture Kony or kill him," he said.

Despite advanced intelligence, finding Kony isn't any easy task.  His rebels have all but abandoned using mobile or satellite telephones to speak with each other, making them very difficult to trace.

Colonel Kulayigye says intelligence reports suggest that Kony is somewhere within the Central African Republic, although he recently said the rebel leader was inside the southern Darfur region of Sudan.

The United Nations reports there have 53 LRA attacks inside the Democratic Republic of Congo and the Central African Republic in the course of the first three months of the year.

And although LRA attacks have be less frequent and not more deadly than in recent times, fear of the crowd continues to maintain people awake at night within the villages of central Africa.

From WhatNewsToday.net

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