Despite public statements from Congolese and Ugandan officials that the Lord’s Resistance Army rebels are finished, the insurgents killed many innocent civilians in the Democratic Republic of Congo in the past two months. During a research trip to Northeastern DR Congo at the beginning of December 2009, researchers from the Enough Project found overwhelming evidence of LRA attacks against Congolese civilians. We interviewed someone whose entire family of eight was burned alive by the LRA. Four women and one man had their lips and ears cut off in the first week of December, mutilations reminiscent of past LRA atrocities. Overall we were told of at least 20 killings committed by the LRA in the first two weeks of December.

Congolese civilians told us they were afraid that the LRA were going to attack again. People abducted by the LRA who later escaped said they overheard LRA rebels talk about celebrating Christmas with the Congolese population.  We also heard of letters found in some Congolese villages written in English and Lingala and signed by the LRA stating that the rebels were preparing to celebrate Christmas and New Year with the locals. These were grim references to the so-called Christmas massacres of December 2008. In a series of coordinated attacks which started on December 25, 2008 and continued into the third week of January 2009, close to 900 Congolese civilians were brutally murdered by the LRA.

Wary that LRA threats should not be taken lightly, the Enough Project published a press release asking for increased civilian protection on the part of the Congolese army and the UN peacekeepers. In response to our press release (and other international and Congolese organisations which also sounded the alarm bell) the Ugandan army spokesperson Lt. Colonel Kulayigye said that the LRA threat was over. In a newspaper interview he stated, “The LRA’s capacity to create havoc is no more. That’s why the alleged threat of Christmas attacks on the Congolese, as announced by some NGOs, was empty.” (Sudan Tribune, January 11, 2009).

Unfortunately, the LRA threat is far from over. A recent report from the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs at the United Nations says that 100 confirmed LRA killings took place in January 2010 while 80 people were killed in December 2009 in the DRC. The report also concedes that the real number for January could rise as bodies are still being found and other cases are being corroborated and confirmed. Many hundreds were abducted and history shows that a great number of abductees end up being killed in their first few weeks with the LRA.

The 180 deaths confirmed by the UN are far below what the real numbers might be. According to reports from the field, close to 400 people might have been killed and many more abducted. The President of the Niangara Civil Society, the area where the attacks took place, says that 266 people were killed in December alone. Priests and local organisations are also reporting that more than a hundred were killed in January. It is very likely that even the 400 might be a conservative figure as bodies are still being found.

The number of the dead could have been higher still. According to a UN internal report, UN peacekeepers in collaboration with the Congolese army repulsed an alleged LRA attack on December 25, 2009 near the town of Ngilima. The peacekeepers deployed to the area after the Enough Project and other  international and Congolese organisations asked for more UN presence in three particular places where LRA attacks had been frequent; Niangara, Bangadi and Ngilima. The deployment of the UN peacekeepers to Ngilima was only temporary, however, as the UN does not have enough troops to cover an area as vast as northeastern Congo. The Enough Project and other organisations working to end LRA violence are asking the United Nations Mission in Congo to send more peacekeepers to the affected areas to protect innocent civilians and facilitate the UPDF’s hunt for the LRA leadership.

Statements that the LRA threat is finished are inaccurate and counterproductive to the effort of apprehending Joseph Kony and other commanders wanted by the International Criminal Court. Such statements deflect international attention from the issue and make policymakers in the West and Uganda falsely believe that there is nothing more to be done about the LRA. In the meantime, the population of northeastern DRC is counting the dead and waiting impatiently for the day when the LRA violence will really be over. 

Ledio Cakaj is a researcher for the Enough Project, an international organisation aiming at preventing genocide and crimes against humanity.

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