Top LRA commander moves to southern Sudan
(Read article summary)Officers from the southern Sudanese Army allege the Khartoum government is supporting the Lord's Resistance Army in return for launching attacks in the south.
Testimony from former Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) fighters who were recently captured near Yambio in Sudan’s Western Equatoria state indicates that a notorious LRA commander, Dominic Ongwen, recently crossed into Sudan from the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Ongwen, who was indicted by the International Criminal Court for crimes against humanity and war crimes in 2005, is part of the LRA’s top leadership, second or third in command after leader Joseph Kony.
One of Ongwen’s “wives,” who was captured by the Ugandan Army in July, said that the LRA group had moved to Western Equatoria state. Unlike in the past where LRA fighters attacked southern Sudanese towns from bases in Congo, Onwgen’s group is now based in Western Equatoria state.
All fighters have new guns and uniforms and plenty of bullets, she said, adding that she did not know where the supplies came from. Former LRA fighters from groups operating in the Central African Republic (CAR) and Congo said until recently that they were using old guns and that bullets were scarce.
According to former fighters, Kony put Ongwen "in charge" of the LRA in Congo soon after Operation Lightning Thunder, the Ugandan Army offensive against LRA bases in northern Congo on Dec. 14, 2008. In the absence of Kony – who is believed to have been in Central African Republic since May 2009 – Ongwen commanded all LRA groups scattered in Haut Uele and Bas Uele districts of Congo’s Province Orientale. Groups under Ongwen are thought to have carried out the so-called Makombo massacre in Congo where LRA fighters killed over 350 civilians in December 2009.
