IX. Recent International Action on the LRA

A Failed Peace Process

After the failed MONUC operation in Garamba National Park in early 2006, the international community took a more serious look at a negotiated solution to the LRA problem. In mid-2006, Riek Machar, vice president of the government of South Sudan, offered to mediate between the LRA and the Ugandan government. Donors and diplomats welcomed the initiative and began to support what became known as the Juba peace process. On December 4, 2006, the UN Secretary-General appointed former Mozambique president, Joaquim Chissano, as his Special Envoy to Northern Uganda and southern Sudan in an endeavor to support the peace efforts.

The peace process caused some controversy. Many civilians in northern Uganda welcomed the initiative, and the talks contributed to a degree of stability in northern Uganda which had not been seen for decades. But the talks also led to complications in apprehending commanders sought by the ICC, delayed military action against the LRA in Congo, and provided an opportunity for the rebels to restock their supplies.

European donors including Austria, Denmark, Sweden, and Switzerland, amongst others, led the way in supporting the peace talks. To encourage LRA cooperation in the process, the donors agreed to provide stipends to LRA participants at the talks and food aid to other LRA members to discourage LRA forces from looting civilian communities. Donors were criticized for supplying too much food, initially contributing to distributions for an estimated 5,000 LRA members and later reduced to 3,000, figures which some believed were well over the actual number. Critics claimed that the food was being stockpiled and possibly used to finance the re-arming of the LRA, but donors insisted that the food aid served to deter looting and to encourage negotiations.[126]

The delicate peace talks may have contributed to attempts to play down ongoing human rights abuses by the LRA for fear of disrupting the peace process. When the LRA began their campaign of abductions in the CAR and southern Sudan in February and March 2008, some diplomats reportedly attempted to minimize the importance of abuses reported by humanitarian agencies.[127] A field assessment report from UN OCHA following a mission to the CAR areas attacked by the LRA was never made public and was only distributed on a restricted basis. The report said the abuses had been carried out by an armed group wearing military uniforms, some of whom were probably Ugandan, but it deliberately avoided saying the attackers were the LRA.[128]  When donors did learn of the LRA abuses, they suspended food aid for two months but they resumed deliveries after the peace talks recommenced in April 2008.[129] Increasingly some European Union member states did not believe the peace talks would succeed.

In May 2008, the ICC called on international donors to put a stop to the food aid, claiming that the supplies were supporting Kony and other ICC indictees.[130] Donors continued the food aid until November 2008 when Kony failed, once again, to turn up to sign the peace agreement. Donor support for the peace process dissipated. 

The United States

The US administration of President George W. Bush made neutralizing the LRA part of US counterterrorism policy in the Great Lakes region.[131] Although not a party to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC), the United States has provided support to apprehend LRA leaders wanted under ICC arrest warrants. In 2001, the LRA was added to the US government's Terrorist Exclusion List, a list drawn up by the US State Department to designate groups that either commit terrorist activity, or provide support to groups that commit such activity.[132] On August 29, 2008, the US Treasury Department added LRA leader Kony to its list of "specially designated global terrorists," a measure that prohibits US citizens from dealing with Kony, and freezes any assets the rebel leader may have in US institutions.[133]

While the US supported the Juba talks, many US officials expressed doubts as to whether Kony would sign a peace agreement. Skeptical about the peace talks, the US government led support for a regional military operation to neutralize the LRA if the talks should fail. US officials encouraged Presidents Museveni and Kabila to discuss bilateral cooperation at a meeting of the Tripartite Plus One commission in September 2007. Although at that time Kabila refused a Ugandan request to send troops across the border to attack the LRA, the two leaders signed the Ngurdoto Agreement dealing with a range of economic and military issues, including a Congolese commitment to establish a plan to neutralize the LRA and other "negative forces." [134] Although the agreement was not immediately implemented, it provided the foundation first for Operation Rudia and then for Operation Lightning Thunder, launched in 2008.[135]

Kabila's opposition to any operation involving Ugandan troops gave way under substantial US pressure, particularly following the LRA's attacks on Congolese forces and civilians in September 2008.[136] The United States also played a major role in persuading southern Sudan to join the operation against the LRA.

After Kony failed to sign the peace agreement on November 29, 2008 and Operation Lightning Thunder was launched, the US provided important intelligence, planning, technical, and logistical support for the operation.[137] US influence may have been important in having the rescue of abducted persons figure importantly among the objectives of the operation.[138] The attempts to rescue the women and children at Pilipili camp failed, in part due to bad weather and confusion over logistics. Despite these setbacks, the United States remains a key player in supporting the operation.

The United Nations

MONUC has a strong mandate to protect civilians but has limited resources stretched thinly over a vast territory.  Throughout much of 2008 MONUC officials focused on the situation in the Kivu provinces in eastern Congo leaving little capacity to deal with the LRA based in a remote part of northern Congo. Although the UN Security Council authorized an additional 3,000 troops for MONUC in November 2008, no country has yet committed to providing the necessary forces. In addition, MONUC's new mandate, extended by the UN Security Council on December 22, requests that MONUC give the highest priority to the situation in the Kivus, and Council members have repeatedly urged MONUC to move the bulk of its military assets to eastern Congo. MONUC officials claim that without a clear direction from the Council to change MONUC's focus, there will be few resources available for dealing with LRA concerns in northern Congo.

MONUC officials were not involved in the planning or execution of Operation Lightning Thunder and were even largely unaware of the details of the operation. They were surprised when Ugandan planes and helicopters began to arrive at the airstrip in Dungu in mid-December. Alain Doss, the Special Representative of the Secretary General, in a press conference on December 17, said that MONUC was not "directly involved in the operations" but continued to support the FARDC logistically as it had been doing under Operation Rudia.[139] According to diplomats, MONUC was excluded from the planning, to minimize information leaks in advance of the aerial attacks on the LRA camp on December 14.[140]

Once the operation had been launched, however, the lack of coordination with MONUC continued. MONUC officials told Human Rights Watch researchers that the Ugandan and Congolese armies did not keep MONUC informed about operational plans, making it difficult to provide protection for civilians and logistical support to the Congolese troops.[141]

When the simultaneous attacks against civilians by the LRA began on December 24 and 25, MONUC was not in a position to respond. With only 200 troops in Dungu, focused on logistical and engineering support, and no helicopters based at the Dungu airstrip, it could do little to protect civilians at risk beyond issuing a press release calling on the military forces participating in the joint operation to do everything possible to prevent and stop reprisal attacks by the LRA against the civilian population. MONUC added it would do everything possible to "assure the protection of civilians in the area and to facilitate humanitarian aid within the limits of its capacity in light of the concentration of most of its resources in the Kivus."[142] As the information began to trickle in of large-scale killings by the LRA, MONUC on December 26 helped to transport Congolese army soldiers to Faradje. After a request for assistance from the Ugandan army on December 29, MONUC also assisted in transporting Congolese troops to Doruma. In both cases, the soldiers arrived too late to stop the killings, though their presence may have helped to prevent further attacks.

In mid-January, MONUC sent some of its senior military officers to Dungu in order to improve coordination with the Ugandan and Congolese officers responsible for the operations and to provide better protection for civilians.

MONUC's logistical support to the FARDC includes providing Congolese army soldiers with food rations and salary payments. This support appears to have minimized abuses by these soldiers against the local population, in sharp contrast to the behavior of Congolese soldiers in other locations in Congo.

On December 22, after the military operation began but before the LRA started attacking civilians, the UN Security Council issued a unanimous statement commending the states in the region for their increased cooperation in tackling the LRA. The Council urged Uganda and its allies to conduct the offensive according to international humanitarian law, to make sure civilians were protected, and to keep UN missions informed of their actions. The Council also recalled the ICC arrest warrants for LRA leaders and stressed the importance of justice for sustainable peace.[143]

On January 14 United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator John Holmes briefed the Security Council on the LRA attacks and subsequent conditions. In a statement issued after the briefing, the Security Council "strongly condemned the recent attacks" by the LRA and "emphasized that those responsible must be brought to justice."[144]From February 7 to 11, Holmes arrived in Congo to see for himself the destruction wrought by the LRA. In interviews with journalists, he said the military operation against the LRA had brought "catastrophic" consequences for civilians, but that the operation needed to be followed through.[145]

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights added her condemnation of the LRA attacks which she called "grotesque," and called for respect for human rights and international humanitarian law, as well as accountability for crimes committed.[146]

Despite the expressions of horror and concern, very few UN troops had been deployed to Dungu by early February. A second team of engineers were sent to help repair roads and additional air assets were due to follow, but the MONUC base in Dungu still had no adequate rapid response capabilities for emergencies.[147] On February 3, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon deplored the lack of response from troop-contributing nations to the request for the additional 3,000 peacekeepers. With only minimal pledges made and no new troops on the ground, MONUC has no more capacity to protect civilians in the Kivus or in Haut-Uele than it had when the resolution authorizing the increased force size had been in adopted in November.

And, according to the latest reports in early February, the LRA continues to attack villages and kill civilians.