UPDATED ON:
Saturday, December 27, 2008
03:46 Mecca time, 00:46 GMT
 
News Africa
Ugandan LRA kill dozen in DR Congo
Military strikes against LRA bases have so far failed to locate  Joseph Kony [AFP]

Ugandan fighters fleeing a multinational offensive have killed at least 15 people when they raided a village near the border of the Democratic Republic Congo with Sudan, UN peacekeepers have said.

Fighters of the Ugandan Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) attacked the Congolese village of Faradje on December 24 and 25, the United Nations mission in DR Congo (Monuc) reported on Friday.

"According to our sources, at least 15 people were killed in the town of Faradje, which suffered looting and destruction of homes," Monuc said in a statement.

The UN mission said it had deployed around 100 Congolese soldiers in Faradje on Friday to protect civilians. Uganda was also sending more forces to the area.

Uganda, Congo and South Sudan are waging a joint battle against the LRA in Congo.

Chris Magezi, the spokesman of the military operation, said three more people were killed on a road in south Sudan and five bodies found along the Congo-Sudan border.

Kony not found

The joint military offensive was launched after LRA's leader Joseph Kony repeatedly refused to sign a peace agreement with the Ugandan government.

So far, attempts to locate Kony have failed.

Magezi said Ugandan forces believed Kony's fighters were moving towards the Central African Republic, which borders Congo and Sudan.

On Monday, an LRA spokesman said Kony and his top commanders had survived bomb raids on their bases. He said Kony was calling for peace talks to be relaunched with a new mediator.

Kony and two of his deputies have been indicted by the International Criminal Court in The Hague for war crimes allegedly committed during a two-decade war that has killed thousands of people and displaced about two million more.

The LRA is infamous for kidnapping women and using children as fighters.

 Source: Agencies
 
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