Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) rebels have resumed attacks on villages in southern Sudan killing several civilians in the last four days.
Last year a joint force of Ugandan, Southern Sudanese and Congolese troops failed to flush out the LRA rebel group when they attacked their camps in Garamba forests at the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) boarder and Sudan, where they had been in hiding.
One of the army commanders of Southern Sudan, based in western region, Henry Taban said, ”We have received reports that LRA rebels have attacked several villages near the border with Democratic republic of Congo in the last three days and killed 10 people. We have deployed our troops to pursue the thugs.”
One of the villages attacked is in Nzara county. The Nzara County Commissioner, Colonel Sentina Ndefu, said, ”The rebels invaded Buremanga village, about eight kilometers from Nzara town, killing one child, two men and one woman. A number of civilians were abducted by the rebels, but the exact number of those missing is still unknown”.
According to Ndefu, the rebels attacked during a voter registration exercise and many people had gathered at the Buremanga public square to register to vote for the first time. The rebels looted shops and food from homes.
Thousands of people have been displaced in Democratic republic of Congo as well as parts of southern Sudan due to the rebels attacks.
In northern Uganda where Joseph Kony started the rebellion against Uganda government, thousands of people were killed and 2 million displaced into internally displaced people’s camps.
But Kony and his rebels escaped to southern Sudan and later to the Democratic republic of Congo in 2005 after Ugandan forces flushed them out of northern Uganda. Peace has returned and most people have returned to their homes.
