Fugitive warlord Joseph Kony and leaders of his so-called Lord’s Resistance Army have been chased out of Democratic Republic of Congo to the neighbouring Central African Republic, a Congolese general said yesterday.
His claim follows a complaint by Uganda, where Kony used to be based, that Congo was obstructing its US-backed hunt for him. Kony became a global figure last week after a celebrity-backed US internet campaign calling for his arrest. Kony is wanted by the International Criminal Court for crimes against humanity. His group has been condemned for using children as soldiers and sex slaves.
A 30-minute video, Kony 2012, demanding Kony be brought to justice which was made by US-based group Invisible Children, has been viewed 76 million times since being published online last week. “We have reduced the capacity of the LRA. For us it’s no longer an issue of defence, Congolese general Jean Claude Kifwa, who is in charge of fighting the LRA there, told journalists in the capital Kinshasa. – (Reuters)