KINSHASA — The United Nations said Monday it will step its peacekeeping presence in the northeast of the Democratic Republic of Congo over fears that a Ugandan rebel group could carry out further attacks on local people.
"We are in the process of increasing our numbers to prevent attacks by the LRA (Lord's Resistance Army) on civilians," said Leila Zerrougui, the UN's deputy special representative for the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Zerrougui declined to say how many extra troops the UN Mission in DR Congo (MONUC) planned to send.
The group waged a similar campaign of violence last December that saw 400 people killed, according to non-governmental organisation Caritas.
Jeanne Abakuka, a lawmaker from Niangara in the northeast of DR Congo, told AFP on Friday that she feared a repeat of last year's bloodshed after the LRA sent threatening messages to some of her constituents.
The UN's Zerrougui told reporters that "it is important to take these threats seriously as it's the way the LRA operates." She stressed that MONUC sees civilian protection as its top priority.
Zerrougui said the violence would only stop once "Joseph Kony, LRA leader, is killed."
"If he is captured, the movement will be weakened," she added.
According to a report by Human Rights Watch published in February 2009, more than 865 civilians were killed in the Niangara region between December 24 and January 17. It also said least 160 children were kidnapped by the Ugandan rebels over the same period.
Led by Kony, the LRA has acquired a reputation for being one of the most brutal guerilla movements in the world since it took up arms in northern Uganda in 1988. From 2005, LRA fighters began to leave their bases in Uganda under pressure from the Ugandan army to relocate in northeastern DR Congo and also in the Central African Republic and South Sudan.
Kinshasa's army, with Ugandan special forces, have since April undertaken a campaign against the rebels, following another between the end of 2008 and last March jointly mounted with the Ugandan and South Sudanese armies.
The number of LRA fighters in the DR Congo is estimated at fewer than 100, compared with 500 at the beginning of 2009.
Copyright © 2009 AFP
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For an indepth look at Joseph Kony and the LRA, see the book, First Kill Your Family: Child Soldiers of Uganda and the Lord's Resistance Army.
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