Attacks by the Ugandan rebel Lord's Resistance Army have gone up but are confined to a smaller area, United Nations says
LONDON (AlertNet) - Attacks by the Ugandan rebel Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) have increased in recent months but are confined to a smaller geographic region, the United Nations says.
There were 71 attacks between April and June, with Democratic Republic of Congo reporting 62 attacks and neighbouring Central African Republic reporting nine - up from a total of 53 attacks in the first three months of the year.
The LRA is accused of abducting children to use as fighters and sex slaves, and of hacking off victim's limbs as a method of intimidation and revenge. Its fugitive leader, Joseph Kony, is wanted by the International Criminal Court for war crimes.
"The frequency of attacks is comparable to 2011, however the geographic coverage has shrunk from three countries to two as South Sudan has no reported attacks in 2012," the U.N. Office of the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said in a report.
Although the LRA is still active, LRA violence has subsided since 2005 when the rebels were ejected from Uganda and forced to flee into neighbouring countries like Congo.
Kony is now only thought to command hundreds of followers scattered in jungle hideouts.
Last month, the U.N. Security Council called for global help to equip an African Union force hunting Kony, who has evaded the region's militaries for nearly three decades.
Kony's profile rose suddenly following a celebrity-backed campaign against him. A video about Kony posted on YouTube by a California filmmaker has been viewed by tens of millions of people and promoted on Twitter with the hashtag #Kony2012.
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