Thread: Lord's Resistance Army denies killing 300

29 march, 2010 - 17:30 GMT

Living with the LRA.

A spokesman for the central African rebel group the Lord's Resistance Army has denied that they were responsible for the massacre of more than 300 people in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Human rights campaigners say the killings were carried out last December, and that they were the worst ever committed by the group.

The LRA has its origins in Uganda, but its fighters have spread from there and are present now in several neighbouring countries.

Justin Labeja, a spokesman for the group who is himself based in Nairobi, said the attack wasn't the work of the main LRA led by Joseph Kony.

News of the massacre last December was investigated by the BBC's Africa editor, Martin Plaut.

He travelled to the region to look into Human Rights Watch's findings and he reports now on how villagers in the area live in constant fear of the LRA fighters.

Betty Bigombe is a former government minister in Uganda who tried to negotiate with the LRA leader Joseph Kony in 1994 and again in 2004.

The BBC's Robin Lustig asked her if she could answer the question so many people have asked about the LRA: what exactly is it that they are fighting for?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/news/ ... h_sl.shtml

Lord's Resistance Army -

The Lord's Resistance Army (also Lord's Resistance Movement or Lakwena Part Two) is a sectarian Christian militant group based in northern Uganda. ...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lord's_Resistance_Army