Peace and Conflict Update

A Somali rebel group known as al-Shabaab has claimed responsibility for the bombings that took place in Kampala last Sunday. The Islamist insurgency stated that they were retaliating against Uganda’s role in the African Union peacekeeping mission stationed in Somalia. The attacks claimed the lives of 76 people, including our dear friend Nate Oteka Henn.

At least 7 people have been killed by the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) in the Orientale province of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) in the past week. Three children from the region surrounding Aba-Isiro road were abducted during the attacks, making it the second time in one week children from this area have been taken by the LRA. The lament Ugandan rebel group known as the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) has continued their violent rampage through the North Kivu province of the DRC, displacing more than 30,000 people in the Beni territory.

Intelligence gathered by the Sudanese People’s Liberation Army (SPLA) has driven spokesman Major General Kuol Deim Kuol to warn the states of Western Bahr El-Ghazal and Equatoria that an attack by the LRA is imminent. A collection of LRA insurgents have reportedly taken refuge in the Central African Republic in an effort to regroup before launching any attacks. Kuol went on to accuse Northern Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) of arming the rebel group in an attempt to destabilize the Southern region of Sudan ahead of a secession referendum posed to take place in early 2011.

Photo: Benedicte Desrus