BBC: LRA commander responsible for Christmas massacre surrenders

Arop surrendered to Ugandan troops in the DRC

BBC: LRA rebel surrenders in DR Congo

Charles Arop, believed to be behind a brutal attack last Christmas, handed himself in to the Ugandan military.

Fighters believed to be part of his unit used machetes and sticks to kill at least 143 people and abducted 160 children in eastern DR Congo.

The LRA’s decades-long rebellion has spread from Uganda to several of its neighbours in recent years.

Ugandan special forces have been hunting the LRA through the DR Congo, the Central African Republic, and Sudan in an operation called “Lighting Thunder”.

Until recently, Mr Arop commanded up to 100 men but Ugandan military spokesman Lt Col Felix Kulaygiye said his forces had been all but wiped-out.

“He was only left with one fighter, so what choice did he have?” he said.

Mr Arop handed himself in to troops stationed in the town of Djabir in DR Congo.

‘Lighting Thunder’

The LRA has split into small groups of fighters who are scattered across three central African countries, analysts say.

Mr Arop is understood to have been behind attacks on Christmas Day 2008, when some 200 LRA fighters attacked the town of Faradje.

A report by the international group, Human Rights Watch said the fighters came into the town pretending to be friendly, before killing anyone they came across.

This was the first of several raids which some reports say left 400 people dead.

But now local media have reported rebels are handing themselves in because of deteriorating conditions in their camps.

Child soldiers

The LRA, led by Joseph Kony, are waging a 20-year guerrilla war against the Ugandan government.

Mr Kony has said he wanted to establish a society based on the 10 Commandments.

Last year it appeared Mr Kony was about to sign a peace deal, and several other commanders had given up fighting.

But at the last minute he refused to lay down his arms and took his fighters, many of them child soldiers abducted on village raids, into neighbouring countries.

The governments of the three countries have been co-operating to wipe out the remaining commanders.

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