The UN Security Council yesterday voiced its support for a joint military
operation launched by the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Uganda and
Southern Sudan to flush out Ugandan rebels from a park in the DRC, a senior UN
envoy said.
The operation was aimed at driving out the Ugandan rebel Lord's Resistance
Army (LRA) from a remote national park in northeastern DRC.
"First they expressed sympathy and support for the military action in
course," Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's Special Envoy for the LRA-affected
areas Joaquim Chissano told reporters after briefing the 15-member body on the
situation.
"They also urged that the peace process be continued and they would support
the peace process, which means the signature of the final agreement," he said
LRA leader Joseph Kony has now failed "for the seventh time" to sign the
accord reached earlier this year with Uganda, he added.
Ugandan government forces have been fighting the LRA in the north of the
country since the mid-1980s.
During the conflict, the rebel group, which has spilled over into Sudan and
the DRC, has become notorious for human rights abuses including the killing and
maiming of civilians and the abduction and recruitment of children as soldiers
and sex slaves.
The International Criminal Court has indicted Joseph Kony and four other LRA
leaders on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity.
A series of accords struck by the two sides this year raised hopes that they
could reach a permanent agreement to end the conflict.
However, Kony failed to appear each time he was expected to emerge from the
jungle and sign the deal mediated by the government of Southern Sudan.
