The LRA (the Lord’s Resistance Army), a paramilitary group from Uganda, whose leaders have been indicted by the International Criminal Court for atrocities in Northern Uganda, recently committed atrocities in North-Eastern Congo.
According to a UN press release (6 April 2010), “a UN peacekeeper and two contractors in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) died when insurgents on Sunday attacked Mbandaka, the capital of the north-western province of Equateur, at the other end of the country from the continuing violence in the east.”
Moreover, the LRA was specifically mentioned in the report as a “source of insecurity for civilians and general instability” in the region.
It is uncertain if and how the recent deadly attacks will influence the Secretary-General’s recommendation to withdraw up to 2,000 troops from the less crisis-stricken parts of the country by the end of June.