Fighters of the fugitive Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) have taken shelter on Sudanese territory near a Sudanese military base and are trafficking in leopard skins and other goods, multiple local sources told Radio Tamazuj this week.
LRA, which originated in Uganda, is considered a “terrorist” group by the African Union and the United States, and it is hunted by a multinational African force backed by US special forces.
Yusuf al-Samani, the nazir (paramount chief) of the Fallata tribe, told Radio Tamazuj in an interview that LRA forces are deployed inside the Sudanese border in the far southwest of South Darfur State near the border with the Central African Republic and South Sudan.
The tribal leader accused LRA troops of kiling several members of his tribe in different incidents over the last two years, which caused mounting tension between the two sides, while also acknowledging that his own tribesmen killed two LRA fighters in a recent incident.
Yusuf said that gunmen from his tribe recently killed two members of the LRA forces and two traders from the Ta’isha tribe who were with them in the al-Murraya al-Muwashama area.
The incident resulted in negotiations between his tribe and the Ta’isha over payment of blood money for the deaths of the two traders. According to Yusuf, Fallata and Ta’isha traditional leaders reached an agreement on the amount blood money to be paid during a meeting held in the Dafak area last week.
Dafak is located in northern Kafia Kinji and hosts a Sudanese army garrison.
Separately, a local trader who preferred anonymity told Radio Tamazuj on Wednesday that the LRA established various camps inside Sudanese territory especially in Um Darota, al-Murraya al-Muwashama and in remote areas to the west of Dafak and Songo areas.
The local trader further confirmed the incident in which two traders of the Ta’isha tribe were killed earlier this month. He explained that they were on their way from Um Dafog to Dafak where they spent one night near a military camp belonging to the Lord’s Resistance Army.
The trader said two members of LRA from a nearby camp went to visit the two traders when gunmen from the Fallata tribe suddenly came and killed them on the spot and took their money and goods.
He said that other LRA forces came to the scene where the attack had taken place, where they found the attackers had already left the area. The LRA forces then reported the incident to local authorities in the Dafak area, he said, suggesting that there is a well established relationship between the LRA and local authorities.
According to the tribal leader, the two commissioners of Dafak and Songo localities were present in the follow-up meeting between Ta’isha and Fallata leaders about the incident, which was also attended by native administration leaders of two uninvolved tribes, the Habbaniya and Rizeigat.
According to the same trader, some unidentified airplanes have been landing in the area of the established LRA camps, saying that the Sudanese government is aware of the presence of LRA troops inside Sudanese territory.
He described the LRA forces stationed in the area as possessing different types of weapon but no vehicles. He pointed out that they sometimes hire some traders to carry goods for them.
The sources referred to the LRA forces in the area as “Tong Tong,” a name for the LRA in widespread use in central Africa. The name may originate from the Acholi word tong, which means cut, referring to the manner in which LRA have mutiliated or killed victims with crude weapons like pangas.
Previous LRA activity in the same area
The Lord’s Resistance Army has visited the Kafia Kinji area and neighboring South Darfur State previously, even using the area as a staging ground for attacks elsewhere and for resupply.
According to a 2013 report by the NGO Resolve, which monitors attacks by the LRA, LRA fighters first entered the enclave and established contact with the Sudan Armed Forces there in 2009 and received from them limited supplies of food as well as basic medical supplies.
“The LRA then steadily expanded its presence in the enclave at least until early 2013, often using encampments there to shelter Joseph Kony and other senior LRA commanders,” reads the report.
Citing LRA defectors and other sources, the report says Kony himself first traveled to the Kafia Kinji enclave in 2010, returned in 2011 and was present there throughout parts of 2012.
“Along with other senior LRA commanders, he found safe harbor in a series of semipermanent encampments on the banks of the Umbelasha River near the SAF barracks in Dafak… The LRA abandoned the camps in early 2013 but may remain active in the enclave.”
The report cites satellite imagery claiming that the LRA established camps 17 km southwest of Dafak on the banks of the Umbelasha River and even cultivated and traded in the area. “LRA members have made periodic trips to the market town of Songo, which lies in South Darfur State near the border with Kafia Kingi,” reads the 2013 report.
Publicly available reports about LRA presence in the Sudanese-controlled territory in 2014 and 2015 are lacking. However, a September 2015 report by the Washington Post, citing US military officials, referred to Kafia Kinji as the “suspected hideout” of Joseph Kony and revealed that American forces had set up an outpost near a Central African town near to the disputed Sudanese area of Kafia Kinji.
US troops near Kafia Kinji
The United States military have established a “rudimentary base” near the Central African town of Sam Ouandja, an controlled by a local Seleka faction, the Washington Post reported last September. The base is about 30 miles from Kafia Kinji.
The soliders are part of a multinational force which operates in Uganda, Democratic Republic of Congo, CAR, and South Sudan to hunt the LRA and the group’s leader Joseph Kony. The US soldiers were deployed into the region in on orders of US President Barack Obama in 2011 to help the armies of DRC, South Sudan, and Uganda find the LRA.
According to the Washington Post, some US soldiers are critical of US collaboration with the local Seleka faction and they have accuse the Central African fighters of trading gemstones and elephant tusks with the LRA.
The US State Department is offering a $5 million reward for information on the whereabouts of LRA leader Joseph Kony.
This report will be updated with additional details tomorrow.