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<\/a><\/p>\nRisdel Kasasira<\/p>\n
30 November 2011<\/p>\n
\nFaced with special forces troops from the most sophisticated army in the world, Lord’s Resistance Army rebel leader Joseph Kony has reportedly abandoned the use of radios and satellite phones to avoid being tracked and captured.<\/p>\n
Instead Kony, whose insurgency goes way back to 1987, has turned to low-tech methods of communication like using human couriers to coordinate what is left of his fighting force in his hideouts somewhere in the vast jungles of Central Africa.<\/p>\n
“He is now using runners to communicate to his fighters and this made the operations laborious especially tracking him down,” says Lt. Col. Rugumayo, one of the senior Ugandan soldiers involved in the hunt for Kony and his remaining fighters.<\/p>\n
“But we know LRA behaviours because of our historical engagements. That’s why we follow and attack their positions.”<\/p>\n
Despite having some of the best surveillance equipment, the US soldiers sent to assist in the hunt will have to use a bit of instinct when they hit the Central African jungles later this week.<\/p>\n
The troops are here following a directive from the US President Barrack Obama to have some 100 commandos after a US legislation to help disarm the LRA and bring its leader to justice.<\/p>\n
Despite operating in unfriendly environment, the overall commander of the operations, Col. Joseph Balikuddembe, said they have “depleted” LRA fighting capacity, adding that they will not rest unless the Uganda’s most wanted man is dealt with.<\/p>\n
A former LRA insider, Richard Komakech Abwola, currently camped at the UPDF base in Nzara said Kony was becoming less brutal to his fighters because of defections. “He has realised he doesn’t need to be rude because life is hard,” said Mr Abwola and that “some good fighters have run away because of pressure from the UPDF.”<\/p>\n
Second Lt. Leonard Tusiime, the commander of the UPDF 31 Battalion, said they killed three rebels and recovered two Micro-Galil, suspected to have been got from Guatemalan peacekeepers in DR Congo. It is suspected Kony had just ended a briefing.<\/p>\n
rkasasira@ug.nationmedia.com<\/em><\/p>\nAllAfrica – All the Time<\/p>\n
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