Army kills key rebel officers

The Ugandan army on Friday claimed it was one step closer to defeating the rebel Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) after killing the group’s chief-of–staff and the eldest son of LRA commander-in-chief Joseph Kony. The LRA chief-of-staff, Maj Gen Lakati Owor, and Ali Kony both died from gunshot wounds sustained during a battle three weeks ago with the army at Beyogoya-Palabek in Kitgum district, about 400 km north of the capital Kampala, the Ugandan army spokesman, Lt Col Shaban Bantariza, said. "We did not know we had injured him, but rebels who surrendered in the past few days - some of whom were from his group - have since told us that he died from bullet wounds," he added. The army said Lakati had been fourth in the LRA hierarchy and had been in charge of security for families of senior rebel commanders. He took over as chief-of-staff two years ago, when his predecessor Yadin Nyeko was promoted to LRA army commander, before the army killed him. The LRA has, for close to two decades, fought a brutal war they claim is intended to replace the secular government of President Yoweri Museveni with one based on the biblical Ten Commandments. The insurgents, notorious for their brutality, have abducted an estimated 20,000 children to serve as soldiers or sex slaves of the commanders, according to the UN. The northern conflict has seen tens of thousands killed and an estimated 1.6 million people displaced from their homes. Bantariza said Lakati had staged brutal ambushes on buses, including the March 1996 ambush of a convoy on Karuma-Pakwach-Arua road in the north, in which some 100 people were killed and 12 vehicles destroyed. The Uganda government has a three-pronged approach to fighting the LRA: military means, peace talks and immunity from prosecution for rebels who surrender to the government. Museveni has been accused, however, of preferring the military option, and recently told IRIN he did not "believe in the magic of the peace talks".