8月13日VOA聽力：申報稱LRA被減弱但仍很活潑
A new report says efforts to combat LRA rebels inthe Democratic Republic of Congo, Central AfricanRepublic and elsewhere have made significantprogress since 2010.
But it warns that rebels are still trafficking illicitivory and diamonds and continue to find safe havens. What’s more, indicted war crimes leaderJoseph Kony remains free.
Five years ago, President Barack Obama signed the Lord’s Resistance Disarmament andNorthern Uganda Recovery Act. It led the administration to announce a strategy to end therebels’ long reign of killings, abductions and looting. The AU and U.N. also launched anti-LRAinitiatives.
A group called The Resolve LRA Crisis Initiative has released a new report on the progressmade, titled "The Kony Crossroads—President Obama's chance to define his legacy on the LRAcrisis".
Paul Ronan is the initiative’s director,“For President Obama, his response to the LRA is reallyone of the keystones to his legacy in Africa, he has really put a lot of time, political energy andresources into this issue. From the moment that he signed the LRA disarmament bill in May of2010 and then deployed the U.S. advisers a year later, he has really made it clear that for himthis is an issue that he wants to see done.”
Ronan says the number of LRA rebels is down significantly, thanks to combined internationalefforts.
“Just a few years ago, Kony, the leader of the LRA, had about 800 combatants at hisdisposal," he said. "And as the result of defection campaigns and operations conductedprimarily by the Ugandan military, along with the support by the U.S., our best estimates saythat he only has about 200 combatants left.”
However, Ronan said, while the number of LRA rebels has been reduced, they’re still very active.
“The LRA has been very successful in poaching endangered elephants in the DemocraticRepublic of Congo and then taking the illicit ivory up to Sudanese-controlled areas aroundsouth South Darfur, where they sell it in order to get food, other supplies, even arms andammunition,” he said.
Those safe havens in Sudan-controlled South Darfur State are critical for the LRA becauseU.S. advisors and Ugandan forces are not allowed to operate there. The report also said LRArebels “periodically meet with Séléka rebels and community leaders in eastern CAR to requestfood and supplies.”
The Ronan also says rebels continue to launch attacks against civilians.
“In parts of the Democratic Republic of Congo, LRA attacks and abductions are actually higherthan they were even two years ago, and the number of displaced people has gone up," hesaid. "And abductions — where they’re abducting people to take goods back to their camps —have really gone up. We’ve already seen more abductions the Congo in the first seven monthsof 2015 than we did in all of 2013.”
The report states that “there are gaps in U.S. logistical and intelligence support to U.S.military advisers and their African partners,” which includes a shortage of airlift support toquickly move troops. The report also says U.S. advisers are rotated out every six months,reducing their ability to build rapport with local communities.
Nevertheless, it does praise Operation Observant Compass, which the U.S. launched in 2011.The operation uses radio messages, aerial loudspeakers and aerial leaflet drops to encourageLRA fighters to surrender. The report said the defection of seven of Kony’s bodyguards inJune is an example of its effectiveness and should be expanded.
“President Obama’s legacy on the LRA will depend on whether his administration exercises theleadership needed to move beyond mitigation of the crisis towards its definitive resolution,”the report says. "The President and U.S. Congress deserve credit for reducing the LRA to ashadow of its former self, but they cannot rest until the LRA command structure isdismantled and the group no longer poses a significant threat to civilians.”
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