Uganda troops announce withdrawal from the CAR

The Ugandan army has announced its withdrawal from the Central African Republic (CAR).

The announcement was made during a meeting with the local authorities in the region, this comes less than three weeks after the decision of the United States to put an end to the activities of Joseph Kony.

The commander of the Ugandan troops said the withdrawal should take place during May next year, according to a timetable that has not been communicated.

The Ugandan army was deployed to the east of the CAR in 2009 as a result of a resolution of the African Union. Its objective was to put an end to the atrocities of the Lord resistance Army who had fled to Uganda.

A group that monitors LRA activities, The Resolve initiative, says the group is still a threat to civilians and cautions against drawing down troops prematurely.

The Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) was founded in northern Uganda and is led by a Ugandan native called Joseph Kony but the group no longer has any presence in Uganda. It comprises a mix of Ugandans and fighters from other countries. Kony has been indicted for war crimes and many of his followers were forcibly recruited as children.

Years of joint US-African Union efforts to destroy the LRA have been stymied by the group’s guerrilla tactics and its propensity to retreat into harsh terrain and unstable or ungoverned areas. Several years ago Kony was rumored to be hiding in the Kafia enclave, a disputed territory occupied by the Sudanese army.