KINSHASA (AFP) — Remnants of the rebel Lord's Resistance Army are fleeing towards Central African Republic having been routed by a three-nation military operation, a Congolese official said Friday.
The Ugandan rebel force, which is being tracked down by Congolese, Ugandan and Sudanese troops, has suffered heavy losses in fighting that has uprooted tens of thousands of people, Joseph Bangakya, deputy governor of the northeastern Orientale province, told AFP.
"The LRA has been routed," said Bangakya, whose vast and isolated province spanning the Ugandan and Sudanese borders has been the target of the military operation that began in mid-December.
But Bangui authorities said there was no sign the rebels had crossed into their country, even as they announced their were reinforcing security on their border with DR Congo.
"There has not yet been any significant warning of the presence of the LRA on Central African territory, I can assure you of that," the country's defence minister Jean-Francis Bozize said.
Blamed for widespread atrocities over the years, the LRA stands accused of killing hundreds of civilians in several parts of the Orientale region during the Christmas holidays -- some 400 according to the Catholic NGO Caritas, and at least 271, according a preliminary estimate by local authorities, Bangakya said.
A Ugandan spokesman for the military operation said there had been no contact with the rebels over the past few days.
"What we know is that the LRA have suffered serious casualties and lost their food stock plus equipment," Captain Chris Magezi told AFP by telephone.
The military had also picked up a grenade launcher near regional LRA headquarters they bombed December 14, Magezi said.
"If they can abandon such key war materials and food, it tells us these people are just fleeing," he added.
The latest clashes add to a host of troubles plaguing this vast, impoverished, conflict-wracked central African country with local authorities estimating they have displaced some 68,000 people in just over two weeks.
"The humanitarian situation remains very critical," Bangakya said, adding regional officials were eagerly awaiting medical and other supplies promised by Kinshasa.
On Wednesday, President Joseph Kabila's government vowed to smash the LRA rebels just after UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon condemned their alleged role in massacres here and in southern Sudan.
The rebels have denied any responsibility for the killings, blaming the three-nation military force that is hunting them down.
Earlier in the week, the UN's Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs estimated that at least 189 people had been killed, while local clergy claim more than 400 have died.
"But a number of bodies remain in isolated areas and the estimate of more than 400 killed remains the most likely," Bangakya added.
According to Bangakya, Congolese forces transported on UN planes in recent days now control the area where the massacres took place. He said almost no clashes had taken place since December 29.
For their part, south Sudanese forces control the border region along the Garamba park, the deputy governor said, but the Central African border region remains porous.
Uganda and the LRA have been engaged in peace talks led by the government of south Sudan for more than two years.
But the protracted discussions fell through in November after LRA leader Joseph Kony repeatedly failed to sign a peace deal agreed with Uganda in July 2006, citing fears that he would be arrested on war crimes charges.
Kony is wanted by the International Criminal Court over the killings carried out by the LRA during its 20-year war against the Ugandan government.
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