Operations against the LRA continue in northern Uganda and southern Sudan. So far this year, 1,255 LRA rebels had been killed, 163 captured and 993 surrendered. Some 2,200 children, kidnapped by the LRA and forced to serve them, were rescued. Conditions have become peaceful enough in the north that some 260,000 refugees are returning to the homes and farms. Some eighteen years of LRA violence have caused entire villages to empty out and the villagers fled to other parts of Uganda.
The LRA is thought to have been reduced to a force of about 200 armed men, plus another few hundred support people (mostly kidnapped and enslaved villagers, usually children.) A year ago, the LRA was thought to have about 2,000 armed men. But aggressive Ugandan attacks against LRA camps in southern Sudan killed or dispersed LRA fighters. The army is now hunting the remaining LRA forces, and expects to destroy the organizations before the end of the year.
