Since the beginning of 2014 Invisible Children has been reporting a significant increase in LRA activity in the Bangadi-Niangara-Ngilima Triangle, an approximately 700 square km area in Haute Uele district of DRC, just west of Garamba National Park and about 100km from the South Sudan border.
LRA activity in the Bangadi-Niangara-Ngilima Triangle in 2014
The surge in LRA activity was so great that Invisible Children DRC staff and Counter-LRA Programs Manager, Sean Poole, traveled to the area to investigate the attacks. After spending several days in the area, they learned not only were the attacks indeed perpetrated by the LRA— and increasing at an alarming rate— but if anything the attacks were unreported.
Here you can see LRA activity in the Bangadi-Niangara area vs the surrounding region
Given the persistence of LRA activity in the area, it is suspected that there exists an LRA camp somewhere in the surrounding vicinity of the Bangadi-Niangara-Ngilima Triangle. Security forces, as well as the UN and Invisible Children immediately recognized the need for defection messaging targeting the LRA group in this area.
Then on June 4th, a motorcyclist just out side of Nambia encountered a man on the road who was later confirmed to be LRA. The man had a gun and said to the motorcyclist:
‘…there are many of us in this place, we are waiting for MONUSCO to defect and we are dying of hunger, but we do not want to harm anyone’
The LRA member then told the motorcyclist to return to Namibia, who did so and immediately reported what he learned to security forces there. The next morning FARDC (the Congolese military) went to investigate and found the LRA member sleeping, alongside his gun, at the location of the encounter with the motorcyclist. He was received by the FARDC and is in the process of returning home.
This report of a large LRA group (the exact size is unknown) suffering and wanting to surrender kicked counter-LRA defection efforts into high gear. Since then MONUSCO (the UN peacekeeping mission in the DRC) and Invisible Children have worked together to distribute 30,000 fliers across the Bangadi-Niangara-Ngilima Triangle and surrounding area, as well as broadcast helicopter and radio defection messaging.
For both the civilians who have lost their livelihoods and any sense of security over the past six months, as well as the men, women, and children held captive in this LRA group, Invisible Children is committed to continuing defection efforts in this area. Our defection team and ICDRC staff are working tirelessly to target this group, encouraging them to surrender, receive care, and return home. We are also working to establish a Community Defection Committee in Nambia, a community in the Bangadi-Niangara area that has been among the most affected by the LRA, to ensure that Nambia and surrounding communities are able to proactively address the threat of LRA violence.
Ready for the good part? You can be a part of it all. If you want to help get the LRA in the Bangadi-Niangara-Ngilima Triangle home, text Rescue to 50555 to donate $10 to help us fund this mission*.
Most of the LRA is held against their will, enduring hunger and abuse in the captivity. We have an opportunity to directly message this group, encouraging them to escape, but we have to act fast. Join us.
*A one time donation will be added to your wireless bill. Standard messaging rates still apply. Text to give services end 07/17/14.
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