U.S. military ends operation against LRA

The US military is wrapping up operations against the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) in central Africa, even though its leader Joseph Kony is still at large, a top US general said Friday.

A top US military commander said the LRA has been reduced to “irrelevance” after years of joint military operations have killed most of its forces.

In 2005, the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for Mr. Kony, a self-proclaimed prophet, for crimes against humanity and war crimes. In 2008, the United States government declared him a “specially designated global terrorist.”

In 2010, the US deployed around 100 special forces to work with regional armies to defeat the LRA and try to capture Kony.

According to the US National Counterterrorism Center, Kony is believed to be in poor health.

The LRA has killed more than 100,000 people and kidnapped 60,000 children in a three-decade-long rebellion spanning northern Uganda, South Sudan, Central African Republic and the Democratic Republic of Congo since it was set up in 1987.

Dominic Ongwen, a former child soldier turned LRA general, is currently on trial at The Hague after being captured by US forces in 2015.