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US slaps new sanctions on LRA, freezes Kony’s assets
LRA leader Joseph Kony. File photo
Kampala-The United States government on Tuesday announced a new set of economic and financial sanctions against rebel group, the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) and its elusive leader Joseph Kony, who is also on the world’s most wanted list.
The sanctions announced by the US Treasury Department include freezing of all LRA assets within the US jurisdiction and prohibits any US national from engaging in any business with the group.
“From murdering innocent civilians to pillaging villages, the Lord’s Resistance Army is responsible for notorious acts of violence,” the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control acting director John Smith said in a statement.
“Today’s action supports Treasury’s broader effort to dismantle this militia group and seek a more stable and secure future for the people of the Central African Republic and the region.”
The latest sanctions add to the already existing ones against Kony, one of the world’s most elusive rebel leaders, but who is believed to be hiding in the Kafia-Kingi enclave between the Sudan and Central African Republic border.
The US government, through the Department of State, first designated the LRA as a terrorist group in 2001, and was added onto the Terrorist Exclusion List. In 2008, the US further designated with sanctions the LRA as a global terrorist group.
The statement, however, did not cast more light on any Kony’s known asset base targeted.
