14 DAY TRIAL // The bodyguard of the Lord’s Resistance Army leader, Joseph Kony, has been killed on Friday, January 18, reports say.
According to All Africa, Brig. Binani also held a high position in the LRA, being in charge of logistics, food shipping and child abductions conducted by the group.
Spokesman for Uganda's military forces, UPDF, Col. Felix Kulayigye clarifies that Binani died during an attack on the LRA, 280 km (174 miles) away from Djema, in the Central African Republic.
“We had not known he (Binani) was there, but we knew that it was Kony's group,” he explains.
New Vision adds that the UPDF has recovered 200 children and women abducted by the LRA, over a six-month period.
“For the chief escort to die in combat means you are close to the bone marrow. It is an encouragement; we are decimating the command structure of the LRA. We are making arrangements to bring his body to Gulu,” Kulayigye said.
Last week, USA Today was reporting about the Rewards Program instituted by president Barack Obama, targeting Kony and his top commanders, and leaders of the Rwandan FDLR.
Rewards were set to be received by anyone offering tips on the whereabouts of “foreign nationals accused by international criminal tribunals of atrocity-related crimes, and of individuals involved in transnational organized crime.”
“This powerful new tool can be used to help bring to justice perpetrators of the worst crimes known to human kind. [...] This includes individuals such as Joseph Kony and other leaders of the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), as well as certain commanders of M23 and the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR),” Obama's statement reads.
The Lord’s Resistance Army operates in Uganda, South Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and the Central African Republic, according to Wikipedia.
It was started in 1987, and has since recruited over 2 million people, 60,000 to 100,000 of whom are abducted children, trained as soldiers.