Executive Summary: 3 Key Trends in LRA Activity

July–September 2013 (Q3 2013) marked the lowest number of recorded LRA killings and abductions in the LRA Crisis Tracker dataset. In the Democratic Republic of the Congo (Congo), there were no LRA killings. In the Central African Republic (CAR), LRA forces killed two civilians in Q3 2013, a significant drop from the 29 LRA killings there in Q2 and 28 killings there in Q1. LRA forces also reduced civilian abductions by 50% between Q3 2013 (67 abductions) and Q2 (136 abductions).

There were 37 LRA attacks in Q3 2013, nearly identical to the number of LRA attacks in Q2 (38). The number of attacks rose in Congo, from 21 in Q2 2013 to 32 in Q3, and fell in CAR, from 17 in Q2 to 5 in Q3. The LRA committed its most violent attack of Q3 2013 on July 14 in CAR's Haut Kotto prefecture, abducting 34 people and killing 2 others. The attack was consistent with LRA attack trends of the past two years, in which a majority of the most violent LRA attacks have occurred in areas of CAR outside of the Ugandan military's area of influence.

Forces from the African Union Regional Task Force (AU RTF) destroyed two LRA camps in Congo in September 2013, one in Garamba National Park and another further west in Bas Uele district. Both camps contained huts and evidence of food cultivation and storage, as did an LRA camp destroyed in March 2013 by AU RTF forces in Sudanese-controlled areas of the disputed Kafia Kingi enclave.