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LRA threat neglected, British envoy tells Security Council

UNITED NATIONS, Nov. 21 (UPI) -- Deputy British Ambassador to the United Nations Peter Wilson said a U.N. mission in Central Africa should focus on the threat of the Lord's Resistance Army.

Wilson told members of the Security Council more focus was needed from the U.N. Regional Office for Central Africa on countering LRA's devastation in the region.

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"The main focus of UNOCA's work should continue to be on reducing the threat posed by the Lord's Resistance Army," he said. "For too long, the LRA has stifled the potential for progress and development in Central Africa."

The Security Council during an August session said national security challenges in the Central African Republic were compounded by an increase in rebel LRA activity. More than 70 U.S. lawmakers issued a statement this year saying the threat from LRA and its leader, Joseph Kony, was being overlooked.

"The Lord's Resistance Army has blighted the heart of Africa for over 20 years," Wilson said Thursday. "The LRA remains a violent threat to civilians across central Africa [and] the United Kingdom condemns in the strongest terms the human rights abuses the LRA continues to commit."

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Kony is the target of a 2005 arrest warrant by the International Criminal Court. His militant group is suspected of conscripting child soldiers and using girls as sex slaves.

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