Joseph Kony |
The United States on Tuesday broadened longstanding sanctions against the Lord’s Resistance Army, one of central Africa’s most violent guerrilla groups, and its founder, Joseph Kony, a warlord and self-described prophet who has eluded the authorities for nearly three decades.
Sanctions announced by the Treasury Department add to American restrictions on Mr. Kony first imposed in 2008 by widening the network of contacts that could face penalties if they do business with him. The Treasury sanctions also put the Lord’s Resistance Army on a financial blacklist for the first time, which forbids Americans to have any contact with the organization and freezes any assets it may have under United States jurisdiction.
The State Department placed the Lord’s Resistance Army on its Terrorism Exclusion List in 2001, but that restriction empowered officials only to bar people associated with the organization from entering the United States.
American officials said the actions were taken partly in response to tightened measures against Mr. Kony and the Lord’s Resistance Army by the United Nations Security Council. They are also a response to reports that the organization has sharply escalated its abductions and plundering in Central African Republic this year compared with 2015.
The LRA Crisis Tracker, a project by rights groups that monitor the Lord’s Resistance Army’s activities, described the surge in a report issued this month, calling it a demonstration of “the grave threat L.R.A. fighters pose to civilians.”
Paul Ronan, who manages the LRA Crisis Tracker, said the new sanctions were partly a symbolic effort. But he said they could put pressure on the Lord’s Resistance Army by constricting its ability to sell poached ivory, one of the organization’s most important sources of revenue.
Mr. Ronan said he had seen a “disturbing upward trend” this year in the number of children abducted by the group’s fighters. “It could be a sign that they’re feeling emboldened and are trying to recruit kids to rebuild their fighting force,” he said.
The Lord’s Resistance Army originated as a Ugandan rebel force in the mid-1980s. It evolved into an organization of fighters who pillaged parts of Uganda, southern Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Central African Republic.
Disciples swore fealty to Mr. Kony, who became known for ordering village massacres, mutilating victims, kidnapping children for soldiering, and keeping a harem of prepubescent brides. American military officials have been helping in the hunt for him since 2011. Mr. Kony has been wanted for more than a decade by the International Criminal Court for war crimes and crimes against humanity.