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LRA fighters trapped: DRC

Kinshasa - The remnants of the Ugandan rebel Lord's Resistance Army are trapped by opposing forces in northeastern Democratic Republic of Congo and will have to surrender, a Congolese government spokesperson said on Saturday.

"We think that Joseph Kony is with them," he said, referring to the head of the LRA, the target of a joint operation by Congolese, Ugandan and south Sudanese forces launched in December.

"The hard core of the Lord's Resistance Army is in a swampy forest in the Garamba national park," spokesperson Lambert Mende told AFP, putting their numbers at about 250.

"They have no way out of these swamps except to surrender," he said.

Mende said the rest of the LRA had surrendered or disbanded, adding that the aim of the joint operation against the rebels had almost been achieved.

Mende said that Congolese President Joseph Kabila and his Ugandan counterpart Yoweri Museveni would meet on the border between their two countries before the end of February to assess the situation.

Operation Lighting Thunder was launched on December 14 after Kony repeatedly balked at signing a peace agreement already inked by Kampala in April 2008.

The LRA began its rebellion against Kampala more than two decades ago and is accused of committing atrocities against civilians in northern Uganda, south Sudan, northeastern DR Congo and the Central African Republic.

The operation has been criticised for sparking revenge attacks by the rebels against unprotected civilians in the remote border region.

UN humanitarian chief John Holmes said on Tuesday that the LRA had carried out attacks of "appalling brutality", calling the situation "very worrying".

The United Nations said late last month that 130 000 people had been displaced in northern DR Congo after fresh LRA attacks.

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