The People's Redemption Army (PRA) 



Origins

The People’s Redemption Army (PRA) was launched in June 2001 and subsequently declared war against the Ugandan government. The government alleges that this was done with the support of a foreign government who recruited, mobilized, and trained the group.
The existence of the PRA is widely questioned, however it is known to the Ugandan government as a rebel group based in Ituri in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), with activities taking place across the border in western Uganda. Rwandan President Kagame dismisses PRA as a creation of the Ugandans and as fictious, as does the Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) who claims that the PRA is no more than a creation of the Government. However, in November 2005, William Lacy Swing, the United Nations special envoy to the Great Lakes region, confirmed the existence of the PRA, naming it as one of the foreign, armed groups operating in the eastern DRC.
The PRA has received particular scrutiny for the linking of opposition leader Kizza Besigye to its command structure, and both the Forces Armées de la République Démocratique du Congo (FARDC) and the Uganda Peoples Defence Force (UPDF) in Uganda have mobilized newly-trained and equipped brigades to deal with the PRA, suggesting that the threat is at least perceived to be real.
 

Location / Main area of operation

The PRA is active in western Uganda. Ituri in DRC represents the PRA’s main base from which raids into Uganda are coordinated. Additionally, the group is active in the Imaramagambo forest in Kihihi and Rukungiri district.


Objectives

The PRA aims to bring down the Museveni government.

Number of Members


The number of combatants is estimated to be around 3,000.

Type : National

The PRA is a national armed group.

Conflict Status : Active

The PRA is supposedly active as seen be the Ugandan government's recruitment of 1,300 local defense unit guards to combat insecurity created by PRA activities in the West Nile area. This force is part of the West Nile taskforce, a local militia group created by President Museveni.

Structure of the organization

The PRA does not have formal political representation, but is reported to have links to the FDC. Recruits are often from the Kanungu and Rukungiri districts and from the DRC districts of Bushenyi, Kyenjojo and Bundibugyo.

Leadership

The suspected leadership hierarchy for the past few years shows Col. Eddison Muzoora (a former UPDF Colonel) and Col. Samson Mande to be at the group’s head, with Col. Anthony Kyakabale. All three denied involvement with the group. Until his capture in 2004, former UPDF captain James Katabazi also figured in the command structure. Muzoora, based in South Africa, tried to bring UPDF officers into the rebellion. However, Muzoora was reportedly killed in October 2006 in Kigali.
Most controversial is the ongoing attempt by the government to link FDC leader Kizza Besigye to the PRA command. Besigye is the Uganda's main opposition leader and was arrested on November 14, 2005 for treason and rape. He was cleared of the rape charge, but still faces charges of treason in the High Court.
Besigye denies the link.
 

External aid/Third party involvement

The PRA are said to be encouraging links with a number of other groups. In September 2006, the PRA, ADF, and LRA reportedly agreed to form an alliance at a meeting in Garamba National Park. They are said to be already allied with Thomas Lubanga’s UPC. Uganda believes that Rwanda is waging a war against it by proxy via the PRA in Ituri province of DRC. Some reports have suggested that the PRA was talking with Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), also located in the west, about a possible merger.
The Ugandan government suggests that the PRA exists internally and externally with a network that sponsored people to various positions during elections. The PRA distribute anti-government propaganda via media reports and civic organizations. There have also been attempts to establish links with the LRA in the north.
 

External effects of the NSAG's armed activities

No information available on this matter.

Funding

The Ugandan government claims that Rwanda helps train the PRA : “The Ugandan government has charged Rwanda with supporting armed groups hostile to it, including the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) and with training other dissidents, such as the People's Redemption Army (PRA). The Rwandan government in turn asserted that Uganda was assisting Rwandan rebels and the Interahamwe militia involved in the 1994 genocide, assistance which they viewed as a "direct security threat" to Rwanda."

Relationship with the international community

No information available on this matter.

Books

  • Balencie, J-M & de la Grange, A. (2005), Les Nouveaux Mondes rebelles (Paris: éditions Michalon).
  • German, Richard & Taylor, Elizabeth (2004), “Uganda," in Szajkowski, Bogdan (ed) Revolutionary and Dissident Movements of the World 492 (London: John Harper Publishing).
     

Articles and Chapters

  • Lamwaka, Caroline, “Civil War and the Peace Process in Uganda 1986-1997," 4 2 East African Journal of Peace and Human Rights (1998), 139, available at link
  • Piquemal, Leslie, “La guerre au nord de l’Ouganda: une ‘solution militaire’ sans issue ?," 1 209 Afrique contemporaine (2004), at 141-161.
  • James Bevan, ‘Fuelling Fear.’ in Small Arms Survey 2006: Unfinished Business (2006) Oxford University Press. pp. 273-293
     

Reports and resolutions of intergovernmental organizations

Governmental reports

Reports of think tanks and non-governmental organizations

  • Conciliation Resources, Nyeko, B. & Lucima O., ‘Profiles of the Parties of the Conflict,' in Protacted Conflict, Elusive Peace: initiatives to end the violence in northern Uganda, Accord Publication Series N.11, 2002, available at link
  • Human Rights Watch (2003) Ituri: Covered in Blood: Ethnically Targeted Violence in Northeastern DR Congo,Vol. 15 No. 11 (A), July. New York.
  • International Crisis Group (2006), A Strategy for Ending Northern Uganda’s Crisis, Crisis Group Africa Briefing N.35, 11 January 2006, available at link
  • International Crisis Group (2007), Northern Uganda Peace Process: The Need to Maintain Momentum, Crisis Group Africa Briefing N.46, 14 September 2007, available at link
  • International Crisis Group (2004), Northern Uganda: Understanding and Solving the Conflict, Africa Report N.77, 14 April 2004, available at link
  • International Crisis Group (2006), Peace in Northern Uganda?, Crisis Group Africa Briefing N.41, 13 September 2006, available at link
  • International Institute for Strategic Studies (2006) Uganda (LRA), Armed Conflict Database.
  • International Institute for Strategic Studies (2007), Uganda: ‘Timeline, Armed Conflict Database.
  • Institute for Security Studies African (2003) Tension in Ituri: An Update on the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Boshoff, Henri, available at : link's%20redemption%20army%2C%20uganda%22.

     

 

Press Information (in chronological order)

  •  “PRA exists – Mbabazi ” , The New Vision, 17 March 2005.
  • “Congo Challenge” Jane’s Defense Weekly, Heitman, Helmoed-Roemer, 22 October 2003.
  • “PRA plans attack on Uganda — Mbabazi.," The New Vision, 30 March 2005.
  • “Army on full PRA alert – Magezi," The New Vision, 31 March 2005.
  • “Uganda People’s Redemption Army," South Africa Independent Media Center,18 December 2004, available at : link
  • “Army recruits 1,300 LDUs to fight PRA," The New Vision, 12 February 2005.
  • “PRA a government creation, says FDC,"The New Vision, 9 June 2005.
  • “Great Lakes: Yet another Powderkeg," Africa News Update, The Norwegian Council for Africa 12, April 2004.
  • “Uganda: UPDF, Congo Army in Talks Over Rebels," The New Vision, 17 September 2006.
  • “Uganda deploys troops along Congo border," People’s Daily Online, 2 December 2004.
  • “Uganda’s LRA rebels rejoin peace talks ," Reuters, 30 September 2006.
  • “Uganda: Profile of main opposition leader Kiiza Besigye” , IrinNews.org, 15 February 2006, available at : link.
  • “DRC-UGANDA: Kampala deploys troops along border with Congo," IrinNews.org, 1 December 2004, available at : link
  • “Press conference on Democratic Republic of Congo," United Nations Department of Public Information, 5 October 2006, available at: link.
     

Interviews

Internet resources

  • Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) : link

Statements of the armed group

Agreements involving armed groups