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U.S. sanctions Central Africa's rebel group LRA

Xinhua, March 9, 2016 Adjust font size:

The U.S. Treasury Department on Tuesday announced sanctions relating to Central African Republic's rebel group Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) and its leader, Joseph Kony.

"Today's action freezes any LRA assets within U.S. jurisdiction and generally prohibits U.S. persons from engaging in transactions with the group," U.S. Treasury Department said in a press release.

The LRA, headed by Joseph Kony, is known for massacring and mutilating civilians as well as abducting children to use as soldiers or even slaves.

"From murdering innocent civilians to pillaging villages, the Lord's Resistance Army is responsible fro notorious acts of violence, "said John E. Smith, Acting Director from the Office of Foreign Assets Control of the State Department said.

He noted that the sanctions will support Treasury Department's broader effort to dismantle the militia group.

More than 200 people have been kidnapped in eastern Central African Republic this year, already early double last year's level, in a wave of abductions blamed on the LRA, LRA Crisis Tracker said in a statement last week. Endti