Ugandans now account for less than two-thirds of the roughly 400 surviving fighters of the Lord’s Resistance Army, according to a study by a Washington-based research and advocacy group.

The LRA currently consists of an estimated 250 Ugandans, along with 150 Sudanese, Congolese and nationals of the Central African Republic, says the analysis compiled by the Enough Project, an NGO focused on ending crimes against humanity in Africa.

“While the ranks of foreign fighters have been replenished, the Ugandan fighters are at an all-time low,” the study observes. “Were this rate to remain constant for the next 12 months, there would hardly be any Ugandan fighters left in the LRA.”

Remnants of a force that once terrorised northern Uganda are now scattered across thousands of kilometres in three countries, “constantly on the run” and enduring “a life of misery,” the study states.

Communication among the splintered elements is difficult, and LRA leader Joseph Kony “no longer has complete and direct command-and-control over each LRA group,” adds the report by Enough Project field researcher Ledio Cakaj.

His findings are based on 68 interviews with former LRA fighters. Mr Cakaj says he also spoke with more than 150 citizens of the Central African Republic, Sudan and Democratic Republic of Congo who were abducted by the LRA. Ugandan officials were also interviewed for the study, Mr Cakaj adds.

Despite its declining and scattered numbers, the LRA remains capable of carrying out local massacres, the study says.

Kony’s fighters have also taken a toll on the Ugandan People’s Defence Force, with Land Forces Commander Katumba Wamala stating in July that the LRA had killed 32 UPDF soldiers in the previous 12 months.

But the Enough study says UPDF sources privately put the number of soldiers lost in the anti-LRA campaign at more than 100 since December 2008. Some of these deaths resulted from diseases, the study notes.

Ugandans do firmly retain leadership of the LRA, despite the relative decline in their numbers, Mr Cakaj writes. “Only the Ugandans are promoted to senior ranks and everyone is forced to learn Lwo, the dominant language of northern Uganda,” the study says.

It names the Ugandans Okot Odhiambo, Ceasar Achellam and Dominic Ongwen as, respectively, the second, third and fourth most powerful figures within the LRA.