---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: John Ashworth <[email protected]> Date: Sun, Oct 16, 2011 at 8:54 AM Subject: [sudan-john-ashworth] US military deployment against LRA To: Group <[email protected]>
1. Ugandans welcome U.S. troop plan to fight rebels Sat Oct 15, 2011 4:34pm GMT * Troops to advise region governments in fight against LRA * Troops expected to boost intelligence gathering * Rebel leader Kony wanted by ICC By Justin Dralaze KAMPALA, Oct 15 (Reuters) - Residents and rights groups said U.S. troops being sent to Uganda would give a fresh impetus to the fight against Lord's Resistance Army rebels accused of murder and kidnapping children and capturing their leader. The rebel group, which has waged a brutal insurgency for nearly 20 years, was ejected from northern Uganda in 2005 and has since roamed remote jungle straddling the borders of Sudan, Democratic Republic of Congo and Central African Republic. On Friday, President Barack Obama said he was sending about 100 troops to help and advise government forces fighting the LRA across Central Africa. Obama -- who has denounced the LRA as an "affront to human dignity" -- said the troops would serve as trainers and advisers in the efforts to hunt down rebel leader Joseph Kony and would not be involved in combat except in self-defence. "I think it is a good move because ... this will be a supplement to enforce the Ugandan UPDF (Uganda People Defence Forces) to make sure that Kony is put totally down and he faces justice for the crimes he has committed," Medie Sebuliba, a Kampala resident, said. The LRA is known for chilling violence including hacking body parts off victims, the abduction of young boys to fight and young girls to be used as sex slaves. Attempts to negotiate peace failed in 2008 after Kony, who is wanted by the International Criminal Court, refused to sign a deal to bring an end to the killing. Congo's minister for communications said U.S. troops had already been helping Congolese forces, but it had probably not been enough so additional assistance with logistics and training would be a bonus. "Most of these (regional) armies are used to classical fighting, (but) the LRA is of a different nature," Lambert Mende told Reuters by telephone. "No one can say that (will happen for sure), but I think it will be more and more difficult for them to operate as they were doing before." This optimism was shared by Friar Benoit Kinalegu, a civil society worker who follows LRA activity in Congo's northern province of Orientale. "The biggest problem is not the number of troops on the ground, the biggest problem is the co-ordination of military intelligence," he told Reuters by telephone. The LRA are still launching sporadic attacks in Congo's semi-arid north, but with Kony rumoured to be in CAR and the Congolese troops receiving training from the U.S. military, the situation is improving, he said. Although the group is thought to number just a few hundred, its mobility and the difficulties of the terrain have made them difficult to tackle. Kinalegu says he is hopeful that more engagement from the United States and better planning could bring an end to the LRA threat. "It's been a wish of mine for a long time," he added. Kony is from the Acholi ethnic group, which has borne the brunt of the LRA insurgency and welcomed the U.S. move. "We the people of Acholi who have been the victims of this war, we have clearly stated that we don't condone impunity, we don't support activities of rebellion by Kony," chairwoman of the Acholi Parliamentary Group Beatrice Atim, told Reuters. (Additional reporting by Jonny Hogg in Kinshasa; Writing by David Lewis and George Obulutsa) http://af.reuters.com/article/sudanNews/idAFL5E7LF0I920111015?sp=true END1 2. Human Rights Group Welcomes Obama’s Decision to Send Troops to Uganda NYT October 14, 2011, 6:56 PM By ROBERT MACKEY As my colleagues Thom Shanker and Rick Gladstone report, “President Obama said Friday that he had ordered the deployment of 100 armed military advisers to central Africa to help regional forces combat the Lord’s Resistance Army, a notorious renegade group that has terrorized villagers in at least four countries with marauding bands that kill, rape, maim and kidnap with impunity.” In Mr. Obama’s letter explaining the deployment to Congressional leaders, the president wrote that “U.S. military personnel with appropriate combat equipment” would work with armed forces in Uganda, South Sudan, the Central African Republic and the Democratic Republic of Congo “that have the goal of removing from the battlefield Joseph Kony and other senior leadership of the L.R.A.” Just after the deployment was announced, Andrew Exum, a former United States Army officer who blogs about “small wars and insurgencies” under the pen name Abu Muqawama, observed on Twitter that Human Rights Watch, which launched a sophisticated media campaign calling for such an intervention a year ago, has now “successfully lobbied the Obama administration for U.S. military action in two African counties: Libya and Uganda.” Mr. Exum also joked that American commanders should probably start paying more attention to the human rights group’s campaigns for humanitarian intervention, since they seem to be so effective. "U.S. military officers wanting to know where they will next go to war should probably just read @HRW policy papers at this point." The Human Rights Watch campaign for intervention, which began last November, included direct appeals for help from victims of the Lord’s Resistance Army in handwritten letters and an emotional video titled “Dear Obama.” Ken Roth, the executive director of Human Rights Watch, was traveling and unavailable for comment on Friday, but he did post two brief updates on his Twitter feed, in which he welcomed and defended the deployment. "Obama’s decision to send special forces to help capture Kony is a consensual (welcome) deployment, not an invasion." Mr. Roth also posted a link to an article he wrote last year for Foreign Policy in which he had argued that “there is no better case for the humanitarian use of force than the urgent need to arrest Joseph Kony, the ruthless leader of the Lord’s Resistance Army (L.R.A.), and protect the civilians who are his prey.” In that article, Mr. Roth also explained that a small number of American Special Forces troops could likely do the job, since “the L.R.A. is not large — an estimated 200 to 250 seasoned Ugandan combatants, plus at least several hundred abductees — but as Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni recently told me, Uganda lacks the special forces, expert intelligence, and rapid-deployment capacity needed to stamp out this enemy.” http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/10/14/human-rights-group-welcomes-obamas-decision-to-send-troops-to-uganda/#more-134365 END2 3. AFRICOM commander announces plan to send advisers to LRA areas Resolve October 11, 2011 by Paul Last Tuesday, General Carter Ham spoke about his work as head of AFRICOM (the US military’s Africa Command) at the Center for Strategic and International Studies here in DC. During his talk, General Ham discussed AFRICOM’s involvement in implementing President Obama’s LRA strategy, saying, “We have legislative action here in the United States that requires us to assist in countering the Lord’s Resistance Army”. After acknowledging the serious threat the LRA poses to the region, General Ham turned some heads when he mentioned the Obama Administration’s intent to deploy US military advisors directly in LRA-affected areas. He said the advisers would be deployed “in the very near future” to help regional military forces in their efforts to protect civilians and bring LRA commanders to justice. If the plan moves forward, such a deployment would constitute the most significant action taken by the US since the White House issued its LRA strategy last year. Though the full details of the deployment have yet to be announced, a few things are clear based on initial conversations with Administration officials. For starters, the advisers will be doing just that – advising. They will not be mandated to participate in actual combat operations against the LRA. Second, they are likely to be working in a number of different capacities. A few have already been deployed to Congo, where they’ve been training a Congolese military battalion that was recently deployed to LRA-affected areas and working with UN intelligence analysts. But the bulk of the advisers — several dozen who are yet to be deployed — will likely be assisting the Ugandan military, the lead force in operations attempting to apprehend Kony and senior LRA commanders. With the right mandate, these advisers could be a significant step forward as part of the broader, civilian-led implementation of President Obama’s LRA strategy. Their presence on the ground can help shed light on why current military efforts are failing and lead to better-informed recommendations for how the US and other governments can respond. They can also monitor the human rights record of national militaries receiving US security assistance operating in remote areas, which is increasingly a concern for local civil society and human rights groups. It is, however, critical that they be tasked not only with improving the chances that Kony and other commanders are captured but also with strengthening efforts to protect civilians in the meantime. Most importantly, they should work with regional militaries to ensure effective measures are in place to protect civilians from LRA reprisal attacks. Too often we’ve seen devastating consequences when this isn’t done, most notably when US-backed, Ugandan-led bombings of LRA camps sparked the Christmas Massacres in December of 2008. In short, this is a big deal. With the right mandate, US advisers directly on the ground could have a very positive impact. http://www.theresolve.org/blog/archives/3071030385 END3 4. Obama sends military advisers to central Africa Sat Oct 15, 2011 12:56am GMT * U.S. says has Uganda government's consent * Mission marks expanded role in sub-Saharan conflicts * McCain chides Obama for not consulting Congress first By Matt Spetalnick and Laura MacInnis WASHINGTON, Oct 14 (Reuters) - President Barack Obama said on Friday he was sending about 100 U.S. troops to central Africa to help and advise government forces battling Ugandan Lord's Resistance Army rebels accused of murder, rape and kidnapping children. Obama -- who once denounced the LRA as an "affront to human dignity" -- made clear the troops would serve as trainers and advisers in efforts to hunt down rebel leader Joseph Kony and would not engage in combat except in self-defense. In a letter to Congress, Obama said the first U.S. forces arrived in Uganda on Wednesday and would be deployed to South Sudan, the Central African Republic and the Democratic Republic of the Congo "subject to the approval of each respective host nation." Obama's decision commits U.S. forces to help confront a rebel group that has drawn international condemnation for decades of chilling violence, including hacking body parts off victims and the abduction of young boys to fight and young girls for use as sex slaves. While the U.S. military has maintained a large base in Djibouti since 2003, the latest mission marks an expanded role in conflicts in sub-Saharan Africa by putting U.S. troops in the field to support local forces in direct combat with insurgents. "I have authorized a small number of combat-equipped U.S. forces to deploy to central Africa to provide assistance to regional forces that are working toward the removal of Joseph Kony from the battlefield," Obama said. A senior administration official said the mission was "time-limited" to last only months. The bulk of roughly 100 troops being dispatched were special forces, a U.S. defense official said. The limited terms of engagement appeared aimed at reassuring war-weary Americans that Obama has no plan to entangle U.S. forces directly in another conflict when they are already involved in wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and are playing a support role in a NATO-led air campaign in Libya. Pentagon spokesman George Little said U.S. troops would train local forces in activities such as tracking, intelligence assessment and conducting patrols "to render the LRA ineffective." The trainers "will be armed for self-defense," Little said. Senator John McCain, Obama's Republican opponent in the 2008 presidential election, said promoting African stability by reducing the LRA threat was a "worthy goal" but Obama should have consulted Congress before putting forces "into harm's way." The State Department said the troops were dispatched "with the consent" of Uganda's government, headed by President Yoweri Museveni. His critics have accused him of using the fight against rebels as an excuse to stifle political opposition. "We didn't solicit for this support but now that it has come we welcome it," Felix Kulaigye, spokesman for the Ugandan army, told Reuters by telephone. "Kony is a regional security menace and the earlier we end it, the better." KONY INDICTED ON WAR CRIME CHARGES Obama asserted that U.S. forces "will only be providing information, advice and assistance to partner nation forces, and they will not themselves engage LRA forces unless necessary for self-defense." The LRA, which says it is a religious group, emerged in northern Uganda in the 1990s and is believed to have killed, kidnapped and mutilated tens of thousands of people. Kony has been indicted by the Hague-based International Criminal Court on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity. "The LRA continues to commit atrocities across the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and South Sudan that have a disproportionate impact on regional security," Obama said. He said U.S. advisers were needed because "regional military efforts have thus far been unsuccessful in removing LRA leader Joseph Kony or his top commanders from the battlefield." LRA commanders have been operating in the wild and largely lawless border regions of the DRC, Central African Republic and Sudan in recent years. Although now thought to number just a few hundred fighters, the LRA's mobility and the difficulties of the terrain have made it difficult to tackle. Attempts to negotiate peace failed in 2008 after Kony refused to sign a deal to end the killing. Uganda and Congolese officials said earlier this year they thought Kony had returned to eastern DRC, complicating U.N. efforts to stabilize the region. The U.S. military has operated a joint task force from Camp Lemonnier near the international airport in Djibouti in the Horn of Africa since 2003, its only base on the African continent. Camp Lemonnier supports about 2,500 U.S. military personnel, allied forces and defense contractors. The base, overseen by the recently created U.S. Africa Command, based in Stuttgart, Germany, is engaged in "stability operations" against Islamist militants and reportedly is being used as a base for flights of unmanned surveillance and strike aircraft over Somalia and Yemen. The United States has military personnel deployed in 34 sub-Saharan African countries, mostly small contingents of less than 40 personnel attached to the U.S. embassies. (Additional reporting by David Alexander in Washington and Elias Biryabarema in Kampala; Editing by Peter Cooney and Paul Simao) http://af.reuters.com/article/sudanNews/idAFN1E79D1PD20111015?sp=true END4 ______________________ John Ashworth Sudan Advisor [email protected] +254 725 926 297 (Kenya mobile) +249 919 695 362 (Sudan mobile) +27 82 853 3556 (South Africa mobile) +44 750 304 1790 (UK/international) +88 216 4334 0735 (Thuraya satphone) PO Box 52002 - 00200, Nairobi, Kenya This is a personal e-mail address and the contents do not necessarily reflect the views of any organisation -- The content of this message does not necessarily reflect John Ashworth's views. Unless explicitly stated otherwise, John Ashworth is not the author of the content and the source is always cited. You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "sudan-john-ashworth" group. 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