---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: John Ashworth <[email protected]> Date: Sun, Oct 23, 2011 at 7:17 PM Subject: [sudan-john-ashworth] LRA leaders scoff at US military intervention To: Group <[email protected]>
"U.S. policymakers and military planners emphasize that there is no quick fix to ending the scourge of the LRA and that even the death or capture of Kony and his senior commanders may not be sufficient to finish off the group unless broader efforts are made to address the grievances that caused it to form in the first place." (article 4, below) 1. LRA leaders scoff at US military intervention By Julius N. Uma October 21, 2011 (JUBA) — The leader of the Lord’s Resistance Army’s ’peace team’ has criticised the recent decision by President Barack Obama to send 100 “combat-equipped” US troops to help Uganda the fight the rebel group, describing it as “not only misconceived, but unacceptable.” The LRA’s response comes a week after President Obama said he was sending American troops to Uganda to help and advise forces fighting the rebel movement, which is accused of gross human rights violations in Uganda, and South Sudan, Central African Republic and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Justice Nyeko Labeja, in a statement sent to Sudan Tribune, said the US anti-LRA strategy was an alleged attempt by the Obama administration to back a largely dictatorial regime in Uganda. "Our peoples’ struggle is principally against this evil system of slavery, degradation and dehumanization and not merely against the individual authors and perpetrators of the gross suffering of our people under the satellite military regime," wrote the leader of the LRA’s peace team. It adds, "The current US military intervention in the Ugandan political conflict in favor of its ally military regime is not only misconceived, but unacceptable at this time in world history." The US congress’ decision, the LRA argued, not only contravened the African Union’s (AU) role in resolving political conflicts within the continent, but further seeks to "support and bolster the cruel rule of their ally, the military regime of Uganda." The LRA top negotiator claimed he remains fully committed to peaceful resolutions of the over two-decade conflict and that an attack on the LRA or its command, will be contrary to resolutions of the Juba peace talks as well as the "lofty cause for a New Uganda." President Obama told Congress that "deploying these U.S. Armed Forces furthers U.S. national security interests and foreign policy and will be a significant contribution toward counter-LRA efforts in central Africa." However, deployment of these troops will be subject to approval from each of the respective nations of Uganda, the Republic of South Sudan, Central African Republic and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Today the spokesperson of the South Sudan cabinet and minister of information told Reuters they welcomed the American decision to deploy troops in the region to support the anti-LRA fight. Minister Barnaba Marial Benjamin also disclosed that Juba has already agreed to the deployment of US military experts and soldiers. "It is agreed. There was a high military delegation prior to that announcement which discussed all the details of it together with the SPLA," Marial said. Uganda since last Saturday hailed the American decision to help its army which is fighting the LAR since about twenty years ago. "We welcome this gesture it has been well overdue," said Uganda’s acting foreign minister Henry Okello Oryem. (ST) http://www.sudantribune.com/LRA-leaders-scoff-at-US-military,40494 END1. 2. S. Sudan welcomes US military help to fight LRA Fri Oct 21, 2011 4:01pm GMT JUBA (Reuters) - South Sudan is welcoming U.S. military assistance to help fight Ugandan rebels of the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) accused of murder, rape and kidnapping children, officials said on Friday. Last week, President Barack Obama said the U.S. was sending 100 military advisors to central Africa to help battling the LRA operating in Uganda and lawless parts of South Sudan, Central African Republic and the Democratic Republic of Congo. In a letter to Congress, Obama said the first troops had already arrived in Uganda and would be deployed to South Sudan, the CAR and Democratic Republic of Congo subject to their approval. On Friday, newly independent South Sudan welcomed the U.S. military cooperation with its army, known as SPLA, to help hunt down LRA leader Joseph Kony. "It is agreed. There was a high military delegation prior to that announcement which discussed all the details of it together with the SPLA," Information Minister Barnaba Marial Benjamin told Reuters. "It is logistical help, a capacity training programme and support for all the four countries to contain the LRA. It will start immediately because people have already agreed on that," he said, without giving further details. SPLA spokesman Philip Aguer said: "There are already coordinated mechanisms that have been combating LRA so the new LRA advisory will be an addition." "Their most important role is the provision of air surveillance and information," he said of the U.S. assistance. 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. LRA leader Kony has been indicted by the Hague-based International Criminal Court on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity. LRA commanders have been operating in the wild and largely lawless border regions of the DRC, Central African Republic and South 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. http://af.reuters.com/article/topNews/idAFJOE79K0F520111021?sp=true END2 3. United States Sends 100 Soldiers to Uganda, Which Is Not Where the LRA Is, to Not Fight the LRA Wronging Rights POSTED BY AMANDA TAUB AT 4:32 PM MONDAY, OCTOBER 17, 2011 Wow, everyone is super excited about the recently-announced plan to send 100 U.S. special-forces troops to Uganda to fight the LRA, huh? (Well, except for the always-delightful Rush Limbaugh, who claims that Obama has sent troops to Uganda to "kill Christians," because "Lord's Resistance Army are Christians. They are fighting the Muslims in Sudan." Oh Rush, you kidder.) My own reaction, thus far, has been a resounding "Really? Huh. Well, okay, fine." For one thing, this program sounds quite limited: a small number of special-ops soldiers are being sent in an "advisory capacity," (meaning that they're not supposed to be engaging in direct fighting). So far, those troops are only going to Uganda, which, as I'm sure all our readers know, is a country that the LRA hasn't operated in for years. Obama's Statement to Congress says that the troops will also "deploy into Uganda, South Sudan, the Central African Republic, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo," subject to those countries' consent, but it's quite vague on the details of how and when that will happen. Secondly, I am somewhat skeptical of how much impact 100 soldiers can have, given the large area that the LRA roams around in, and the well-documented difficulty of pursuing them through inaccessible terrain that they're familiar with (and soldiers aren't, especially American ones). And I'm obviously concerned about the possibility that this could turn into "Operation Lightning Thunder II: Electric Boogaloo," given how badly that went for civilians the last time around. That said, there is a lot to like about this plan. It's good that our troops will be acting in an advisory/support capacity, rather than leading the way. Combating the LRA is first and foremost the duty of the governments of the countries where the group operates, and this plan seems to acknowledge that, which is good. It also respects those countries' sovereignty, (note the careful "subject to consent" language in the statement to Congress), which is important. And, hopefully, the resources that the U.S. can bring to the table will be useful. I'm not going to pretend that I know enough about military strategy or tactics to say exactly what they should do, but it certainly seems plausible that having 100 dudes who are highly trained, well-resourced and equipped, and are all willing to talk to each other will be a net positive for the "Get Kony" project, which is rumored to have been plagued by lack of communication, coordination, and commitment (wow, three Cs! I should be working for Enough!) among the countries involved. http://wrongingrights.blogspot.com/2011/10/united-states-sends-100-soldiers-to.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+WrongingRights+%28wronging+rights%29 END3 4. The Lord’s Resistance Army By Richard Downie CSIS OCT 18, 2011 President Obama announced on October 14 that he was sending approximately 100 military advisers to central Africa to assist in efforts to neutralize one of the continent’s most notorious rebel groups, the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA). Their main task will be to help the militaries of Uganda, South Sudan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), and the Central African Republic (CAR) devise operations to kill or capture the LRA leadership and protect vulnerable citizens in the region. Although the advisers will be armed, they will not participate in combat operations. Q1: What is the Lord’s Resistance Army? A1: The LRA is one of a succession of armed groups that emerged in the Acholi district of northern Uganda in the late 1980s. Already poor and underdeveloped, Acholiland was politically marginalized when Yoweri Museveni, who comes from the southwest, seized power in 1986. The LRA’s recipe for reviving its fortunes was spiritual purification, to be achieved by violent resistance to the new government and an internal purge of those who collaborated with it. Its leader, Joseph Kony, is a self-styled prophet and medium whose spiritual powers elicit fear and devotion from his followers, many of whom were abducted as children in LRA raids on villages and schools. The LRA has carried out shocking atrocities, hacking off limbs and cutting off the noses, lips, and ears of its victims, in order to create fear among the general population and warn them against assisting the authorities. A series of brutal counterinsurgency campaigns by the Ugandan military and the decision by the regime in Sudan to cut off critical financial and logistical support eventually forced the LRA to the negotiating table in 2006. The International Criminal Court also increased the pressure, issuing arrest warrants against Kony and four of his lieutenants for crimes against humanity. Peace talks got under way but dragged on without any outcome and eventually broke down in late 2008. This triggered a renewed military campaign that has reduced LRA numbers to between 200 and 400 fighters but has failed to kill or capture the senior leadership. Since the mid-2000s, the LRA has migrated from its original base in Uganda, seeking refuge in the remote hinterland on the borders of the DRC, CAR, and South Sudan. The group has long since abandoned any political agenda; its sole objective is to survive. Its main method for doing so is attacking and looting villages and forcibly recruiting young people as soldiers and sex slaves. Q2: Why is the United States getting involved? A2: The United States has been allergic to putting “boots on the ground” in Africa since the infamous Black Hawk Down incident in Somalia in 1993, when 18 U.S. soldiers were killed. This wariness persists, but there has been a slight shift under the Obama administration, which has placed a greater emphasis on the need to protect civilians and is ready to contemplate military action in support of that objective. The imperative of shielding the citizens of Benghazi from the attacks of Colonel Muammar el-Qaddafi was the justification for U.S. military intervention in Libya, although ground forces were not used in that instance. In the case of the LRA, President Obama has been mandated by Congress to take action. In May 2010, Congress enacted the Lord’s Resistance Army Disarmament and North Uganda Recovery Act, following a long campaign from human rights groups. The legislation called on the White House to devise a comprehensive strategy to eliminate the LRA, although it did not commit any funds to do so. In late 2010, the White House announced its broad approach, which contained plans to apprehend Kony and his commanders, encourage defections, protect civilians, and increase humanitarian assistance to regions affected by the LRA. The October 14 troop announcement adds details to this general plan. In addition, the anti-LRA mission falls firmly within the core remit of the U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM), which is to improve the capacity, effectiveness, and professionalism of African militaries so that they can ultimately deal with their own security challenges. The commander of AFRICOM, General Carter Ham, is personally invested in defeating the LRA. During a recent visit to CSIS, he said that Kony’s activities should dispel any doubt that evil exists in the world. Q3: What are the chances of success? A3: The United States can draw lessons from a previous effort to eradicate the LRA, launched in December 2008. Operation Lightning Thunder was a joint offensive on an LRA camp in northeastern DRC, led by Uganda, the DRC, and South Sudan. Seventeen U.S. military advisers provided logistics, communications, and intelligence support. The mission was a failure. Leaky intelligence allowed the LRA leadership to get advance warning of the bombing raid that was supposed to begin the operation. Bad weather meant the air strikes were conducted with slower moving helicopters rather than Ugandan fighter jets, further reducing the element of surprise. Poor coordination meant the ground forces that were supposed to swarm into the camp immediately after the bombing raid didn’t turn up for a week. Finally, mutual antipathy among the three main militaries involved—those of Uganda, South Sudan, and the DRC—meant that Kony’s forces were allowed to slip across the border into South Sudan unchallenged. The costs of the failed operation were devastating for civilians. In the weeks that followed, almost 1,000 people were killed in a series of bloody reprisals in northeastern Congo. Since December 2008, the LRA has killed approximately 3,000 people and displaced 400,000 more, according to estimates by the nongovernmental organization Resolve Uganda, which monitors the group’s attacks. This time round, robust safeguards will be required to protect civilians. And more emphasis will have to be placed on ensuring better cooperation among the participating militaries. The task will not be easy. One of the consequences of Operation Lightning Thunder was that the LRA scattered into smaller groups, making them much more difficult to track down. Kony himself is believed to be operating in the Central African Republic. The groups have discarded any communication equipment that would allow them to be traced and instead rely on runners to relay messages. In addition, the LRA is a hardened guerilla force used to operating in difficult terrain. It has survived against the odds for a quarter of a century. U.S. policymakers and military planners emphasize that there is no quick fix to ending the scourge of the LRA and that even the death or capture of Kony and his senior commanders may not be sufficient to finish off the group unless broader efforts are made to address the grievances that caused it to form in the first place. Richard Downie is a fellow and deputy director of the Africa Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, D.C. http://csis.org/publication/lords-resistance-army 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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