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2. THE NRA REGIME AND THE MASS MEDIA
The NRM/A mass media was the ultimate tool of political mobilization of sections of the domestic audience and western governments whose cooperation or at least acquiescence was necessary for the perpetration of genocide. It forced every significant organ of information and opinion to chorus the same litany of disinformation, demonization and homicidal xenophobia against the Acholi population in the following ways: [a] Demonization and Incitement to mass murder The
Uganda Broadcasting Corporation (UBC), former Radio Uganda, developed a very
eerie linguistic formulation of negative emotion that inspired hatred for the
Acholi population. It played xenophobic songs interspersed with vilification and
offensive announcement of "Abanyanya" (meaning non-citizens, in fact, it refers
to southern Sudanese) to urge a bloody revenge. Provocative songs like, "moto
nawaka, mama eh! moto nawaka.." translated as, "fire is burning Mother, eh! Fire
is burning. when we reach Soroti, we will bomb, when we reach Lira, we will
bomb, but when we reach Kitgum and Gulu, we will bomb and desolate
completely."Following the song with wild and fictitious accusation that the
Acholi population killed people in Luwero, it stirred negative emotion by
rattling human bones amidst scary torture cry and staccato of machine gun fire
to provoke a homicidal revenge against the Acholi population. As a result many
Acholi were lynched on the streets of Kampala with vehicle tires slung around
their necks and ignited, thus, popping out the victim's eyes and cooking their
brains. The media campaign to forge and consolidate such ethno-xenophobia and
homicidal hatred is without precedent in post-independence Uganda.
[b] Justifying ethno-xenophobic racism and
homicidal exterminations The language of extermination, elimination, massacres
and butchering proliferated in the media as the description of war policy
against the Acholi people. On many occasions, the NRM/A regime used [a] a
language of demagogy and headlong irrationality like "those killers who lost
power are fighting to return to finish the job and we must preempt them." [b] It
posed rhetorical questions and exclamations such as "if the Acholi population
did not kill in Luwero, who did it, eh!" [c] It issued menacing ultimatums based
on a sense of infinite self-righteousness like "any opposition to us will meet
with uncompromising annihilation." [d] It made immense accusations backed by no
evidence or investigations such as "all the Acholi people are killers" and [e]
resorted to conspiracy-mongering and homicidal paranoia like "when we finish
with the enemies, they will never rise-up as a community of people." These
powerful and brazen incitements to massacres through a language of genocide
before genocide was even conceivable had immense negative effect of creating
homicidal hate and indifference following the commencement of mass murders of
the Acholi people. The NRM/A regime's fictive arguments only make sense when the
political and military elite chose genocide as a political strategy to retain
power. The provocation to homicidal extermination radicalized many NRM/A
soldiers and auxiliary militia forces to a state of extreme paranoia and
xenophobic hate. One senior NRM/A military officer observed, "we really hated
the Acholi people and wanted to exterminate them. Our favoured slogan was 'kill
the Acholi, kill more Acholi, kill all the Acholi people.' We vowed that by the
end of the war, Acholi language would only be spoken in hell." The instigation
of homicidal hate made it a relatively simple matter for the NRM/A political
commissar, Commander Karusoke Kajabago, to remark that those who oppose the
NRM/A (meaning the Acholi population) are biological substances to be
exterminated. Regrettably, no protest to President Museveni was ever lodged by
human rights and non-governmental organizations (NGOs), western donor
governments and Uganda citizens for a declaration of intention to commit
genocide.
3. THE NORTHERN UGANDA CIVIL WAR
It was possible for the UPDF in alliance with militia groups against the LRA to have fought an aggressive war in a just manner. This would have involved following the provisions of the Geneva Convention on the protection of non-combatants, proportionality in the application of lethal force, proper treatment of POWs and observance of customary and positive rules of engagement. In the war against the LRA, the UPDF would execute attacks on vital communication links, arrest of collaborators and safeguard of civilian institutions and means of livelihood. And the LRA would target the UPDF military installations with clear rules of engagement, arrest partisans and protect the civilian population. But what were the conducts of warfare of the LRA and the UPDF in the northern Uganda civil war? THE LRA INSURGENCY STRATEGY
Along a military strategy similar to that of Museveni's NRM/A bush war in the 1980s against the late President Obote, the LRA military policy included the following strategies: [i] Forced abduction of children to be trained as soldiers: These children were very cruelly indoctrinated into the art of warfare. Female child soldiers suffered the most. They were forcibly raped and kept as concubines and sexual slaves for the commanders. The LRA atrocities are documented in Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and numerous newspaper reports. These atrocities are similar to that of Museveni from a firsthand account by a former NRM/A child soldier, China Keitetsi. In her book, Child Soldier: Fighting for My Life, she documents similar acts of brutality and sexual enslavement of abducted children and girls. In this regard, both Museveni and Kony's military recruitment strategies are similar. The logic of relying on child abduction for waging war between Kony and Museveni was equally similar. A surrendered senior LRA military commander confessed to his elders, "we were abducting children because we needed to keep fighting to survive since mature adults have refused to voluntarily enlist." This logic is similar to that of Museveni's NRM/A. Museveni defended the forced abduction of child soldiers in a BBC interview as necessary for the war, rhetorically asking, "What is this Geneva Convention you are talking about? I have never read it." and continued to defend it: "In our culture, children are trained to fight. It is normal." [ii] Demonstrative atrocities and destruction aimed at terrorizing non-combatant population into submission and non-cooperation with the others' enemy combatant forces. A former sergeant in the NRM/A observes that they use to execute or bind victims "kandoya" style (a very painful and debilitating form of punishment that often resulted in paralysis of victims hands). He emphasized that the goal was to deter cooperation with the defunct UNLA of the late President Obote. This is also similar to the LRA maiming of civilian population. A surrendered LRA soldier confessed: "we prohibited bicycling and maimed individuals believed to be collaborators with the UPDF. An Individual riding bicycle toward urban centers where the UPDF is located would quickly report our presence in villages, when we came to forcibly collect food. So we stopped bicycling when we are in the villages." As a security measure, the criminal logic of the NRM/A and the LRA atrocities are similar. Both leaders of the combatant groups, Museveni and Kony, must be indicted for committing crime against humanity. [iii] Targeting civilian vehicles. The LRA have targeted civilian vehicles and killed scores of civilians. This is similar to NRM/A targeting civilian vehicles on Kampala-Gulu road and killing scores of civilians as well. In attacking civilians, both Kony and Museveni employed similar tactics, committing crimes against humanity. With such a background, we need to assess the UPDF counter-insurgency strategy against the LRA in Acholiland. We must bear in mind that Museveni and the NRM/A regime vilified, demonized and made the Acholi people scapegoat for the deaths in Luwero. What influence has the demonization and scapegoat on the counter-insurgency policy? Part three continues |
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