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From: Ssemakula <[email protected]>
To: "[email protected]" <[email protected]>; unaanet
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"[email protected]" <[email protected]>; Baana
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Sent: Wednesday, October 26, 2011 9:17 PM
Subject: LRA: Will Obama's 100 make any difference?
AfricaBaobab
Uganda's Lord's Resistance Army
Can America make a difference?
Oct 21st 2011, 15:33 by J.B. | BAS-UELE, CONGO
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*
AS MONKEYS howl in the jungle canopy above, a weary Congolese army lieutenant
makes no secret of his frustration. Deployed to the isolated forests in a vast
north-eastern swathe of the Democratic Republic of Congo to hunt down Uganda's
rebel Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), his troops are short of ammunition and have
had no rations or pay for months. But his ire is reserved most of all for his
supposed allies, the Ugandan army. "It's a crooked war the Ugandans are
fighting with the LRA," he vents. "They have all the weapons in the world but
they’re not serious."
It has been almost three years since Uganda sent troops into Congo, South Sudan
and the Central African Republic to pursue their fanatical compatriots, but the
coalition’s performance to date has been dismal. Joseph Kony, the LRA’s
psychopathic leader, has eluded capture, as have his top commanders. The
rebels, meanwhile, have since slaughtered some 2,400 villagers and abducted at
least 3,400 more.
{Commentary by yours truly:
Sooo, if the UPDF is not in the Congo to fight Kony or lack the intestinal
fortitude to fight Kony,then what the heck are they doing in DRC? Why are we
paying them? Who gains from their presence in the DRC? Read on. js}
James Ssemakula
It was against this grim backdrop that the American administration says it will
send military advisers and backup staff numbering around 100 troops in all to
help co-ordinate the hunt for Mr Kony and his men. Though no guarantee of
success, this modest deployment may, it is hoped, salvage a mission on the
brink of failure.
Crippled from the start by a long history of bad blood, the Ugandan-dominated
coalition has been falling apart. South Sudan, newly independent and embattled,
has little stomach for fighting the LRA. The Central African Republic, with
virtually no army of its own, ordered Ugandan troops to withdraw from certain
areas last year, amid suspicions of diamond smuggling. And, though most of the
killings of civilians have occurred on its soil, Congo wants Ugandan troops to
pull out completely ahead of Congo’s presidential elections next month.
Renewed American backing for the operations may boost the coalition’s ebbing
morale and strengthen Washington’s diplomatic leverage with the reluctant
allies. Although American soldiers will not take a direct part in the fighting,
it is hoped that their presence will improve the behaviour of some local
forces, help with intelligence and bring some much-needed order to the effort.
"It’s a step in the right direction," says Anneke Van Woudenberg of Human
Rights Watch, a New York-based lobby that is one of several such groups
endorsing the move. "But if it’s not enough, they should be prepared to do
more."
There’s the rub. Barack Obama may well hesitate to send more than this limited
force if his Republican opponents continue to seize on the issue to criticise
him for embarking on what they say is another reckless foreign adventure. Rush
Limbaugh, an influential right-wing radio host, has pointed to the "Lord" in
LRA and complained that Mr Obama’s "invasion" of Uganda would "wipe out
Christians". And Senator John McCain, a former Republican presidential
candidate, has chimed in with warnings of a Vietnam-style quagmire.
Back in the jungle, the lieutenant says he’s received word that LRA fighters
are heading his way. But, since his unit has not been equipped with a radio,
it’s taken a day for a courier to bring the message from the next army
position. “They’re probably already here,” he says with a shrug.
http://www.economist.com/blogs/baobab/2011/10/ugandas-lords-resistance-army_______________________________________________
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