THIS CLEARLY SHOWS THERE IS A MUSVENI -KONY CONNECTION. So as they hunt for
Kony, they must not forget to establish the truth about who is who (how deep
is Museveni involved behind the scene)for the good of all Ugandans.
Best regards,
Nyar'Onyango
***********
----- Original Message -----
From: "Andy Mensah" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Sunday, February 08, 2004 11:25 AM
Subject: [unioNews] Uganda losing battle against children's army
Sunday, 8th February 2004
<H3>Uganda losing battle against children's army</H3>
DECLAN WALSH IN GULU
<B><i>THEY are the victims of a crazed and mysterious leader who has
inflicted misery on millions of Ugandans with his army of brainwashed
victims.</i></B>
For 18 years Joseph Kony and his Lord's Resistance Army have stolen
into villages in northern Uganda, snatching children from their homes
and frog marching them to training camps where they are beaten,
indoctrinated and handed a gun before being sent out to fight their
own people.
Now the International Criminal Court is to investigate what is one of
Africa's most bizarre yet tragic wars, headed by a man who appears to
have no other motivation than to see Uganda ruled by the Ten
Commandments and extreme violence.
The LRA has rendered northern Uganda a wasteland, with more than 80%
of the five million population in three districts - Gulu, Kitgum and
Pader - left displaced by conflict.
But the most sinister aspect of Kony's activities is represented by
the columns of young children, known as the "night commuters" who
make their way every night into the towns to sleep in shelters away
from his snatch squads who think nothing of butchering the children's
parents before spiriting them away.
As dusk fell Martha Fambi, 15, pressed towards Gulu town centre, her
two-year-old sister asleep on her back. "We are afraid to sleep at
home," she said, pausing under a line of mahogany trees. "The rebels
come at night looking for children. They want to abduct us."
Another 1,500 boys and girls, as young as three, crammed into barn-
like shelters built by Rural Focus Uganda, a local charity, sleeping
on the hard concrete floor like sardines, head to toe.
Some had walked 15 kilometres, and would rise at dawn to walk home
again. But the alternative - to stay at home and risk abduction - was
far worse.
Kenneth Ouma, a 12-year-old boy queuing for a blanket, said his
sister Susan had been abducted 18 months earlier. Since then the
family had been worried sick, imagining that she was being used as a
sex slave, a soldier, or worse. "We pray for her every day, morning
and evening," he said in a quiet voice.
Vicky Adoch, 18, fell victim to a surge in abductions two years ago.
In mid-2002 she was snatched from her home and brought to a training
camp in Sudan. During her forced training in the dusty camp, she made
an amazing discovery - her sister, Sunday.
The 23-year-old woman had been abducted seven years earlier. Now she
had become an LRA lieutenant and was married to another officer, with
whom she had a child. "She told me there was no way of escape," said
Vicky. She was wrong.
After a few months Vicky was caught in an army ambush and shot in the
head. She lost an eye but miraculously survived. She recovered and,
while out on patrol, managed to escape. "I wanted my sister to come.
But she couldn't leave the child behind," she said.
There is little sign of this extraordinary crisis in the capital,
Kampala, 200 kilometres to the south, where mobile phone billboards
and fast food joints line the streets, and street vendors sell racy
magazines packed with gossip. Here, the government of President
Yoweri Museveni - a major recipient of British aid - insists it is
close to defeating the LRA. But there are no obvious signs of this.
In 2001, the Ugandan army launched a drive, dubbed "Operation Iron
Fist", to rout the LRA from its bases in neighbouring Sudan, where
the fundamentalist regime of President Omar al Bashir has supplied
weapons and logistical support. But the offensive only drove the LRA
back into Uganda, where attacks on children dramatically increased.
Father Carlos Rodriguez Soto, a local Spanish missionary who has been
highlighting the children's plight, said: "It was dubbed a rescue
operation but 10,000 children have been abducted since then. So
obviously it's a huge failure."
But army spokesman Lt Paddy Ankunda described Iron Fist as
a "strategic success".
He said: "We dislodged the LRA and captured over $3m worth of
equipment. When you are fighting terrorism, you must do more than
just kill rebels."
The thorny reality of the counter-insurgency for the Ugandan army is
that it involves attacking an enemy force composed of 80% children.
Army helicopter gunships and MiG fighter planes lead the attacks but
cannot distinguish between hardened officers and fresh abductees.
According to a private survey by a local charity, the Ugandan army
claimed to have killed 966 rebels in 2003. The majority were probably
recent abductees.
"The army uses a policy of minimum force," said Lt Ankunda. "You have
to rescue those you can, and those who resist you let go."
But the difference between killer and victim is often blurred. Robert
Ojok, a muscular 15-year-old with cold, hard eyes, sat ramrod
straight at a children's centre in Gulu. Having been snatched from
his parents at the age of eight, Robert spent his formative years as
an LRA killer.
"There was a lot of bloodshed. We would run over the dead bodies like
stepping stones," he said in a deadpan voice, recalling his battles.
Robert is preparing to return to his family, but at night he wrestles
with terrible nightmares. "He thinks he can see the spirits of his
victims, coming to take revenge," said a social worker.
Locating and arresting Kony and the LRA leadership is now a priority
for the International Criminal Court, according to chief prosecutor
Luis Moreno Ocampo. "The court could help stop these kinds of
crimes," he said.
Amnesty International has hailed the move by the Hague-based court,
but local religious leaders such as Soto fear the manhunt could
prolong this exceptionally brutal conflict.
"[It] would practically close once and for all the path to peaceful
negotiation as a means to end this long war," he said. Only
negotiation - not military might - will end Uganda's tragic
rebellion, he added. "We need to get the international community
involved - now."
Back at the "night commuter" shelter, aid worker Jessica Ochirowijok
could see no end in sight. "We are just crossing the river, but we
don't know if the bridge is broken or not," she said.
Then Ochirowijok took off on her rounds, checking on the small army
of frightened lodgers bedding down for the night.
©2004 Scotsman.com
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