Uganda Watch

Uganda's Museveni on Libya's Gaddafi and the West

2011-03-25T14:01:00.012Z

Yoweri K. Museveni is President of the Republic of Uganda. This article was originally published in Uganda’s New Vision newspaper. Full copy:

From: www.zimbabwejournalists.com
First published: Friday, 25 March 2011; 11:37 GMT

Museveni on Gaddafi and the West
By President Yoweri Museveni, Uganda

BY THE time Muammar Gaddaffi came to power in 1969, I was a third-year university student at Dar-es-Salaam. We welcomed him because he was in the tradition of Col. Gamal Abdul Nasser of Egypt who had a nationalist and pan-Arabist position.

Soon, however, problems cropped up with Col. Gaddafi as far as Uganda and Black Africa were concerned. Idi Amin came to power with the support of Britain and Israel because they thought he was uneducated enough to be used by them. Amin, however, turned against his sponsors when they refused to sell him guns to fight Tanzania.

Unfortunately, Col. Muammar Gaddafi, without getting enough information about Uganda, jumped in to support Idi Amin. This was because Amin was a ‘Moslem’ and Uganda was a ‘Moslem country’ where Moslems were being ‘oppressed’ by Christians. Amin killed a lot of people extra-judicially and Gaddafi was identified with these mistakes.

In 1972 and 1979, Gaddafi sent Libyan troops to defend Idi Amin when we attacked him. I remember a Libyan Tupolev 22 bomber trying to bomb us in Mbarara in 1979. The bomb ended up in Nyarubanga because the pilots were scared. They could not come close to bomb properly. We had already shot-down many Amin MIGs using surface-to-air missiles.

The Tanzanian brothers and sisters were doing much of this fighting. Many Libyan militias were captured and repatriated to Libya by Tanzania. This was a big mistake by Gaddafi and a direct aggression against the people of Uganda and East Africa.

The second big mistake by Gaddafi was his position vis-à-vis the African Union (AU) Continental Government “now”. Since 1999, he has been pushing this position. Black people are always polite. They, normally, do not want to offend other people. This is called ‘obufura’ in Runyankore, mwolo in Luo – handling, especially strangers, with care and respect.

It seems some of the non-African cultures do not have ‘obufura’. You can witness a person talking to a mature person as if he or she is talking to a kindergarten child. “You should do this; you should do that; etc.”

We tried to politely point out to Col. Gaddafi that this was difficult in the short and medium term. We should, instead, aim at the Economic Community of Africa and, where possible, also aim at Regional Federations. Col. Gaddafi would not relent. He would not respect the rules of the AU. Something that has been covered by previous meetings would be resurrected by Gaddafi. He would ‘overrule’ a decision taken by all other African Heads of State. Some of us were forced to come out and oppose his wrong position and, working with others, we repeatedly defeated his illogical position.

The third mistake has been the tendency by Col. Gaddafi to interfere in the internal affairs of many African countries using the little money Libya has compared to those countries. One blatant example was his involvement with cultural leaders of Black Africa – kings, chiefs, etc. Since the political leaders of Africa had refused to back his project of an African Government, Gaddafi, incredibly, thought that he could by-pass them and work with these kings to implement his wishes.

I warned Gaddafi in Addis Ababa that action would be taken against any Ugandan king that involved himself in politics because it was against our Constitution. I moved a motion in Addis Ababa to expunge from the records of the AU all references to kings (cultural leaders) who had made speeches in our forum because they had been invited there illegally by Col. Gaddafi.

The fourth big mistake was by most of the Arab leaders, including Gaddafi to some extent. This was in connection with the long suffering people of Southern Sudan. Many of the Arab leaders either supported or ignored the suffering of the black people in that country. This unfairness always created tension and friction between us and the Arabs, including Gaddafi to some extent.

However, I must salute H.E. Gaddafi and H.E. Hosni Mubarak for travelling to Khartoum just before the Referendum in Sudan and advising H.E. Bashir to respect the results of that exercise.

Sometimes Gaddafi and other Middle Eastern radicals do not distance themselves sufficiently from terrorism even when they are fighting for a just cause. Terrorism is the use of indiscriminate violence – not distinguishing between military and non-military targets. The Middle Eastern radicals, quite different from the revolutionaries of black Africa, seem to say that any means is acceptable as long as you are fighting the enemy. That is why they hijack planes, use assassinations, plant bombs in bars, etc. Why bomb bars? People who go to bars are normally merry-makers, not politically-minded people.

We were together with the Arabs in the anti-colonial struggle. The black African liberation movements, however, developed differently from the Arab ones. Where we used arms, we fought soldiers or sabotaged infrastructure but never targeted non-combatants. These indiscriminate methods tend to isolate the struggles of the Middle East and the Arab world. It would be good if the radicals in these areas could streamline their work methods in this area of using violence indiscriminately.

These five points above are some of the negative points in connection to Col. Gaddafi as far as Uganda’s patriots have been concerned over the years. These positions of Col. Gaddafi have been unfortunate and unnecessary.

Nevertheless, Gaddafi has also had many positive points objectively speaking. These positive points have been in favour of Africa, Libya and the Third World. I will deal with them point by point.

Col. Gaddafi has been having an independent foreign policy and, of course, also independent internal policies. I am not able to understand the position of Western countries which appear to resent independent-minded leaders and seem to prefer puppets. Puppets are not good for any country.

Most of the countries that have transitioned from Third World to First World status since 1945 have had independent-minded leaders: South Korea (Park Chung-hee), Singapore (Lee Kuan Yew), China People’s Republic (Mao Tse Tung, Chou Enlai, Deng Xiaoping, Marshal Yang Shangkun, Li Peng, Jiang Zemin, Hu Jing Tao, etc), Malaysia (Dr. Mahthir Mohamad), Brazil (Lula Da Silva), Iran (the Ayatollahs), etc.

Between the First World War and the Second World War, the Soviet Union transitioned into an Industrial country propelled by the dictatorial but independent-minded Joseph Stalin. In Africa, we have benefited from a number of independent-minded leaders: Col. Nasser of Egypt, Mwalimu Nyerere of Tanzania, Samora Machel of Mozambique, etc. That is how Southern Africa was liberated. That is how we got rid of Idi Amin. The stopping of genocide in Rwanda and the overthrow of Mobutu, etc., were as a result of efforts of independent-minded African leaders.

Muammar Gaddafi, whatever his faults, is a true nationalist. I prefer nationalists to puppets of foreign interests. Where have the puppets caused the transformation of countries? I need some assistance with information on this from those who are familiar with puppetry. Therefore, the independent-minded Gaddafi had some positive contribution to Libya, I believe, as well as Africa and the Third World.

I will take one little example. At the time we were fighting the criminal dictatorships here in Uganda, we had a problem arising of a complication caused by our failure to capture enough guns at Kabamba on February 6, 1981. Gaddafi gave us a small consignment of 96 rifles, 100 anti-tank mines, etc., that was very useful. He did not consult Washington or Moscow before he did this. This was good for Libya, for Africa and for the Middle East. We should also remember as part of that independent-mindedness he expelled British and American military bases from Libya, etc.

Before Gaddafi came to power in 1969, a barrel of oil was 40 American cents. He launched a campaign to withhold Arab oil unless the West paid more for it. I think the price went up to US$20 per barrel. When the Arab-Israel war of 1973 broke out, the barrel of oil went to US$40.

I am, therefore, surprised to hear that many oil producers in the world, including the Gulf countries, do not appreciate the historical role played by Gaddafi on this issue. The huge wealth many of these oil producers are enjoying was, at least in part, due to Gaddafi’s efforts. The Western countries have continued to develop in spite of paying more for oil. It, therefore, means that the pre-Gaddafi oil situation was characterised by super exploitation in favour of the Western countries.

I have never taken time to investigate socio-economic conditions within Libya. When I was last there, I could see good roads even from the air. From the TV pictures, you can even see the rebels zooming up and down in pick-up vehicles on very good roads accompanied by Western journalists. Who built these good roads? Who built the oil refineries in Brega and those other places where the fighting has been taking place recently? Were these facilities built during the time of the king and his American as well as British allies or were they built by Gaddafi?

In Tunisia and Egypt, some youths immolated (burnt) themselves because they had failed to get jobs. Are the Libyans without jobs also? If so, why, then, are there hundreds of thousands of foreign workers? Is Libya’s policy of providing so many jobs to Third World workers bad? Are all the children going to school in Libya? Was that the case in the past – before Gaddafi? Is the conflict in Libya economic or purely political?

Possibly, Libya could have transitioned more if they encouraged the private sector more. However, this is something the Libyans are better placed to judge. As it is, Libya is a middle income country with GDP standing at US$89.03 billion. This is about the same as the GDP of South Africa at the time Mandela took over leadership in 1994 and it is about the current size of GDP of Spain.

Gaddafi is one of the few secular leaders in the Arab world. He does not believe in Islamic fundamentalism that is why women have been able to go to school, to join the army, etc. This is a positive point on Gaddafi’s side.

Coming to the present crisis, therefore, we need to point out some issues. The first issue is to distinguish between demonstrations and insurrections. Peaceful demonstrations should not be fired on with live bullets. Of course, even peaceful demonstrations should coordinate with the police to ensure that they do not interfere with the rights of other citizens.

When rioters are, however, attacking police stations and army barracks with the aim of taking power, then, they are no longer demonstrators; they are insurrectionists. They will have to be treated as such. A responsible government would have to use reasonable force to neutralise them. Of course, the ideal responsible government should also be an elected one by the people at periodic intervals.

If there is a doubt about the legitimacy of a government and the people decide to launch an insurrection, that should be the decision of the internal forces. It should not be for external forces to arrogate themselves that role, often, they do not have enough knowledge to decide rightly. Excessive external involvement always brings terrible distortions. Why should external forces involve themselves? That is a vote of no confidence in the people themselves.

A legitimate internal insurrection, if that is the strategy chosen by the leaders of that effort, can succeed. The Shah of Iran was defeated by an internal insurrection; the Russian Revolution in 1917 was an internal insurrection; the Revolution in Zanzibar in 1964 was an internal insurrection; the changes in Ukraine, Georgia, etc., all were internal insurrections. It should be for the leaders of the Resistance in that country to decide their strategy, not for foreigners to sponsor insurrection groups in sovereign countries.

I am totally allergic to foreign, political and military involvement in sovereign countries, especially the African countries. If foreign intervention is good, then, African countries should be the most prosperous countries in the world because we have had the greatest dosages of that: slave trade, colonialism, neo-colonialism, imperialism, etc.

All those foreign-imposed phenomena have, however, been disastrous. It is only recently that Africa is beginning to come up partly because of rejecting external meddling. External meddling and the acquiescence by Africans into that meddling have been responsible for the stagnation in Africa.

The wrong definition of priorities in many of the African countries is, in many cases, imposed by external groups. Failure to prioritise infrastructure, for instance, especially energy, is, in part, due to some of these pressures. Instead, consumption is promoted.

I have witnessed this wrong definition of priorities even here in Uganda. External interests linked up, for instance, with internal bogus groups to oppose energy projects for false reasons. How will an economy develop without energy? Quislings and their external backers do not care about all this.

If you promote foreign-backed insurrections in small countries like Libya, what will you do with the big ones like China which has got a different system from the Western systems? Are you going to impose a no-fly-zone over China in case of some internal insurrections as happened in Tiananmen Square, in Tibet or in Urumuqi?

The Western countries always use double standards. In Libya, they are very eager to impose a no-fly-zone. In Bahrain and other areas where there are pro-Western regimes, they turn a blind eye to the very same conditions or even worse conditions.

We have been appealing to the UN to impose a no-fly-zone over Somalia so as to impede the free movement of terrorists, linked to Al-Qaeda that killed Americans on September 11; killed Ugandans last July and have caused so much damage to the Somalis, without success. Why? Are there no human beings in Somalia similar to the ones in Benghazi? Or is it because Somalia does not have oil which is not fully controlled by the western oil companies on account of Gaddafi’s nationalist posture?

The Western countries are always very prompt in commenting on every problem in the Third World – Egypt, Tunisia, Libya, etc. Yet, some of these very countries were the ones impeding growth in those countries. There was a military coup d’état that slowly became a Revolution in backward Egypt in 1952. The new leader, Nasser, had ambition to cause transformation in Egypt. He wanted to build a dam not only to generate electricity but also to help with the ancient irrigation system of Egypt. He was denied money by the West because they did not believe that Egyptians needed electricity.

Nasser decided to raise that money by nationalising the Suez Canal. He was attacked by Israel, France and Britain. To be fair to the USA, President Eisenhower opposed that aggression that time. Of course, there was also the firm stand of the Soviet Union at that time. How much electricity was this dam supposed to produce? Just 2,000 mgws for a country like Egypt!! What moral right, then, do such people have to comment on the affairs of these countries?

Another negative point is going to arise out of the by now habit of the Western countries over-using their superiority in technology to impose war on less developed societies without impeachable logic. This will be the igniting of an arms race in the world. The actions of the Western countries in Iraq and now Libya are emphasising that might is “right.” I am quite sure that many countries that are able will scale up their military research, and in a few decades we may have a more armed world.

This weapons science is not magic. A small country like Israel is now a super power in terms of military technology. Yet 60 years ago, Israel had to buy second-hand fouga magister planes from France. There are many countries that can become small Israels if this trend of overusing military means by the Western countries continues.

All this notwithstanding, Col. Gaddafi should be ready to sit down with the opposition, through the mediation of the AU, with the opposition cluster of groups which now includes individuals well known to us – Ambassador Abdalla, Dr. Zubeda, etc.

I know Gaddafi has his system of elected committees that end up in a National People’s Conference. Actually Gaddafi thinks this is superior to our multi-party systems. Of course, I have never had time to know how truly competitive this system is. Anyway, even if it is competitive, there is now, apparently, a significant number of Libyans that think that there is a problem in Libya in terms of governance. Since there has not been internationally observed elections in Libya, not even by the AU, we cannot know what is correct and what is wrong. Therefore, a dialogue is the correct way forward.

The AU mission could not get to Libya because the Western countries started bombing Libya the day before they were supposed to arrive. However, the mission will continue. My opinion is that, in addition, to what the AU mission is doing, it may be important to call an extra-ordinary Summit of the AU in Addis Ababa to discuss this grave situation.

Regarding the Libyan opposition, I would feel embarrassed to be backed by Western war planes because quislings of foreign interests have never helped Africa. We have had a copious supply of them in the last 50 years – Mobutu, Houphout Boigny, Kamuzu Banda, etc. The West made a lot of mistakes in Africa and in the Middle East in the past. Apart from the slave trade and colonialism, they participated in the killing of Lumumba, until recently, the only elected leader of Congo, the killing of Felix Moummie of Cameroon, Bartholomew Boganda of Central African Republic, the support for UNITA in Angola, the support for Idi Amin at the beginning of his regime, the counter-revolution in Iran in 1953, etc.

Recently, there has been some improvement in the arrogant attitudes of some of these Western countries. Certainly, with black Africa and, particularly, Uganda, the relations are good following their fair stand on the black people of Southern Sudan. With the democratisation of South Africa and the freedom of the black people in Southern Sudan, the difference between the patriots of Uganda and the Western governments had disappeared. Unfortunately, these rush actions on Libya are beginning to raise new problems. They should be resolved quickly.

Therefore, if the Libyan opposition groups are patriots, they should fight their war by themselves and conduct their affairs by themselves. After all, they easily captured so much equipment from the Libyan army, why do they need foreign military support? I only had 27 rifles. To be puppets is not good.

The African members of the Security Council voted for this Resolution of the Security Council. This was contrary to what the Africa Peace and Security Council had decided in Addis Ababa recently. This is something that only the extra-ordinary summit can resolve.

It was good that certain big countries in the Security Council abstained on this Resolution. These were: Russia, China, Brazil, India, etc. This shows that there are balanced forces in the world that will, with more consultations, evolve more correct positions.

Being members of the UN, we are bound by the Resolution that was passed, however rash the process. Nevertheless, there is a mechanism for review. The Western countries, which are most active in these rash actions, should look at that route. It may be one way of extricating all of us from possible nasty complications.

What if the Libyans loyal to Gaddafi decide to fight on? Using tanks and planes that are easily targeted by Mr. Sarkozy’s planes is not the only way of fighting. Who will be responsible for such a protracted war? It is high time we did more careful thinking.

Global Voices Syria: Internet Users Race to Support Egyptian Protesters

2011-01-28T02:13:00.000Z

Click here for Global Voices special coverage of Egypt Protests 2011.

Uganda: Surely, we are not as simplistic as the Tunisians; are we? (column) - North Africa: Dispirited Arabs burning for change (analysis)

2011-01-24T12:25:00.012Z

In the past week, nearly two dozen attempted self-immolations have been reported across the Arab world, three of them fatal.

The horrifying public suicide attempts echo the iconic act of Mohamed Bouazizi, a 26-year-old Tunisian who set himself on fire in mid-December after police confiscated the produce cart he was using to make a living. Bouazizi died weeks later of his burns, but his desperate act triggered protests that eventually led Tunisian president Zine Al-Abdine Ben Ali to flee the North African country he had ruled with an iron fist for 23 years.

On Jan. 15, one day after the fall of Ben Ali, a 37-year-old Algerian man died after setting himself alight. Since then, at least 22 attempted self- immolations have been reported in Algeria, Mauritania, Morocco, Saudi Arabia and Egypt.

"The self-immolations appear to be political acts," says Michael Biggs, a sociologist at Oxford University. "These people may have personal grievances, but they're clearly attributing those grievances to the political system. They may be thinking that 'if Bouazizi can set himself on fire and precipitate a massive, popular uprising then why can't I to resolve my problem?'"

According to Biggs, incidents in which protestors deliberately set themselves on fire are extremely rare, "but much less rare than people might think."

Since the 1960s, over 1,000 cases of self-immolation have been recorded in more than 25 countries worldwide. It often occurs in waves and is most prevalent in India, Vietnam and South Korea, which account for more than half of all cases.

Read more below, in four articles, courtesy of The Norwegian Council for Africa - www.afrika.no

North Africa: Dispirited Arabs burning for change (analysis)
Inter Press Service (IPS), by Cam Mcgrath
Monday, 24 January 2011

Cairo (Egypt) — Upset over a policy that prevented him from buying subsidised food, Egyptian restaurant owner Abdou Abdel Moneim travelled to Cairo to find someone in parliament to help.

When security officers prevented him from submitting his complaint to MPs entering parliament, the 49-year-old man doused himself in fuel and cursed the Egyptian regime as he disappeared into a ball of fire.

Abdel Moneim survived with severe burns to his legs and face, but by the end of the day similar incidents had occurred in three different North African countries. In the past week, nearly two dozen attempted self-immolations have been reported across the Arab world, three of them fatal.

The horrifying public suicide attempts echo the iconic act of Mohamed Bouazizi, a 26-year-old Tunisian who set himself on fire in mid-December after police confiscated the produce cart he was using to make a living. Bouazizi died weeks later of his burns, but his desperate act triggered protests that eventually led Tunisian president Zine Al-Abdine Ben Ali to flee the North African country he had ruled with an iron fist for 23 years.

Analysts say the Tunisian revolt has resonated with millions of Arabs living under repressive regimes who are frustrated with their difficult economic conditions and limited opportunities to improve their lot. Many are drawing parallels to the situation in their own country, and wondering if a similar uprising will take place.

It's not surprising then that the heroic story of a vegetable seller whose horrific yet spectacular death brought down a tyrant has taken on an almost legendary flavour. But it may also be inspiring more tragic stories.

On Jan. 15, one day after the fall of Ben Ali, a 37-year-old Algerian man died after setting himself alight. Since then, at least 22 attempted self- immolations have been reported in Algeria, Mauritania, Morocco, Saudi Arabia and Egypt.

The suspected motive behind each incident has varied. One man was protesting corruption and injustice, another was reportedly upset at being unable to secure cheap housing, and two textile workers objected to their employer's decision to transfer them to other departments.

"The self-immolations appear to be political acts," says Michael Biggs, a sociologist at Oxford University. "These people may have personal grievances, but they're clearly attributing those grievances to the political system. They may be thinking that 'if Bouazizi can set himself on fire and precipitate a massive, popular uprising then why can't I to resolve my problem?'"

According to Biggs, incidents in which protestors deliberately set themselves on fire are extremely rare, "but much less rare than people might think."

Since the 1960s, over 1,000 cases of self-immolation have been recorded in more than 25 countries worldwide. It often occurs in waves and is most prevalent in India, Vietnam and South Korea, which account for more than half of all cases.

There are examples of Kurdish nationalists setting themselves on fire during protests in Europe in the 1990s, but until now the practice has not been common in the Muslim world, possibly due to Islam's strong prohibition of both suicide and cremation.

"It's mostly an Eastern practice. In Buddhism and Hinduism burning has a more sacred character and is an accepted form of disposing of dead bodies, so it's not the terrible thing as we think of it in Christian and Muslim religious traditions," Biggs told IPS.

The spectacle of a fiery death can be highly effective in focusing world attention on a cause or injustice. A photograph of Thich Quang Duc, the elderly Buddhist monk who immolated himself in the middle of a busy intersection in Saigon in 1963, became one of the iconic images of the Vietnam War. It was also instrumental in turning the tide of U.S. public opinion against the war.

The brutal act of setting oneself on fire usually elicits reactions of shock and horror, but also sympathy, Biggs explains. It has been utilised as a political form of protest by South Korean labour activists, Czechs opposed to Soviet occupation, and by upper-caste Indians, among others.

"Bouazizi's is probably the most successful example," he says. "The Tunisian government fell very quickly because his one action inspired many other people to go into the streets. It was also successful in South Vietnam in the 1960s, but it took five months and six monks and a nun to die before the regime was overthrown."

The historical efficacy of self-immolation protests may be one reason Arab officials and state media have attempted to portray the series of "copycat" suicide attempts as the non-political acts of opportunistic and mentally unstable individuals.

"Suicide has become a fad and is being used for blackmail," declared Egyptian state-run newspaper Al-Akhbar, deriding a man who reportedly threatened to set himself on fire after his request for public housing was repeatedly turned down.

Arab governments have appealed to religious leaders to stress Islam's injunctions against suicide in order to discourage Muslim youth from taking their own life. Imams at state-monitored mosques in Egypt and Algeria condemned self-immolation during their weekly sermons on Friday, claiming suicidal thoughts stemmed from a lack of faith.

Al-Azhar, the highest authority in Sunni Islam, issued a statement last week reaffirming that suicide violates Islam even when it is carried out as a social or political protest.

"Islam categorically forbids suicide for any reason and does not accept the separation of souls from bodies as an expression of stress, anger or protest," its spokesman said.

Sheikh Yusuf Al-Qaradawi, the spiritual leader of Egypt's outlawed Muslim Brotherhood, had a different take on the state-endorsed message. In a statement the influential cleric urged Arab youth to honour the sanctity of life, blaming repressive regimes for conditions that have driven them to despair.

"Dear young men, take care of your life because it is a great bounty from Allah, and do not set yourself on fire as it is the tyrants who should burn. Be patient, endure and be steadfast. Tomorrow will come soon enough."

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Uganda: Surely, we are not as simplistic as the Tunisians; are we? (column)
The Monitor (Uganda), by Fredrick M. Masiga*
Monday, 24 January 2011

Kampala (Uganda) - Life sometimes brings along very strange coincidences and you cannot help but wonder if some of these parallels are accidental or could be interpreted as merely fateful coincidences. The events unfolding in Ivory Coast and Tunisia in the last few weeks draw a familiar line or might have a futuristic similarity to Uganda.

Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali is the disgraced former president of Tunisia. He fled the country after a 'protracted' mass revolt that started off from the flimsiest of events. A Tunisian fruits and vegetable vendor, Mohamed Bouazizi, who was accosted by local municipal council authorities, decided he had had enough with the authorities and decided to torch himself. He did not live long enough to witness that his callous act led to the ouster of Ben Ali who has ruled the country for 23 years.

Twenty six-year-old Bouazizi, like many of his youthful countrymates, woke up on the day to go out in the streets to fend for his family. He was evicted from the streets, his cart, his only means of survival was impounded, he was beaten by authorities, and his attempts to get redress from higher authorities were met with a thick wall of bureaucracy.

What drove this young man to commit what has become a celebrated act of crime in most of the Arab North Africa was not an act of cowardice rather the futility of life in a police state deficient of various freedoms and where the State has failed to provide employment and food for its people.

Some quarters in Uganda have discussed similarities of life in Tunisia to Uganda's. That the level of unemployment is high yet more and more graduates continue to be delivered from the various institutions of higher learning.

In his 23 years at the helm, Ben Ali has organised only three presidential elections and one constitutional referendum in 2002 in which not the presidential term limits were removed but the maximum term limits for a president was moved from 70 to 75 years which ironically is how old Ben Ali is now.

There were fears he would seek to return in the country's presidential elections in 2014 but first he was preparing to revisit the constitution to amend the age issue. Only now have the vast wealth of the Tunisian first family come to light to the rest of the world. Amid all the chaos, Madam Ben Ali was still able to pack up gold and other expensive metals worth $1.5 billion. But the question that many Tunisians, and Ugandans can ask the same, is how would one family accumulate wealth so much that even at the delicate one moment of total national madness they are still able to almost grab ($1.5b) and run with it?

Ben Ali's flight has thrown the country into an unexpected situation of economic woes. An economic crisis is looming with further unemployment expected because the family is said to own more than half of the large businesses that employ most urban Tunisians. The family owns businesses in real estate, financial institutions, leisure and hospitality, media and various manufacturing outfits.

Tunisia is going to its knees because a family has left under such circumstances such as Ben Ali's, the question being asked are embarrassing and point to a nation that slept while its leader implemented kitchen economic policies.

With a promise of an oil economy in the pipeline, Ugandans need to watch who is getting into the oil industry and how the oil revenue will be shared. An oil policy that is transparent and takes care of individual and national interests of Ugandans would be a positive point to start from.

Come February 18, we shall be more concerned about who, among the presidential candidates, will refuse rather than accept the results of the elections. I doubt we want somebody to do a Cote d'Ivoire here but more than half a century of politics after African countries received independence from their colonial masters, nothing is surprising anymore.

Ugandans, even with all the accolades they have of life and fun-loving people, as a people are very hypocritical individuals and therefore their real emotions and thoughts are most times shrouded in falsehood. So, a Cote d'Ivoire or a Tunisia could be the jinx embedded beneath our skin.

* Mr Masiga is the managing editor - Weekend editions of the Monitor Publications Ltd.

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Tunisia: To the tyrants of the Arab world...(opinion)
Al Jazeera, by Lamis Andoni (http://english.aljazeera.net/)
Monday, 17 January 2011
The Tunisian uprising, which succeeded in toppling Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, the Tunisian president, has brought down the walls of fear, erected by repression and marginalisation, thus restoring the Arab peoples' faith in their ability to demand social justice and end tyranny. Click here to read full article at www.afrika.no.
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Tunisia: The wombs of African women will fell dictators and bring freedom (opinion)
The East African (Kenya), by Charles Onyango-Abbo
Monday, 17 January 2011
Nairobi (Kenya) - We have just seen something we haven’t witnessed in a North African, or Arab, country for donkey years. Click here to read full article at www.afrika.no

Al-Shabab and Al-Qaeda: Playing Americans for suckers - Clooney Falling Into Bin Laden’s Sudan Trap

2011-01-03T23:51:00.015Z

Al-Shabab and Al-Qaeda: Playing Americans for suckers
Source: Michael Scheuer's Non-Intervention.com
Author: Michael Scheuer
Published: 15 July, 2010. Full copy (excluding 4 Comments):

The suicide bombing in Uganda’s capital of Kampala by the Somali Islamist group al-Shabab serves several agendas. While the facile and clueless Western media call it an “anti-World Cup attack” and the lame Obama White House says it proves al-Qaeda’s “racism” toward Africans, the reality is that from al-Sahbab’s perspective the attack is a logical and necessary response to the prolonged U.S.- and Western-backed intervention in Somalia. (How long, one wonders, will it take U.S. and Western officials to learn people don’t like being occupied?) The Kampala attack also is another episode in al-Qaeda’s ongoing campaign to lure the United States into more interventions in the Muslim world.

At the most basic level, there would be no al-Shabab in Somalia — at least not at its present strength, reach, and popularity — if Washington had not panicked several years ago at the thought of an Islamist organization known as the “Islamic Courts” taking power in Somalia. The Islamic Courts’ had all but displaced a feckless, corruption-ridden UN-backed Transitional Federal Government (TFG), and was beginning to bring a harsh but effective law-and-order system to Somalia for the first time in decades. Under President Bush, however, Washington could not stand the thought of a working Islamic government and so labored overtly and covertly for its demise.

Ultimately, Washington supported Ethiopia’s late-2006 invasion of Somalia without thinking through that it would henceforth be seen as the sponsor of Christian Ethiopia’s invasion of Muslim Somalia. The invasion turned Somalis of most factions against the interloping Christian occupiers. The large and better-armed Ethiopian conventional forces prevailed, broke up what was left of the Islamic Courts, and protected the UN-backed TFG, which now appeared even more as the imposed creature of hostile Christian countries. The Ethiopians fought a growing guerrilla war against the Somali militias and insurgents until casualties became too heavy and Addis Ababa decided to withdraw its forces. The African Union then acted to supply the 5,000 military personnel from Uganda and Burundi who now are the peacekeepers and TFG-protectors in the capital of Mogadishu.

The sum of this complicated story is that al-Shabab was born, developed quickly, and now appears to have the manpower, political savvy, and military wherewithal to compete for control of much of the central and southern portions of Somalia. Al-Shabab’s quick evolution is the result of several factors, including foreign occupation, which historically radicalizes Somalia’s usually moderate form of Islam, and the availability of help from al-Qaeda, especially in the form of veteran fighters, who offer training and a leaven of combat experience, and media operatives whose expertise has dramatically improved the quality of al-Shabab media capabilities during the past two years. In addition, a substantial inflow of aid from Arab Peninsula countries who are nominally U.S. “allies” has allowed al-Shabab and other Somali Islamists to deliver food and health services to destitute Somalis and improve their weaponry.

Having helped destroy the less radical Islamic Courts regime and still backing the moribund TFG, Washington now confronts the potential of al-Shabab controlling two thirds of Somalia and — after the Uganda bombing — the specter of the group slowly destabilizing heretofore reliably pro-U.S. regimes in Ethiopia, Kenya, and elsewhere in East Africa.

Neither Ethiopia nor Kenya is as stable as it was before the Islamic Courts were destroyed. Ethiopia paid a high price for its invasion and occupation of Somalia not only in terms of funds and lives, but in earning the durable enmity of Somali Muslims and their Islamist allies in Africa and overseas. Kenya has likewise earned al-Shabab’s wrath for supporting the corrupt TFG regime and for its willingness to host the dozen or more UN agencies and multiple Western NGOs who are operating in Somalia with intentions that are perceived by many Somalis as anti-Islamic.

And here is where al-Qaeda is luring the United States into another potentially disastrous intervention. Even though it has expended a minimum and mainly media-focused effort to support al-Shabab, Washington’s abject fear of al-Qaeda — notwithstanding Obama’s cocky and denigrating words about the group — has made bin Laden’s al-Shabab ally a primary U.S. target and therefore yet another vehicle for luring America into an expensive fight on Muslim territory.

Even before all the causalities from the bombing were counted, for example, the FBI had sent investigators to the “crime scene” in Kampala — as if the Ugandans need help from the helpless — and yesterday Rudyard Obama said he would “redouble” U.S. efforts in Somalia, which certainly means more U.S. military involvement there and the pouring of more taxpayer money into the maw of the corrupt-to-the-bone TFG. And as it becomes clear that Ethiopian and Kenyan security are also threatened by al-Shabab, those countries too will be the recipients of Mr. Obama’s resolute eagerness to dig us ever deeper into expensive, Bush-like foreign adventures.

Overall, Bush and Obama took a problem that was on the periphery of top U.S. security issues and through mindlessness and intervention made it an agent of destabilization in East Africa and a growing drain on U.S. resources. Renewed U.S. efforts against al-Shabab, together with Washington’s efforts to undermine the Muslim government of Sudan and get U.S. military forces involved in the irrelevant-to-America Darfur civil war, will again do al-Qaeda’s work for it by validating for Muslims bin Laden’s claim that Washington intends to destroy all Muslim regimes except those of the Arab tyrants who supply oil to the United States and its allies.

Years ago Osama bin Laden said something akin to: “All we need to do is send two mujahedin anywhere on earth to wave a flag that has ‘al-Qaeda’ on it and the Americans will arrive the next day with their troops and an open wallet.” As Obama hungrily gobbles down this latest lure from al-Qaeda, one can only think that there truly is a sucker born every minute.
[End of copy]

- - -

Further Reading

Clooney Falling Into Bin Laden’s Sudan Trap
Source: FOX News - http://nation.foxnews.com
Date: Monday, 03 January 2011. Full copy (excluding 271 Comments):

With the U.S. government and such scintillating strategic thinkers as George Clooney, Don Cheadle, Angelina Jolie, and Mia Farrow in the lead, the West is about to help rip Darfur and the rest of Muslim Sudan's oil-rich southern territories out of the country and create an independent, largely Christian state.

Under the guise of a "referendum" (set for 9 January 2011) that will be observed by a 110-person European Union team of imperial busybodies, Sudan's primarily Christian south will be severed from the Sudanese nation-state, setting the stage for a continuation of the decades old Muslim-Christian Sudanese civil war. The difference will be that henceforth - as is occurring in Somalia - the U.S. and the West will be obliged to protect the new nation they created by theft and oil lust with diplomacy, funding, arms, military training, and eventually troops.

And what is America's interest in becoming involved to the hilt and inextricably in Sudan? What is so vital to the United States in Sudan that President Obama is pressing the leaders of Chad, Egypt, Ethiopia, Kenya, Nigeria, Rwanda, South Africa, and the other states of the African Union to support "our intense interest in having a successful referendum" - read that as "our intense interest in carving up Sudan to suit our imperial purposes and corner access to Sudanese oil." (As an aside, one must admit Rudyard Obama is nothing if not an aggressive proponent of improving - that is, "Westernizing" - the lives of "our little brown brothers," although the blatant theft of Islamic land is a rather odd component for the kinder and more gentle "Muslim outreach program" Obama announced in Cairo and Jakarta.)

The answer is that Obama, our bipartisan political elite, the mainstream media, and the rich, immature, libertine, and anti-U.S. Hollywood set lead by Clooney, et al, want to feel good about themselves by doing "good" for foreigners. For these elite U.S. citizens-of-the-world, ordinary Americans and their kids can starve, freeze, live on the streets, fail to find work, and remain illiterate forever. In essence, they can rot while Washington spends their taxes on Darfur - a place where absolutely no genuine U.S. interest is at stake.

Now, that's a bit harsh and in one aspect even wrong. The Democrats and Republicans must ensure that ordinary Americans are kept well-off enough to keep having children who will join the U.S. military that will be used to fight the wars their interventionism start. And there can be no doubt that Washington's leading role in championing Darfur's secession from Sudan will intensify America's war with Islam and the evolving Islam-vs-Christianity war in Africa. And, not surprisingly, the ever-adept Osama bin Laden began setting this trap for the United States over the course of the last decade.

Bin Laden, Ayman al-Zawahiri, and Abu Yaha al-Libi, one of al-Qaeda's leading theologians, have spoken publicly and on multiple occasions about Washington's intention to intervene in Somalia and Sudan to halt the spread of Sunni Islam in the Horn of Africa; to eliminate the Islamic regime in Sudan; to champion the spread of Christianity in Africa; and to ensure Sudan's massive oil reserves are in pro-U.S. hands. Obama's administration, with full Republican support, is about to make these three al-Qaeda leaders appear omniscient to the Muslim world.

READ THE FULL STORY AT NON-INTERVENTION.COM [By Michael Scheuer entitled "U.S. intervention in Sudan and Somalia: Sowing war’s whirlwind for Americans" published Wednesday, 29 December 2010]

- - -

Postscript from Uganda Watch editor
Note the following copy of two quotations published in the sidebar of Michael Scheuer's Non-Intervention.com:

My policy has been and will continue to be ... to be on friendly terms with, but independent of, all nations on earth. To share in the broils of none. To supply their wants, and be carriers for them all; being thoroughly convinced that it is our policy and interest to do so; and that nothing short of self-respect, and that justice which is essential to a national character, ought to involve us in war.
George Washington

Don't patronize the enemy. They mean business. They mean every word they say. They're killing us now. Their will is not broken, They mean it. ... If they're there, your job is to kill them all. I did not want to have them just retreat and have to fight them all over again.
Maj. Gen. James Mattis, USMC

Also, note that according to Michael Scheuer's About page, he resigned from the CIA in November, 2004 and since that date has written for Antiwar.com and LewRockwell.com.
- - -

Follow news from Sudan at this site's parent blog, Sudan Watch http://sudanwatch.blogspot.com

Yellow fever outbreak along Sudan-Uganda border

2010-12-30T14:56:00.005Z

Yellow fever is an acute viral hemorrhagic disease transmitted by infected mosquitoes and can cause severe illness and death.

Yellow Fever Outbreak Along Sudan-Uganda Border
Source: SRS - Sudan Radio Service - www.sudanradio.org
Date: Thursday, 30 December 2010. Full copy:

30 December 2010 – (Juba) - There is an outbreak of Yellow Fever at the southern Sudan–Uganda border areas which has hampered the transport system between the two regions.

The number of people who are affected is not yet known.

The Minister of Health in the Government of Southern Sudan Luka Monoja speaking to SRS in Juba on Thursday said the ministry is preparing to handle the outbreak.

[Luka Monoja]: “We are organizing to take immediate measures. You know Yellow Fever is a very serious disease, but it has got specific steps. We will prevent anybody who doesn’t have a yellow card. But we should be able to vaccinate there at the border. You will not come until your card is ten-days old. Now a technical team from my ministry is meeting with WHO. We have about five or eight border points leading to Uganda, they should be staffed with competent health care personnel to assist. It is possible this disease started some days ago. We are going to make a public awareness for people at risk like travelers and so on, to get vaccinated so that when they travel they have no problem”.

Yellow fever is an acute viral hemorrhagic disease transmitted by infected mosquitoes and can cause severe illness and death.

- - -

Further Reading

According to Bupa's website, the following information was published in February 2009 by, quote "Bupa's Health Information Team and is based on reputable sources of medical evidence. It has been reviewed by appropriate medical or clinical professionals. The content is intended only for general information and does not replace the need for personal advice from a qualified health professional".

Symptoms of yellow fever

You usually get symptoms three to six days after you have been bitten by an infected mosquito. This is known as the incubation period. The symptoms usually come on suddenly and can include:

high fever (39 to 40 °C)
shivers
headaches
nausea and/or vomiting
loss of appetite
muscle pain and aches
bloodshot eyes
flushing of your face
These symptoms usually last for three to four days and represent the acute phase of the virus. Most people begin to recover after this phase and their symptoms gradually disappear.

However, within 24 hours of seeming to recover, 15 to 25 percent of people enter a toxic phase of the disease. Symptoms during this phase are far more serious and may be life-threatening, including:

fever
jaundice (yellowing of your skin and the whites of your eyes) - this is where the disease gets its name
kidney failure, which may result in you no longer being able to pass urine
stomach pain with vomiting
blood in your vomit or stools
bleeding from your mouth, nose or eyes
Up to half of people who enter the toxic phase of the disease die within 10 to 14 days. Major organ failure, shock, delirium and coma usually occur before death. The rest of the people who enter this phase usually make a full recovery.

Treatment for yellow fever

There is no specific treatment for yellow fever, other than preventive measures.

Some of your symptoms may be relieved through bed rest and taking rehydration salts and paracetamol. Always read the patient information leaflet that comes with your medicine.

Intensive hospital care may help people who enter the toxic phase of the disease. However, this type of hospital care is often not available in poorer countries where the virus is widespread.

People who recover from the disease will be immune to the virus for the rest of their life.

Prevention of yellow fever

Prevention is vital in protecting yourself and stopping the spread of yellow fever. Current preventive measures include immunisation and protecting yourself from mosquito bites.

Click here for more information at www.bupa.co.uk

FXB Uganda: Beads from Beneficiaries - Necklaces that Change Lives

2010-12-10T09:00:00.002Z

Extracts from What W.E. Can Do at www.fxb4empowerment.org

Beads from Beneficiaries is an opportunity for supporters to celebrate this holiday season by sending a heartfelt gift with the power to lift a family out of poverty – and it’s wrapping up next Friday, December 17th. Those who make a $10 donation to FXB in honor of their friends and family, will be sent a card informing their honoree of their gift! As a special touch, for individuals who donate $40 we will send a handmade, gift-wrapped beaded necklace made by a woman enrolled in FXB's program in Uganda along with the card.

Each beautiful beaded necklace represents an environmentally and socially responsible solution to overcoming the affects of poverty and AIDS. The women in FXB’s programs often have no means of earning an income prior to joining the FXB-Village program. Many are widows and mothers struggling to support the children in their care. FXB provides these women with the tools they need to become self-sufficient, including skills training and supplies to start a new trade.

Many of FXB’s beneficiaries choose to make necklaces by hand from recycled paper and glass beads as their income generating activity. Colorful paper is hand rolled to create festive beads, giving each necklace a unique appearance. The income these women make selling their crafts at the local markets allows them to feed their families, buy uniforms and pay school fees for their children, receive medical treatment, and open savings accounts to prepare for the future!

Your thoughtful gift this holiday season will help FXB provide a comprehensive package of support to more families so that they may escape poverty forever.

Join Our Holiday Fundraising Campaign
FXB's Beads from Beneficiaries

Photo of mothers in Uganda making necklaces by hand to earn an income. Your donation will help FXB continue to provide medical, nutritional, psychological, and educational support and other services to these women and their families so they can escape poverty.

KPFA Radio/Ann Garrison: "Oil, African Genocide, and the USA's LRA Excuse"

2010-12-07T09:00:00.013Z

NOTE to self. Re-read the below copied report written by Ann Garrison. The report was published yesterday at her blog titled Ann Garrison. According to Ms Garrison's blogger profile, she is located in San Francisco, California, USA.

Also, copied here below is a map published Nov. 25 at this site's sister blog Congo Watch: "CAR: CPJP rebels kill 4 soldiers, hold Birao garrison town near border with Chad and Sudan".

Oil, African Genocide, and the USA's LRA Excuse
Source: Ann Garrison - anngarrison.blogspot.com
Author: Ann Garrison - KPFA Radio Weekend News, 12.04.2010
Date posted: Monday, 06 December 2010 at 10:50 AM
Copy in full:

On Wednesday, November 24th, President Obama sent his plan to mobilize Uganda's army, the Uganda People's Defense Force, to cross its northern border into the Central African Republic and Southern Sudan, to disarm the Lord's Resistance Army, a militia that has been fighting the Ugandan government for over 20 years. The White House issued a statement saying:

“The development of the strategy, relied on the significant involvement of the Department of State, the Department of Defense, the US Agency for International Development and the Intelligence Community." --White House "Strategy to Support the Disarmament of the Lord's Resistance Army," posted to the website of the Pulitzer Center

The President seemed either unaware or unconcerned about the UN Mapping Report, released on October 1st, which documents Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni's army's war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocidal massacres of civilians, Rwandan Hutu refugees and Congolese Hutus, in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

How else could he propose to mobilize the very same army to enter the Central African Republic and Southern Sudan to protect civilians and refugees, and "meet humanitarian requirements" in "affected populations," as his strategy statement said he would?

Just over a week later, on Friday, December 3rd, NBC News Dateline aired "Winds of War, George Clooney in Sudan," which warned that the Northern Sudanese Moslem regime of Omar al-Bashir might commit genocide in Christian Southern Sudan. The next day I called Black Star News Editor Milton Allimadi from the KPFA Radio studios, in Berkeley, California, to produce this segment for the KPFA Weekend News:

KPFA Weekend News Anchor/David Rosenberg:
NBC's Dateline last night aired an hour long documentary titled "Winds of War, George Clooney in Sudan." The actor warned Dateline's audience that Sudanese President Omar Al-Bashir's regime in Khartoum has already been indicted, by the International Criminal Court, for war crimes and genocide, and that he is now amassing weapons and troops to prevent Southern Sudan from forming an independent state. Critics of U.S. interventions in the region say that the U.S. is also amassing weapons and troops to move on Southern Sudan, from the Central African Republic, and from its southern border with Uganda, to secure oil. Ann Garrison is live in the studio with this report.

KPFA/Ann Garrison:
George Clooney, on Friday night's NBC Dateline, cited the opinions of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, the CIA, and President Barack Obama as evidence that everyone agrees that the U.S. must engage to stop genocide after Southern Sudan's January referendum, in which the Southern Sudanese are all but certain to vote for independence.

Actor George Clooney on NBC's Dateline:
The State Department said, the Secretary of State said it's a ticking time bomb. The CIA said this is the next genocide if we're not careful; it is the biggest risk. The President has said as much. This, everyone acknowledges that this is what is going to take place if someone doesn't moderate and mediate. And that's not just my saying it. That's everyone saying it. I'm just trying to say it as loud as possible.

Ann Garrison:
Clooney's "everyone" did not include Ugandan American journalist Milton Allimadi, Editor of the New York City-based Black Star News. Allimadi says that if the President were really serious about stopping genocide in Africa, he would send peacekeepers into eastern Congo, where the worst African genocide is ongoing and has been for the past 16 years, with a loss of over 6 million lives.

Allimadi also said that Obama would not be martialing the Ugandan army of Yoweri Museveni in Northern Uganda, to move into the Central African Republic and Southern Sudan, enacting the LRA DIsarmament Act, after the October 1st release of the UN Mapping Report documenting the Ugandan Army's war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocidal massacres of Hutu civilians in Congo. Allimadi says the LRA is really an excuse to secure Southern Sudanese oil after Southern Sudan's January referendum on independence.

Black Star News Editor Milton Allimadi:
I don't buy this LRA business, not for one minute. The United States is not interested in going after the LRA. If the Ugandan government, which is familiar with the terrain, could not defeat the LRA in 24 years of conflict, what added dimension can the United States bring to this? We already saw one disastrous instance, in December 2008, using U.S. logistical support and intelligence, the Ugandan Army attacked the LRA camp at Garamba, in the Democratic Republic of Congo. And the consequences were just disastrous. They failed to get the key leaders of the LRA and instead provoked massacres of innocent Congolese civilians. Who knows who did the killings, whether it was the LRA or the Ugandan troops? It was a massive disaster.

Milton Allimadi:
I think this is what's really happening:

As you know, in early January, Southern Sudan, whose capitol is Juba, is going to vote on a referendum. That referendum will decide whether it becomes an independent republic, and it's a foregone conclusion that they're going to vote for independence.

Now here's the deal. Most or all of the oil wealth that is now sustaining the government of Sudan in the North happens to be located in Southern Sudan. I don't see how the government in Khartoum can survive and sustain itself without this oil wealth.

I think the U.S. has taken a keen interest in the management and control of this oil wealth. And if you look at the map very carefully, the LRA right now, is purported to be concentrated in Central African Republic, which also conveniently happens to be bordered with the Sudan. It's on the southwestern part of the Sudan's border, so they share a border. And in fact, if you're going to look at it from a military point of view, it's half the distance to march from the outpost of the border in Central African Republic to the capitol of Khartoum than it is to march from Juba, the capitol of Southern Sudan, to Khartoum.

I am convinced that the United States, with its ally, the Ugandan dictator Yoweri Museveni, are setting up a front line in Central African Republic, in order to weaken the government of the Sudan in Khartoum and make it difficult for the government of the Sudan in Khartoum to launch an attack against Southern Sudan, should they declare independence, which is a foregone conclusion. That to me is a much more credible story than this bogus story about the U.S. wanting to go after the LRA.

KPFA/Ann Garrison:
And do you think they want to do this in order to secure Southern Sudanese oil reserves?

Absolutely. Southern Sudanese oil reserves. And that is becoming a huge oil field now. Southern Sudan borders northern Uganda. And going from that region into Western Uganda, that's a vast oil field. As you know in recent years there's been massive discoveries of oil fields in that part of Uganda as well. So if you look at this as a continuous region, starting from Western Uganda sweeping into Northern Uganda, into Southern Sudan, very rich oil fields, which, considering the U.S. presence in the region right now, is much more secure than some of the oil fields in the Middle East.

KPFA/Ann Garrison:
President Obama himself, in his 2006 Senate Bill, the Obama Congo Relief, Security, and Democracy Promotion Act, said that rebel militias serve as pretexts for Uganda and Rwanda's invasions and resource plunder of neighboring Congo, but Allimadi says that Obama, the U.S. Africa Command, and federal legislators now seem to be using the pretext themselves.

For Pacifica/KPFA Radio, I'm Ann Garrison.

See also:
U.S. Troops Train Ugandan Soldiers, Photo Essay, U.S. Department of Defense, Black Star News, 02.12.2008
DRC: Civilians suffer as Uganda takes on LRA, IRIN, 01.20.2009
Peace in Northern Uganda via U.S. Bullets and Bombs, Black Star News, 03.29.2010
How Invisible Children Falsely Marketed The LRA Disarmament and Northern Uganda Recovery Act, Black Star News, 06.02.2010
Congo Genocide; Obama Knows the Real Story, Black Star News, 10.07.2010
Sen. Barbara Boxer Co-sponsored Bill That Strengthens African Genocidal, Homophobic, Dictator, Black Star News, 09.22.2010

Labels: AFRICOM, George Clooney, KPFA, LRA, Milton Allimadi Uganda People's Defense Force,Museveni, NBC Dateline, Omar al-Bashir, Southern Sudan, Sudan, Uganda

[End of copy]

Further Reading

From the New York Times - Sunday, 05 Dec 2010

Headlines Around the Web

What's This?

SUDAN WATCH

DECEMBER 4, 2010

Sudan: Arab or African? (The

Debate Continues)

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

DECEMBER 4, 2010

South Sudan Official: No Delay to

Jan Freedom Vote

INSIDE DATELINE

DECEMBER 3, 2010

Take action on Sudan now...

ECORAZZI.COM :: CELEBRITIES CAUGHT GREEN-HANDED

DECEMBER 3, 2010

George Clooney Sudan Special

Particularly 'Revealing' Warns Ann

Curry

SPERO NEWS - RELIGIOUS NEWS

DECEMBER 2, 2010

Sudan: Signs of hope and wonder

More at Blogrunner »

Uganda extradites to Rwanda genocide suspect Jean Pierre Kwitonda alias Kapalata

2010-12-03T16:21:00.009Z

Uganda extradites Genocide suspect
Source: The New Times - www.newtimes.co.rw
Author: Bosco R. Asiimwe
Date: Friday, 03 December 2010

(KIGALI) - The government of Uganda, on Wednesday, extradited to Rwanda a genocide fugitive who was arrested last month.

Jean Pierre Kwitonda alias Kapalata was arrested by the Uganda police on November 4 in Lukaya, Masaka District following a red notice issued by Interpol Rwanda.

He has since been detained at Kireka police station, a suburb of the Ugandan capital Kampala.

Kwitonda was handed over by Charles Tumwesigye, from Interpol Directorate in Kampala. Tony Kulamba, head of Interpol Rwanda received the suspect at Gatuna border post.

Kwitonda who fled the country in 1997 is charged with six counts, including Genocide, complicity in genocide and conspiracy to commit genocide.

He also faces murder charges, extermination, formation, membership, leadership and association of criminal gangs whose purpose and existence was to do harm to people or their properties, according to the indictment.

The suspect had been handed a 19-year sentence in absentia by a Gacaca court in Gikondo, where he allegedly committed the crimes during 1994 genocide against the Tutsi.

“During Genocide, Kwitonda is said to have acted individually, or as a part of a joint criminal enterprise with some members of the ex-Far, Interahamwe leaders, interim government authorities that executed the genocide and other known or unknown to prepare, train, equip and organize militias under his supervision in former Gikondo Commune, then Kigali Prefecture,” a statement by Interpol partly reads.

During the Genocide, Kwitonda who was then 20, headed the Gikondo youth wing of MRND, the ruling of former President Juvénal Habyarimana which planned and executed the genocide.

A number of witnesses in the area had testified on how he championed the extermination of Tutsis in 1994.

He had been a well established businessman in Lyantonde trading centre, importing goods from Tanzania, Kenya and Sudan.

During his time in Uganda, Kwitonda married a Rwandan woman with whom they had four children.

“I officially hand over Kwitonda Jean Pierre alias Kapalata as per the table request by Rwanda,” Tumwesigye said handing the fugitive and his case file to Kulamba.

[End of copy]

Related Reports

Uganda extradites alleged Rwandan genocide fugitive

‎
African Press Agency (subscription) - 1 day ago

Kayiranga added that Ugandan and Rwandan prosecutions have been working together on his arrest and extradition for the genocide suspect to face justice ...

ICTR Prosecutor files applications for referrals

‎
Hague Justice Portal - 9 Nov 2010

... concerns have also prevented the extradition of accused Rwandan suspects to ... who was arrested in Uganda in June 2010 and faces charges of genocide, ...

Resolve, Uganda: US President Obama's strategy on the LRA

2010-12-01T22:31:00.009Z

FOR the record, here is a copy of an email received today from Paul Ronan, Director of Advocacy, Resolve (formerly Resolve Uganda), followed by a copy of a blog post and tweet published today by Sam Bell, Executive Director of the newly merged Save Darfur Coalition / Genocide Intervention Network.

Please find attached President Obama's strategy on the Lord's Resistance Army, released on November 24th. Section 4 of the LRA Disarmament and Northern Uganda Recovery Act, which passed US Congress in May, mandated that President Obama develop “a strategy to guide future United States support across the region for viable multilateral efforts to mitigate and eliminate the threat to civilians and regional stability posed by the Lord’s Resistance Army.”

Below please find highlights and a brief breakdown of the strategy, including actions listed as priorities for implementation. We look forward to being in touch in the coming weeks with deeper analysis of the strategy and next steps for implementation. Two likely challenges to implementation will be securing adequate funding from Congress and the current lack of a senior LRA point person within State Department. Also attached is a press roundup of media coverage of the strategy release.

Best,

Paul

Director of Advocacy

Resolve (formerly Resolve Uganda)

Vision: “Though the challenge is complex, the vision remains simple: people in central Africa are free from the threat of LRA violence and have the freedom to pursue their livelihoods."

Purpose: The strategy does not contain much detail about specific action steps, instead providing an "overarching, comprehensive strategy direction over several years to... increase the likelihood of success in mitigating and eliminating the threat posed by the LRA." (Upcoming Congressional decisions on levels of funding will help determine how robustly the strategy is implemented and hence specific action steps.)

Four main objectives (and summary of sub-objectives):

1. Increase protection of civilians

- Improve sharing of information for understanding threats and vulnerabilities of civilian population as a result of LRA presence, and for supporting and developing effective protection strategies and interventions.

- Promote the increase in physical security of vulnerable civilian populations through the presence and action of protection actors.

- Strengthen the understanding of the LRA threat and the will and capabilities of key actors to support efforts to protect civilians and prevent and mitigate LRA attacks.

2. Apprehend or remove from the battlefield Joseph Kony and senior LRA commanders

- Provide enhanced integrated logistical, operational, and intelligence assistance in support of regional and multilateral partners.

- Enhance and sustain diplomatic efforts to coordinate and encourage support for multilateral and regional military forces in their efforts to counter the LRA and to deny any potential support to the LRA from outside actors.

3. Promote the defection, disarmament, demobilization, and reintegration of remaining LRA fighters

- Ensure continued multilateral support to efforts to promote defections of LRA fighters and non-combatants through radio programs, leaflets, and other communication.

- Work with regional governments, MONUSCO, and other international actors to ensure necessary facilities and procedures are in place to receive defectors and transport them to desired home locations.

- Support the provision of enhanced medical, social, and economic reintegration assistance to demobilized LRA members and receiving communities.

4. Increase humanitarian access and provide continued relief to affected communities

- Humanitarian agencies provide minimum standards of life-saving support to LRA-affected populations.

- Promote increased access and infrastructure for the delivery of humanitarian services.

- Humanitarian agencies support early recovery activities, including transition support and livelihood support for LRA-affected populations.

Priority actions for immediate implementation

Increase physical access and telecommunications
- including road and airstrip rehabilitation and telecommunications expansion, with focus on LRA-affected areas of CAR and DRC

Increase mobility and access of civilian protection actors in LRA-affected areas
- mentions need to increase mobility of "humanitarian and civilian protection partners, including peacekeeping missions"

Enhance coordination of civilian actors and sharing of information across borders

Enhance the coordination and collaboration of forces in LRA-affected areas
- mentions need for coordination between national militaries and peacekeeping missions

Increase opportunities for LRA fighters and associated persons to safely defect and escape

Multilateral engagement

- The strategy mentions the October AU conference on the LRA in Bangui and "applauds AU engagement and regional leadership and coordination to address the LRA threat"

- The strategy highlights three priorities for US engagement at the UN Security Council as, 1. ensuring relevant peacekeeping missions are "resourced appropriately to fulfill their mandates," 2. encourage the UN political office for Central Africa to strengthen regional and international cooperation on the LRA, and 3. support the deployment of UN humanitarian staff to LRA-affected areas.

- The strategy also states an intention to continue engagement with the Office of the EU Special Representative, the World Bank's TDRP-led LRA working group, and the Great Lakes Contact Group.

- The strategy says "Any effective strategy cannot exclusively rely on one military force..." It also acknowledges that there is no guarantee Ugandan military operations against the LRA will continue and highlights the necessity of developing broader support and capacity among regional and international actors to address the crisis (though few specific details are provided).

Other notes of importance

- The strategy acknowledges that “there is no purely military solution to the LRA threat and impact.”

- The strategy highlights that additional support to the UPDF for LRA operations will happen in parallel with efforts to encourage professionalization of the UPDF and diplomatic efforts to encourage the Ugandan government and UPDF to respect human rights, democracy and good governance in Uganda.

- The strategy mentions that "local outreach" is an important component of pursuing the strategy's objectives, but does not provide detail on how this will be done.

- The strategy also outlines continued US efforts to promote comprehensive reconstruction, transitional justice, and reconciliation in northern Uganda (see annex 3).

--
Paul Ronan
Director of Advocacy
Resolve (formerly Resolve Uganda)

m: +1 315.569.8051.
o: +1 202.596.2517.
www.theresolve.org

Copy of attachment:

Press roundup for US LRA strategy release

Uganda’s dangerous rebels: Lords of woe – Economist – November 11, 2010 HYPERLINK "http://www.economist.com/node/17472814" http://www.economist.com/node/17472814

HYPERLINK "http://www.capitalfm.co.ke/news/Africa/Uganda-welcomes-US-LRA-plan-10646.html" \t "_blank" Uganda welcomes US LRA plan - Capital FM - ‎Nov 26, 2010‎ BY AGENCE FRANCE PRESSE KAMPALA, Nov 26

HYPERLINK "http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5gBDRRHXVuzY1JDiH8RjWVEpyOwjA?docId=CNG.8a715e6abb8e8888f916a64a424e6b92.1131" \t "_blank" Obama urged to press ahead with disarming Uganda rebels - AFP - ‎Nov 25, 2010‎ KINSHASA

HYPERLINK "http://www.newvision.co.ug/D/8/13/739330" \t "_blank" USA to disarm Joseph Kony rebels - New Vision - ‎Nov 25, 2010‎, By Barbara Among

HYPERLINK "http://www.voanews.com/english/news/africa/Obama-Presents-Plan-to-Help-Disarm-LRA-in-Uganda-110613824.html" \t "_blank" Obama Presents Plan to Help Disarm LRA in Uganda - Voice of America - ‎Nov 25, 2010‎, AP

HYPERLINK "http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/nov/25/us-plan-disarm-rebels-central-africa" \t "_blank" US reveals strategy to disarm central Africa rebels - The Guardian - ‎Nov 25, 2010‎

HYPERLINK "http://www.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/int/news/-/news/world-africa-11837310" \t "_blank" Obama plan to fight Africa rebels - BBC News - ‎Nov 25, 2010‎

HYPERLINK "http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-11-25/obama-administration-asks-fpr-funds-to-boost-uganda-s-fight-against-rebels.html" \t "_blank" Obama Administration Asks for Funds to Boost Uganda's Fight Against Rebels - Bloomberg - HYPERLINK "http://news.google.com/news/search?pz=1&cf=all&ned=us&hl=en&q=author:%22Michael+J.+Kavanagh%22&scoring=n" \t "_blank" Michael J. Kavanagh - ‎Nov 25, 2010‎

HYPERLINK "http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/2010/11/president-barack-obama-outlined-a.html" \t "_blank" President Obama Releases Plan to End Rebel Violence in Uganda - NewsHour - HYPERLINK "http://news.google.com/news/search?pz=1&cf=all&ned=us&hl=en&q=author:%22Talea+Miller%22&scoring=n" \t "_blank" Talea Miller - ‎Nov 25, 2010‎

HYPERLINK "http://www.stripes.com/news/africa/obama-calls-for-four-pronged-effort-to-defeat-african-rebel-group-1.126439" \t "_blank" Obama calls for four-pronged effort to defeat African rebel group - Stars and Stripes - HYPERLINK "http://news.google.com/news/search?pz=1&cf=all&ned=us&hl=en&q=author:%22John+Vandiver%22&scoring=n" \t "_blank" John Vandiver - ‎Nov 25, 2010‎

HYPERLINK "http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-11837310%20" \t "_blank" Barack Obama's Plan to Defeat Ugandan LRA Rebels - BBC, Nov 25, 2010

HYPERLINK "http://www.jeuneafrique.com/depeche_afp_20101125T185757Z20101125T185752Z_des-ong-demandent-l-application-urgente-du-plan-obama-contre-la-lra.html" \t "_blank" Des ONG demandent l'application "urgente" du plan Obama contre la LRA - AFP - Nov 25, 2010

HYPERLINK "http://www.observer.ug/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=11124&Itemid=59" \t "_blank" Kony's Plan Too Late, Says UPDF - The Observer, Written by David Tash Lumu & Agencies, Sunday, 28 November 2010 18:03

HYPERLINK "http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/africa/101127/obama-launches-plan-against-africas-lords-resistance-army" \t "_blank" Obama takes aim at Africa's Lord's Resistance Army - The Global Post, by Tristan McConnell, 29 November, 2010

Rights groups urge Obama to act against LRA - Radio Netherlands Worldwide – November 30, 2010 HYPERLINK "http://www.rnw.nl/international-justice/article/rights-groups-urge-obama-act-against-lra" http://www.rnw.nl/international-justice/article/rights-groups-urge-obama-act-against-lra

BBC Newshour radio: HYPERLINK "http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/console/p00byy0r/Newshour_24_11_2010_(2100_GMT)" \t "_blank" http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/console/p00byy0r/Newshour_24_11_2010_(2100_GMT)

President Obama’s move on Kony encouraging (New Vision – EDITORIAL) - HYPERLINK "http://www.newvision.co.ug/D/8/14/739559" \t "_blank" http://www.newvision.co.ug/D/8/14/739559

Boys to men as Sudanese villagers take on Lord's Resistance Army (Sydney Morning Herald) HYPERLINK "http://www.smh.com.au/world/boys-to-men-as-sudanese-villagers-take-on-lords-resistance-army-20101126-18alb.html" \t "_blank" www.smh.com.au/world/boys-to-men-as-sudanese-villagers-take-on-lords-resistance-army-20101126-18alb.html

Obama calls for elimination of Uganda’s rebel group - International Business Times HYPERLINK "http://hken.ibtimes.com/articles/85736/20101125/joseph-kony-obama-uganda-lord-s-resistance-army-acholi-community-international-criminal-court-lra.htm" http://hken.ibtimes.com/articles/85736/20101125/joseph-kony-obama-uganda-lord-s-resistance-army-acholi-community-international-criminal-court-lra.htm

Obama presents Congress plans to disarm Uganda’s LRA rebels – RTT News - HYPERLINK "http://www.rttnews.com/Content/Policy.aspx?Id=1490257&SM=1" http://www.rttnews.com/Content/Policy.aspx?Id=1490257&SM=1

Obama unveils plan for LRA - Legalbrief – November 30, 2010 - HYPERLINK "http://www.legalbrief.co.za/article.php?story=201011301129442" http://www.legalbrief.co.za/article.php?story=201011301129442

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Related Report

Lords Resistance Army in Darfur
Source: Save Darfur Coalition's Blog for Darfur - http://blogfordarfur.org/archives/6255
Date: Wednesday, 01 December 2010
Author: Sam Bell, Executive Director, Save Darfur Coalition / Genocide Intervention Network
Copy in full:

Yesterday the UN Group of Experts for the Democratic Republic of Congo released a report which included evidence echoing the findings of many of our partner organizations – the Lords Resistance Army (LRA), an organization on the State Department’s Terrorist Exclusion List, was recently in Darfur and may still be there. Moreover, the Group of Experts’ report has details about contacts between the LRA and the Government of Sudan:

“The Group sought to verify reports from MONUSCO and the Ugandan authorities of contacts between an LRA delegation and Sudanese armed forces officers on the Central African Republic/Sudan border in October 2010. According to two eyewitnesses interviewed by the Group, the purpose of the LRA mission was to re-establish relations with the Sudanese authorities and to request assistance, including safe passage and political asylum for Joseph Kony. This mission, led by Kony’s chief bodyguard, Otto Agweny, reached the Sudanese military base at Am Dafok (near the Central African Republic/Sudan border) on 4 October, staying in the area until 9 October. In Am Dafok the group met with Sudanese armed forces commanders, including a Lieutenant Colonel who presented himself as an intelligence officer from Khartoum and an officer who presented himself as the Sudanese armed forces commander of the western region.

The Group understands that this meeting was the result of an initiative of LRA and not the Sudanese authorities. According to the eyewitnesses, no decision was reached, but the Sudanese armed forces reportedly provided the LRA delegation with their mobile and satellite phone numbers to facilitate future contacts with Kony. The Group requested information from the Sudanese authorities on the content of this meeting, but has not received a reply to its letter of 23 July. The Group will continue to seek the assistance of Member States to investigate individuals who may be supporting LRA from other countries.”

As I wrote two weeks ago, before de-listing Sudan from the State Sponsors of Terrorism List the Obama Administration must investigate links between Khartoum and the LRA, which is even more essential in light of the evidence that the Sudanese armed forces have met with LRA officials. The LRA is responsible for terrorizing civilians throughout central Africa and in 2008 its leader Joseph Kony was listed as “a Specially Designated Global Terrorist” by an Executive Order. In addition, the International Criminal Court has issued arrest warrants for Kony and several members of the LRA senior leadership for war crimes and crimes against humanity.

[Hat tip: Sam Bell's tweet posted on Twitter Wednesday, 01 December 2010. Copy in full:

new details on #LRA in #Darfur http://t.co/csvkPxF US shouldn't remove #Sudan from terror list til Kht-LRA ties investigated
about 6 hours ago via web
sam_a_bell
Sam Bell]

New Sudan war would cost Uganda, region

2010-11-26T14:01:00.004Z

New Sudan war would cost Kenya, region
Source: AFP / www.capitalfm.co.ke
Date: Thursday, 25 November 2010

(Khartoum, Sudan, Nov 25) - A return to civil war in the event that south Sudan votes for independence would cost the country, the region and international community more than 100 billion dollars, a study published on Thursday warned.

Aegis Trust, an NGO, and three research centres including the Institute for Security Studies, based in South Africa, drew up four post-referendum scenarios, ranging from peace to a resumption of full-scale war between north and south Sudan.

In the case of a 10-year conflict of medium intensity, the losses for Sudan would amount to at least 52.1 billion dollars (39 billion euros), on top of about 29 billion dollars for neighbouring Ethiopia, Kenya and Uganda, the study estimated.

The impact on the international community would top 30 billion dollars in terms of peacekeeping missions and humanitarian aid.

"This report demonstrates the high cost of conflict. It implies that domestic, regional and international parties should be asking: 'Are we doing enough to avoid a war that might cost over 100 billion dollars and ruin countless lives?'" said Matthew Bell of London-based Frontier Economics.

The study calculated Sudan's losses in case of war on the basis of an annual 2.2-percent decline in Gross Domestic Product.

It would cost Ethiopia and Kenya more than one billion dollars a year in terms of forecast growth, the researchers said, warning that war would also damage Egypt, Sudan's northern neighbour and the region's leading economy.

The impact could be even heavier in the event of full-scale war that would disrupt the oil production of Africa's largest country, which has reserves of more than six billion barrels.

Khartoum and the former southern rebels signed a peace deal in 2005 after more than two decades of war. A central element of that accord is an independence referendum for the south scheduled for January. Since July, the two sides have been negotiating on key post-vote issues.

Chief among those crucial to a peaceful transition in case of partition is the sharing of oil resources.

Oil revenues make up the Sudanese government's main source of foreign currency earnings, while southern Sudan depends on oil for as much as 98 percent of its budget.

Most of Sudan's reserves are concentrated in the south but can only be exported through a pipeline passing through the north on the way to Port Sudan on the Red Sea.

An oil-sharing formula would benefit both the north and south, whereas an interruption in production and exports would damage the whole country.

"Reaching some level of agreement before the referendum is important not only because both economies need uninterrupted revenue, but also to sustain the confidence of oil companies in their existing investments," the International Crisis Group said this week.

In case of peace and healthy ties between north and south Sudan as well improved security in Darfur, Sudan's growth would steady at an annual 6.2 percent for five years and even reach nine percent from 2016, the study said.

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Report On The Cost Of A Possible Return To War In Sudan
Source: SRS (Sudan Radio Service) - www.sudanradio.org
Date: Thursday, 25 November 2010

(Nairobi, Kenya) – A report published by a coalition of European and African economic and political think-tanks on Thursday says a return to war in Sudan would cost Sudan, the region and the international community about 100 billion US dollars.

The report which comes amid fears that the referendum could trigger an escalation of violence attempts to analyze the economic cost of war to the region.

Mathew Bell an Associate Director of the London based, Frontier Economics spoke to SRS in Nairobi during the launch of the report.

[Mathew Bell]: “The report is an attempt to do with economic analysis of what the cost of war to Sudan and the region and the international community could be. It very explicitly sets aside the very real and important human costs of death and suffering that would result in war but to take a financial perspective as a way of adding to the debate around the cost of war. The headline itself looks like it would cost in excess of about a hundred billion dollars to the combination of Sudan the region and the international community should war break out. That figure breaks down into about 50 billion dollar cost to the Sudanese economy itself. About a 25 billion dollar cost to the regional economy including Kenya, Ethiopia and Uganda. And about a 25 to 30 billion dollar cost to the international community in the form of peace keeping in the form of humanitarian intervention.”

Mathew Bell recognizes the difficulties in measuring the costs of potential future conflict in the report. He explains the different scenarios.

[Mathew Bell]: “Because of the uncertainties of what may happen because nobody can be sure about what the outcome is going to be, we have looked at different potential scenarios; we have tried to come up with a range of figures. And the 100 billion dollar that we have been quoting is towards the bottom end of that range. And the Low, medium and high conflict scenarios are different levels of conflict from a low level civil war situation, to a very serious situation to a very serious full blown civil war that might involve some of the regional players as well, or ways of how to characterize different points in the spectrum of costs. What we don’t comment on at all is what the likelihood of different scenarios would be. But we want to give a range of potential costs.”

According to the report the evidence suggests that the net impact of conflict would be significantly negative. Sudan would lose about 50 billion USD from its GDP, the neighboring countries would lose 25 billion USD of GDP and the international community would lose 30 billion USD in peacekeeping and humanitarian costs.

The report by the European and African economic and political think-tanks on the cost of war in Sudan was launched in Nairobi on Thursday.

Southern Sudanese travelling to Ugandan border to register

2010-11-26T06:00:00.001Z

Southern Sudanese Travelling To Ugandan Border To Register
Source: SRS (Sudan Radio Service) - www.sudanradio.org
Date: Monday, 22 November 2010

(Kampala) – Voter registration in Kampala, Uganda has witnessed low turnout since the exercise started last week.

According to the chairperson of the Central Equatoria Women Association in Kampala Suzy Alfred Wani, most southern Sudanese are traveling to Kaya and Nimule borders to register.

[Suzy Alfred Wani]: “The registration is not going well in Kampala though there are some people registering but it's not going well, because there was a delegation that came from Juba in Central Equatoria with a message that let everybody go and register at the borders in Kaya and Nimule. So anybody who wants to register in Kampala should go and register in these two centers. Right now there are busses that have been hired and some southern Sudanese who owned busses have contributed with their busses to ferry people from Kampala to Kaya and Nimule borders.”

Ms Suzy said that southern Sudanese going to register at the borders are exempted from paying exit visa from Uganda.

[Suzy Alfred Wani]: “The government of Uganda has ordered its Migration officers at the two borders not to charge those going for registration visa fees so no one is paying visa fees. In order for you to differentiate between Acholi, of Uganda or Sudan, Kuku of Sudan or Uganda, it is difficult for us that's why we want to make sure that we the real Sudanese go to the border to avoid any problem that may arise.”

That was the chairperson of the Central Equatoria State Women in Kampala Suzy Alfred Wani speaking to SRS from Kampala Uganda on Monday.

US reveals plan to disarm LRA fighters

2010-11-25T16:11:00.001Z

US President Barack Obama presents strategy to combat Lord's Resistance Army rebels and their leader Joseph Kony in central Africa

US reveals plan to disarm LRA fighters
Source: guardian.co.uk by Xan Rice in Nairobi
Date: Thursday 25 November 2010 13.12 GMT

The Lord's Resistance army leader, Joseph Kony, pictured in 2006. Photograph: Stuart Price/AP

The US government yesterday revealed a plan to disarm Lord's Resistance Army fighters in central Africa and capture or kill their leader, Joseph Kony.

Barack Obama presented a strategy document to Congress designed to "mitigate and eliminate" the threat to civilians posed by one of the world's longest-running and most brutal insurgencies.

While they are unlikely to result in US troops being directly involved in combat operations, the proposed measures should strengthen local military efforts against the LRA and have been welcomed by international human rights groups.

The rebels emerged in northern Uganda 24 years ago with devastating consequences for the local population. In recent years, they have exported their terror to the Democratic Republic of Congo, South Sudan and Central African Republic.

More than 2,300 people in these countries have been killed by LRA fighters over the past two years, with 400,000 civilians forced to flee their homes.

At least 3,000 men, women and children have been abducted – the rebels' primary form of conscription.

Obama's announcement followed the passing of a bill in May that requires the US to support multilateral efforts to subdue the LRA.

The four main objectives of the new plan are to increase protection for civilians, encourage rebel defections, improve humanitarian access and "apprehend or remove from the battlefield Joseph Kony and senior commanders", according to a letter sent to congressmen.

The strategy is a more formal and official version of the one employed by the US for the past two years after it took the lead among western countries in trying to end the rebellion.

In December 2008, the US military provided intelligence and financial support to the Ugandan-led Operation Lightning Thunder, which flushed LRA fighters from their main hideout in Congo, Garamba National Park.

But rebel leaders including Kony – who claims to have messianic powers – escaped the ground and air assault and immediately embarked on a series of massacres in remote villages.

The strategy document said the US had spent more than $23m (£14.5m) on support for the Ugandan military since then, but added that more money was needed.

But ending the insurgency is likely to be extremely difficult, even with more cash and commitment. It was a task that proved beyond the Ugandan military when the LRA operated there for 20 years, and the rebel fighters have proved equally comfortable in countries to the east.

The US-based Enough Project warned in a recent report that the LRA's "propensity for violence remains undiminished" despite having a fighting force of just 400. Ledio Cakaj, a field researcher for the project, said Obama's plan signalled a more hands-on approach by the US military in regional counterinsurgency operations.

"You are not going to see marines on the ground fighting Kony," Cakaj said. "But you are going to see more US troops and contractors on the ground facilitating regional efforts to stop the rebels. It's not a radical move, but it is certainly a positive step."

IGAD Summit: Uganda president attends - S. Sudan's Salva Kiir Mayardit's Statement - Sudanese leaders hailed for agreeing 'soft border' solution

2010-11-24T10:10:00.011Z

ON Tuesday, 23 November 2010, Uganda's President Yoweri Museveni joined other Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD) Heads of State and Government in the Ethiopian Capital Addis Ababa for a one day summit that centred on the progress of the implementation of the Sudanese Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) that was initialed between the Southern Sudanese People’s Liberation Army.

Full story below, followed by several related reports including a copy of Salva Kiir Mayardit's address to the Summit of IGAD Heads of State and Government on Sudan. Excerpt:

"In a nutshell, Sudan requires a lot of help from IGAD, the AU, UN and the international community. The country has myriads of problems – it is yet to implement fully Popular Consultations in the two areas of Blue Nile and Southern Kordofan. Being an integral part of the CPA, the people of these areas must also conduct the popular consultations as agreed. Similarly, Sudan needs help in order to peacefully resolve the conflict in Darfur. No new strategy can work for Darfur until all parties are brought to the negotiating table to agree for peaceful settlement.

In conclusion, the CPA is the roadmap for success in the Sudan, particularly when the referendum is peacefully implemented. Now, as the greatest moment of our history approaches, it is up to all of us to ensure that the referendum is conducted peacefully and without delay."

President Attends IGAD Summit
Source: Office of the President / Uganda Media Centre www.mediacentre.go.ug
Date: Wednesday, 24 November 2010. Copy in full:

President Yoweri Museveni today joined other Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD) Heads of State and Government in the Ethiopian Capital Addis Ababa for a one day summit that centred on the progress of the implementation of the Sudanese Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) that was initialed between the Southern Sudanese People’s Liberation Army (SPLA) and the Government in Khartoum in January 2005 in Nairobi.

The CPA was meant to end the 2nd Sudanese Civil War, develop democratic governance countrywide and share oil revenues. The Agreement further set a timetable by which Southern Sudan would have a referendum on its independence. The referendum in scheduled to place in 2 months time in January next year.

Today’s summit that took place at Sheraton Hotel in Addis Ababa was also attended by host Premier Meles Zenawi of Ethiopia, Sudanese President Omar Hassan el Bashir, President Ismael Omar Guelleh of Djibouti, President Mwai Kibaki of Kenya while the Transitional Federal government of Somalia President was represented by H.E. Yusuf Hassan Ibrahim.

The Summit, in a communiqué issued at the end of its deliberations, reaffirmed its commitment to not only continue the support for the full implementation of the CPA but also for the post referendum period for the sake of peace, stability and democracy.

The communiqué also said that the Assembly of the IGAD leaders took note of their summit coming at a critical time in the history of the Sudan as that country, in just less than 2 months before the referendum on self-determination for the people of Southern Sudan, and a few days after the start of registration of voters for that referendum, represents a significant milestone in the implementation of the CPA between the government of the Sudan and the SPLM.

The IGAD Heads of State commended the efforts of the AU’s group of eminent African personalities, comprising former South African President Thabo Mbeki as the group’s Chairman, President Abdulsalami Abubaker and former Burundi President Pierre Buyoya, for facilitating the Sudanese parties in the implementation of the CPA paying attention to outstanding issues in the Agreement and post referendum time.

The Summit requested the AU group of eminent personalities to keep IGAD updated on the progress of the negotiations including the ongoing discussion between the two parties to the CPA.

On Somalia, the IGAD leaders called upon the Presidency and Parliament in Mogadishu not only to work together for the greater cohesion for the Somali nation but also to provide political and ideological leadership so as to ensure total harmony among the leadership.

The leaders of the IGAD member countries affirmed their unswerving and continued support to the Transitional Federal Institutions of Somalia in their endeavour to create peace, security and stability in the country and put in place institutions of governance that will deliver basic services to the people of Somalia.

President Museveni, who was accompanied by State Minister for Regional Affairs, Mr. Isaac Musumba, Uganda’s envoys to Khartoum and Ethiopia Betty Akech and Mull Katende respectively, among others, later returned home this evening.
ENDS

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Gen Salva Kiir Mayardit, Chairman of the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM) - Address to the 16th Extraordinary Summit of IGAD Heads of State and Government on Sudan
Source: Press Release reprinted at Sudan Tribune - www.sudantribune.com
Date: Wednesday, 23 November 2010 (Addis Ababa, Ethiopia)

Your Excellency, Ato Meles Zenawi, Prime Minister of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia and Chair of IGAD,

Excellencies, Heads of States and Government of IGAD,

Your Excellency, Mr. Jean Ping, Chair of the African Union Commission,

Your Excellency, Mr. Thabo Mbeki, Chair of the AU High-Level Implementation Panel, and colleagues former Presidents Pierre Buyoya and Abdulsalami Abubakar,

Excellencies, Foreign Ministers,

Representatives of the AEC and the UN,

Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen,

I take this opportunity to thank you IGAD Heads of State and Government for convening this Extraordinary Summit on the Sudan in order to be briefed about the implementation of the Sudan Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA), which is your own baby. This gathering comes indeed at a critical moment of the history of our country. We are now left with just less than two month before the referendum in Southern Sudan takes place on January 9th, 2011. This auspicious meeting is to us another display of IGAD unwavering commitment to ensure full implementation of the CPA and to also reaffirm its commitment to regional peace and stability.

From our side, I would like to equally reassure you that the SPLM, the Government and people of Southern Sudan and peace loving Sudanese in general commend your efforts most sincerely. We are very grateful for your continued interest and attention, and we need your support now more than ever before to peacefully complete the implementation of the CPA.

As you are all aware and I am happy to brief you today that the registrations are going on smoothly and peacefully. Preliminary information shows that the turnout is quite encouraging particularly throughout Southern Sudan. There is a lot of enthusiasm and anxiety amongst our people not to miss the golden opportunity to express their rightful desire to either vote for the continued unity of the Sudan or to secede to become a country of their own.

Distinguished Delegates, This exercise of the right to self-determination is critical and it remains a formula for maintaining peace today and in the future. That is why we are doing all we can to ensure that the referendum takes place as scheduled. We are also cognizant that any delays risk a return to instability and violence and my message to you today is that every effort must be exerted to achieve a timely conduct of the referendum.

At this juncture, I would also like to commend the efforts of the Southern Sudan Referendum Commission (SSRC) and the Southern Sudan Referendum Bureau (SSRB), who are working around the clock to ensure that the exercise take place as scheduled.

As far as funding is concerned, it is important to admit that there are still difficulties particularly with the National Government in Khartoum, which has deliberately failed to fulfill its obligation to contribute money to the SSRC. The Government of Southern Sudan has so far released SDG 100 million out of the SDG 150 million it has pledged. The donors are also struggling to meet their target may the SRSG and the AEC can later on shed more light on the contributions of the international community.

Politically, the atmosphere is not good particularly in Northern Sudan. Instead of preaching peace some senior members from the National Government and the National Congress Party (NCP) have been raising tempers in the public by issuing statements that are likely to instigate violence. I appeal to this august gathering to discourage the Sudanese parties from provocative behavior. The records are documented that IGAD and the international community should seriously note because should violence erupt there are people to be held responsible.

In Southern Sudan the platform for campaigns is leveled for both those who would like to propagate for unity and separation. Regional and international observers are allowed to move freely and they can speak the truth for themselves. We are desirous and committed to ensure that the referendum in Southern Sudan occurs smoothly and peacefully in order to produce credible results that represent the will of the people. This is our goal and I wish to reiterate to you that we will make certain that all opinions and campaigns for unity or separation are given equal opportunity to be heard. We are exerting all efforts to ensure that the credibility of this referendum is beyond question.

What is badly required of IGAD and other guarantors of the CPA is to mobilize support for the outcome of the referendum in Southern Sudan and the rest of the international community to ensure a peaceful transition.

We are also deeply concerned by the lack of progress in resolving the outstanding issues of the CPA: 1. Abyei 2. North-South border demarcation 3. Post-referendum arrangements

Meantime, we are genuinely willing to negotiate with our brothers and sisters in the North. We are committed to work in a spirit of partnership to create peaceful and sustainable good relations between Northern and Southern Sudan regardless of the outcome of the referendum. I have said it time and again that it is in our interest to see to it that the North remains a viable state, just as it should be in the interest of the North to see Southern Sudan emerge as a viable state too. There should be no room for fear about the future because I have also reiterated several times that even if Southern Sudan separates from the North it will not shift to the Indian Ocean or to the Atlantic Coast. Instead we will be sharing the longest border between us and I would like to reassure you that the security of Northern Sudanese in the South will remain our priority and we request our Northern partners to do the same for Southern Sudanese in the North. Thus, we are committed to sustainable peace and stability irrespective of the outcome of the referendum. We have achieved a lot in the past few years since the CPA was signed and we still have a lot of work ahead of us to improve the lives of our people.

There has been a lot of talk and propaganda about the viability of Southern Sudan as a state if its people chose independence? Let me assure you that Southern Sudan will contribute immensely to peace and the well being of our region of the horn of Africa and our continent as a whole. We have got potentials that, in a free and peaceful environment, can be exploited not just for the development and sustenance of the new state but also for the benefit of the neighboring countries. In order to achieve that we have been reaching out to Southern Sudanese of all walks of life on the referendum and the future of Southern Sudan irrespective of the expected outcome of the exercise. We have been holding successful meetings of ‘All-Southern Sudanese Political Parties' in Juba and most of you may have already come across the resolutions. We are also engaging leaders of Other Armed Groups (OAGs) to discuss the transition in case of secession outcome.

In a nutshell, Sudan requires a lot of help from IGAD, the AU, UN and the international community. The country has myriads of problems – it is yet to implement fully Popular Consultations in the two areas of Blue Nile and Southern Kordofan. Being an integral part of the CPA, the people of these areas must also conduct the popular consultations as agreed. Similarly, Sudan needs help in order to peacefully resolve the conflict in Darfur. No new strategy can work for Darfur until all parties are brought to the negotiating table to agree for peaceful settlement.

In conclusion, the CPA is the roadmap for success in the Sudan, particularly when the referendum is peacefully implemented. Now, as the greatest moment of our history approaches, it is up to all of us to ensure that the referendum is conducted peacefully and without delay.

Once again, we commend the efforts of IGAD, the AU, the UN and the International Community for the continued support for peace in our country and our people. On our part we will do our utmost best not only to reciprocate your efforts but to work for a favorable environment for economic development and sustainable peace in the region. We are optimistic about the future and with your efforts we will make it together.

May God continue to bless us and grant us the patience required to achieve the desired goals and objectives for posterity!

Thank you.

- - -

Sudan's Ruling Party Welcomes IGAD Summit Recommendations‎
Source: Voice of America (VOA) - www.voanews.com - by Peter Clottey
Date: Wednesday, 24 November 2010

Photo: Dr. Rabie Abdelati Obeid is a prominent member of Sudan's dominant National Congress Party (NCP)

A senior member of Sudan’s ruling party has expressed confidence that both his ruling National Congress Party (NCP) and the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) will resolve all outstanding issues ahead of the 9th January referendum.

Rabie Abdelati Obeid welcomed the recommendation by the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) summit on Sudan saying both the NCP and the SPLM will solve the problems and disagreements between them.

“The two partners have shown their readiness to follow what (has) been recommended (by IGAD), and I think the coming days will show the seriousness of the two partners to implement the Referendum Act and also all outstanding points from the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA).”

East African leaders met Tuesday [23 Nov] in Addis Ababa to discuss tension in Sudan, where a referendum on independence for the country's south is now less than seven weeks away.

Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir and southern Sudanese leader Salva Kiir were among those who attended the summit.

Participants urged northern and southern Sudan to avoid reigniting the civil war that ravaged the country for 21 years ending in 2005.

Obeid said the NCP is satisfied with the recommendations from the IGAD heads of state and government.

“The NCP has shown their full satisfaction and they also thank IGAD member states for their efforts to narrow the differences, or to remove the differences, between the two partners. We also thank IGAD for their work and their facilitation, and it is very clear for the NCP that IGAD member states are very keen to establish security and peace in Sudan,” Obeid said.

“This will also be reflected in the coming days between NCP and SPLM to resolve the majority of the points that are still outstanding between the two partners before the conduct of the referendum.”

Meanwhile, state media in Sudan quote Mr. Bashir as telling the summit there will be “no return to war,” and that his government will work for strong relations with the south in the event of separation.

In a statement, summit participants said they are confident Mr. Bashir and Mr. Kiir can lead Sudan into a new era of peace, but also expressed concern over issues that continue to divide the north and south.

- - -

Arab League Delegation to Conduct Talks in Khartoum on Referendum‎
Source: Sudan Vision - www.sudanvisiondaily.com - by Staff writer
Date: Wednesday, 24 November 2010

A delegation from the Arab League is expected to conduct talks in Khartoum to-day and get briefed on preparations for southern Sudan self-determination referendum. The delegation will be headed by Ambassador Sameer Hosni, the director of Arab-African Cooperation Department at the League.

In statement to reporters, Ambassador Hisham Youssef, head of the AL Secretary General's office said the delegation will prepare for the forthcoming visit to Sudan by AL Secretary-General, Amro Mousa. The delegation will also discuss with officials in the Sudan numerous issues, particularly those related to relief and the re-construction works in the Darfur region.

Ambassador Hisham Youssef said AL Secretary-General's office will participate in the East of Sudan Development Conference to be held in Kuwait on this coming December. He further said that the AL Secretary-General will head a high-level delegation to the conference which will provide opportunity for consultation on development of the situations in the Sudan. He added that a meeting to be held at AL permanent members' level this coming Saturday will discuss developments in the Sudan, current preparations for the referendum and the role that could be carried out by AL and Arab countries in following up this matter for achieving the interests of the Sudanese people.

"The Arab League will also follow up the southern Sudan self-determination referendum through a delegation that will include a group of officials from the secretariat-general and who might be joined by some Arab Parliament members," he said.

On the probability of the postponement of the referendum, Ambassador Hisham Youssef said this matter is connected to arrangements and preparations. "There are some who believe the forthcoming period is sufficient for conducting the referendum while some others think that there are some organizational difficulties," he said. He added that if the referendum is postponed that would be for a very short period of time, and for organizational and not other reasons.

As regards the situation in Darfur and talks by the Qatari sponsor of that peace talks could be achieved before the end of the year, Ambassador Hisham Youssef said he hoped that peace could be achieved within such a period. "There is a tremendous effort being exerted by the Qatari side and by many Arab countries for achieving peace in Darfur before the end of the year," he said.

On a related development, the joint mechanism for the follow up of Arab undertaking for supporting and addressing humanitarian situations in Darfur will hold a meeting at the Arab Authority for Agricultural Investment and Development premises to-day Wednesday and tomorrow Thursday.

The meeting will discuss the comprehensive peace strategy, the development of Darfur in addition to the performance of AL projects in Darfur, the projects proposed by the Reconstruction Commission for 2011 as well as replicating the experiment of constructing humanitarian services complexes centers to which IDPs return.

The meeting will also discuss the means of earning living projects for IDPs who have returned to their homes, and for those who will soon settle in their homes and the nomads.

- - -

IGAD Summit: Sudanese leaders hailed for agreeing on 'soft-border solution
Source: (PANA) / Afrique en Ligue - www.afriquejet.com
Date: Wednesday, 24 November 2010

(Addis Ababa, Ethiopia) - East African leaders have hailed Sudanese President Omer Al-Bashir and his Southern Sudan counterpart Salva Kiir for agreeing on a 'soft-border' solution as well as to limit tension around possible north-South separation. In a communique issued Tuesday after a meeting to fashion out a solution to the pending issues, the East African leaders also requested the Sudanese leaders to demarcate the north-south border within the time allocated in their peace deal.

'The Summit was particularly encouraged by the parties' commitment in achieving in the event of the secession of Southern Sudan, two viable states living as peaceful and cooperative neighbors,' said the commu nique, issued after the meeting of the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) here.

The two states will maintain common security as well as a 'soft border' that forges cooperation without disruption to the livelihoods of the people, the IGAD leaders announced.

South Sudan is headed for a decisive referendum which could see the region declare independence from the larger Sudan on 9 January 2011, in according with a peace agreement reached in Nairobi, Kenya, in January 2005.

The six East African leaders, meeting under the IGAD, emphasised that political tensions arising from the planned referendum be managed in the context of the of Sudan as a melting pot of cultures.

The use of the term, Sudan, the melting pot of cultures, is a reference to the north-south divide in Sudan. It is often offered as an explanation to the diversity of the Sudanese citizenry, which combines a largely Arab North and a b lack population in the South.

The Summit welcomed the dedication of Presidents Al-Bashir and Kiir to resolve the outstanding issues, in particular the issue of Abyei, and called upon the parties to approach the next round of negotiations with a sp irit of compromise.

African Union's High-Level Panel leader Thabo Mbeki has been meeting the two Sudanese leaders to address the issue of Abyei, claimed by both north and South.

Abyei lies in Southern Sudan but has been administered from the North since the British rule in the Sudan. The Southerners want the region to revert to their region, but this has to be done through a referendum.

The current deadlock over the Abyei issue centres on complaints from Southern Su danese tribes that a northern Sudan tribe, the Missiriyah, should not be allowed to vote in the Abyei referendum because they are not local residents.

The IGAD leaders said the two Sudanese parties must take cognizant of the need to guarantee the rights and livelihoods of the affected people.

The leaders welcomed the commitment of the Sudanese Parties to the timely and credible conduct of free and fair referendum and the respect for its outcome.

They noted in particular the commitment by the parties to never return to war but instead to seek peaceful resolution of issues that may divide them.

- - -

IGAD Presidency Meeting On Abyei Scheduled For November 27th
Source: SRS - Sudan Radio Service - www.sudanradio.org
Date: Wednesday, 24 November 2010

(Juba) – The Intergovernmental Agency for Development or IGAD member states have rescheduled the meeting on Abyei referendum to November 27th.

A delegation led by the GOSS President returned to Juba on Wednesday from the 16th IGAD summit where they discussed the progress on the implementation of the CPA.

Pagan Amum, the GOSS Minister for Peace and CPA implementation addressed the press in Juba on Wednesday.

[Pagan Amum]: “The summit was a success and we are happy with the results of the summit. The presidency is going to meet on the 27th, next Saturday to discuss Abyei and to find a lasting solution to the impulse that we have been facing. As you all know the National Congress Party has taken Abyei literally as a hostage and they are using it as a bargaining chip to extort concessions from the south as well as from other actors from the international community, particularly the government of the United States of America. We are hopeful that with the forward leaning position taken by the government of the United States of America and the readiness of the SPLM to discuss what the National Congress really wants to let free the process of Abyei.”

Pagan Amum said the meeting of the Presidency on Abyei will be mediated by the AU High Implementation Panel. He also said the popular consultations for Blue Nile and Southern Kordofan states will be discussed in the next meeting.

[Pagan Amum]: “There is also going to be a meeting on the 28th and 29th of this month focused on the completing discussions on the framework agreement. Hopefully if Abyei and border issues are resolved, then we will have a situation of agreement on the total issues that we have on the CPA and we will be able to close the chapter of conflict in Sudan, especially between the north and the south. The meeting is also going to look at the preparations for the conduct of the popular consultations in the two areas of Southern Kordofan and Blue Nile state. As you all know, the process in Southern Kordofan is delayed because of the delay in the conduct of elections.”

Pagan Amum, the GOSS Minister for Peace and CPA implementation addressed the press on Wednesday in Juba after his arrival from the IGAD Summit in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

Ugandan president commends former LRA commanders and collaborators

2010-11-24T08:23:00.008Z

ACCORDING to the below copied report, Uganda's President Yoweri Museveni has commended the former Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) commanders and their collaborators, who have since united in their association, “Acholi Solidarity Mobilization Team”, for uniting and forming an organization that works to counter and expose the lies that opposition politicians have for years used to confuse and intimidate the population in Northern Uganda in order to make them support opposition politicians and political parties.

The President said that government will, in the future, consider giving specific support to former LRA rebels to help them resettle and lead meaningful lives in their communities.

President Commends Former Rebel
Source: Office of the President / Uganda Media Centre www.mediacentre.go.ug
Date: Wednesday, 24 November 2010. Copy in full:

President Yoweri Museveni has commended the former Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) commanders and their collaborators, who have since united in their association, “Acholi Solidarity Mobilization Team”, for uniting and forming an organization that works to counter and expose the lies that opposition politicians have for years used to confuse and intimidate the population in Northern Uganda in order to make them support opposition politicians and political parties.

In a meeting with former rebel commanders and their collaborators at Gulu State Lodge last Sunday, led by former rebel commanders, Brigadier Sam Kolo and Brigadier Banya, the President said that whereas the Sudanese government used Kony to terrorise Northern Uganda, causing untold suffering to the people in Northern Region, he (President) was disappointed that some politicians in Northern Uganda selfishly used the war situation to tell lies about the NRM Government instead of saying the real and true cause of the war in the North.

He said that they told lies to cause hatred to the NRM in the North and went further to intimidate the population so as to earn political support in the area. He, therefore, expressed happiness that the former LRA rebels have united to counter lies by the opposition politicians in the North, especially during the current elections period.

“Statements such as when you vote NRM, Kony will come back and kill you, characterized most of the past elections’ campaigns which made people vote out of fear and that can’t be called democracy”, the President said.

“I salute you for uniting to fight the psychological slavery of the people of Northern Uganda so that they can make their political decisions free of fear”, he added.

He assured them that Kony will never come back to terrorise the people of Northern Uganda as the Uganda People’s Defence Forces (UPDF), is strong enough to counter any negative force that tries to destabilize Uganda. He appealed to them to work hard and embrace government development programmes, such as the National Agricultural and Advisory Services (NAADS) and form SACCOs, so that they get themselves out of poverty and peacefully resettle in their respective communities.

The President said that government will, in the future, consider giving specific support to former LRA rebels to help them resettle and lead meaningful lives in their communities.
ENDS

Former child soldiers from Uganda meet UK minister Stephen O’Brien

2010-11-19T18:46:00.007Z

THE UK is backing rehabilitation and recovery in Northern Uganda, including training 150,000 young people who have missed the chance to go to school and helping 4,500 people return to their former homes.

In 2007, the University of California-Berkley’s Human Rights Centre reported that the LRA has abducted up to 38,000 children and 37,000 adults. More than 20,000 children were abducted, and in some cases, girls as young as nine years old were turned into sex slaves. More than 620,000 people still live in camps and at the height of the fighting, violence and disease killed 1,000 people a week.

Full story below.

Child soldiers meet UK minister
Source: SOS Children's Villages - www.soschildrensvillages.org
Author: Hayley Jarvis for SOS Children
Date: Friday, 19 November 2010 at 10:10 AM

Former child soldiers from Uganda this week shared their stories with Britain’s Minister for International Development, on a visit to the UK.

Thousands of Ugandan children were abducted from the north of the central African country by the Lord’s Resistance Army in the eighties and nineties and forced to fight as soldiers and terrorise the communities they grew up in. This violence at the same time as an HIV epidemic, paralysyed the region.

The UK is backing rehabilitation and recovery in Northern Uganda, including training 150,000 young people who have missed the chance to go to school and helping 4,500 people return to their former homes.

“Today I had the privilege to meet with several young Ugandans who have survived abduction and forced enslavement as child soldiers,” said Minister for International Development, Stephen O’Brien.

“These children and teenagers have endured unimaginable suffering and have shown great courage. That they have come to the UK to share their story of restoration shows a great strength and character – I believe these children, and many others like them, will grow to become upstanding citizens, heralding a new generation of hope for Uganda. They are an inspiration to us all as much as to their fellow citizens in Uganda.”

The children, supported by the charity, Watoto, thanked the MP for the UK’s continued involvement and interest in redeveloping Uganda. “Meeting the minister was great,” one of the Ugandan children told the Department for International Development. “It means a lot to me that he met with us to hear about our lives and make us feel welcome.”

Northern Uganda has been the centre of a brutal, 20-year insurgency by a cult-like rebel group that saw two million people uprooted from their homes and tens of thousands kidnapped, mutilated or killed.

Led by self-proclaimed mystic Joseph Kony, the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) is notorious for massacring ordinary people, slicing off the lips of survivors and kidnapping children for use as soldiers, porters and sex slaves. In 2007, the University of California-Berkley’s Human Rights Centre reported that the LRA has abducted up to 38,000 children and 37,000 adults. More than 20,000 children were abducted, and in some cases, girls as young as nine years old were turned into sex slaves. More than 620,000 people still live in camps and at the height of the fighting, violence and disease killed 1,000 people a week.

Uganda asks Sudan to provide evidence of aiding Darfur rebels

2010-11-18T06:57:00.003Z

Uganda asks Sudan to provide evidence of aiding Darfur rebels
Source: Xinhua - english.peopledaily.com
Date: Tuesday, 16 November 2010 at 21:42

The Ugandan government has asked Sudan to prove that the East African country had agreed to train over 80 rebels of the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) fighting in Sudan's Darfur region, a senior Foreign Ministry official said on Tuesday.

James Mugume, permanent secretary of the ministry, told Xinhua by telephone that several meetings with Sudanese authorities, including an invitation by Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni come to Uganda and verify their claims have yielded nothing since August.

"Absolutely there is no truth in it. We have asked these people to come, we are waiting for them," he said.

According to the allegation, Sudan had got a letter in which a junior Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) officer had written to a military academy director in Uganda to have over 80 JEM rebels trained here.

Daily Monitor, a newspaper here reported on Tuesday that Uganda' s ambassador to Sudan Betty Akech had been summoned twice by the Sudan Foreign Ministry over the allegations.

The daily reported that in such a meeting held on Aug. 16, the Sudanese Foreign Ministry told the ambassador that the allegations had been confirmed by an impeccable source and the "repercussions would be grave."

The Ugandan government, however, doubts the authenticity of the letter wondering how a junior SPLA officer can write to a director of a military academy in Uganda.

"We think somebody was doctoring, the list of the 80 people looked like somebody picked a list of names of some refugees in a camp in Darfur," he said.

Uganda and Sudan had been foes with each of them accusing the other of arming its dissidents.

Sudan accused Uganda of supporting the SPLA rebels who were fighting in southern Sudan, while Uganda accused Sudan of arming rebels of the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) that caused tens of thousands of deaths in northern Uganda.

The Ugandan military last month announced that the LRA leader Joseph Kony who has also caused mayhem in the Central African Republic and the Democratic Republic of Congo had crossed to Darfur.

Lt. Col. Felix Kulayigye, Uganda's army spokesman, told reporters on Oct. 29 that Sudan was aware of Kony's presence in Darfur, but could not say whether the authorities there were supporting him like they did before.

Sudan is currently under international spotlight as it heads for a referendum early next year that will determine whether southern Sudan stays as part of Sudan or breaks away.

Uganda: We Are Not a Terrorist Organisation, Says LRA

2010-11-04T00:41:00.002Z

REBEL group accuses the Bangui meeting of using LRA to beg for assistance from the international community.

Uganda: We Are Not a Terrorist Organisation, Says LRA
Source: News from Africa - www.newsfromafrica.org
Written by: Peter Omondi
Date: Tuesday 19 October 2010

NAIROBI---The Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), Uganda’s rebel group that has been fighting President Yoweri Museveni’s government for the last 24 years has denied that it is a terrorist organization.

The rebel group was reacting to resolutions arrived at by a three-day meeting of countries affected by the northern Uganda conflict was held in Bangui, Central African Republic from 13-15 October. It was attended by the officials of the Peace and Security Commission of the African Union. Besides characterizing the LRA as a terrorist organization, the meeting further agreed to establish a joint military brigade to be backed by the AU to help in the eradication of the LRA.

It also called on the international community, particularly the United States of America and the European Union to fund this proposed new military adventure.

The CAR government spokesman is widely quoted to have told the press, "We are now issuing a call to the United States of America and the European Union to tell them that if they do not help the Central African Republic as soon as possible, the LRA of Joseph Kony will soon join with Al-Qaeda, and it will be very serious." He is also reported to have said that the CAR cannot afford to fight the Ugandan rebels across the country, before adding that, "We do not want to dismiss the LRA out of the CAR, we definitely want to finish, destroy the LRA."

“These are cheap self-serving lies”, said a statement issued to media houses by Justine Labeja, Acting Leader of the LRA Peace Team. “The LRA is not a terrorist organization and is not about to join Al-Qaeda. The LRA is not and has no role in prosecuting war against the peoples and, or governments of CAR, DR Congo, Southern Sudan or the Republic of the Sudan.”

The statement added: “The LRA is simply holding in self defence and in self preservation against a needless regional military campaign that has been mounted under the orchestration and the leadership of the army state of Uganda in the last two years.The LRA should not be used by the governments of these troubled African countries as an excuse to seek assistance from the international community to prop themselves up.”

LRA further accused the countries that met in Bangui as those having their own internal rebellions to deal with.

“The LRA should not be used as a cover and convenience in these conflicts. The Bangui meeting that proposes a 'Rambo' type solution to the 'northern' Uganda and other African conflicts is a mischievous attempt to divert the AU from addressing the root causes of Africa's structurally and politically generated conflicts”, the LRA statement added.

Peace talks between the Ugandan government and the LRA, which were mediated by the Government of Southern Sudan collapsed in 2008 after LRA leader Joseph Kony refused to sign the final peace deal unless the International Criminal Court (ICC) warrants against him and his commanders were withdrawn. LRA has since spread its wings to CAR, DRC and Southern Sudan, and has been accused of carrying out attacks on the civilian population and abducting children for use as soldiers and sex slaves.

Uganda: War-era guns linked to recent murders - LRA buried guns in coffins so that the arms are well-protected

2010-11-01T12:06:00.023Z

FROM 1986 to 2006, northern Uganda endured a bloody insurgency by the Lord’s Resistance Army, LRA, in which an estimated 100,000 people were killed and nearly two million displaced.

A spate of gun crime in Lira district has been blamed by police on the wide availability of weaponry left over from Uganda’s civil war.

With many weapons from 20-year civil war still in circulation, police fear wave of killings could continue.

Full story below.

Uganda: War-Era Guns Linked to Recent Murders
Source: The Institute for War and Peace Reporting (IWPR) - iwpr.net
ACR Issue 274
By Bill Oketch
Date: Thursday, 21 October 2010

Photo: Vincent Otti, the late deputy leader of the Lord’s Resistance Army, whose weapons continue to circulate in northern Uganda, posing a threat to the local population. (Photo: Euan Denholm/IRIN)

A spate of gun crime in Lira district has been blamed by police on the wide availability of weaponry left over from Uganda’s civil war.

At the beginning of October, a 60-year-old woman was gunned down over a land dispute in Alito sub-county in Kole district, near the town of Lira. A week earlier, a woman was shot and killed in Barr sub-county, to the east of Lira, also because of a disagreement about land.

At around the same time, two people were shot and killed in Chawente in the neighbouring district of Apac. The police blamed a gang that has been looting and terrorising residents in the area.

Richard Aruk Maruk, Lira’s district police chief, told IWPR that the presence of illegal guns, many a legacy of the conflict, is fuelling the violence.

The regional police spokesman, Henry Alyanga, said that in all the recent murder cases the suspects had been arrested and remanded in custody, but warned the prevalence of unlicenced firearms in the region means that more killings are likely.

From 1986 to 2006, northern Uganda endured a bloody insurgency by the Lord’s Resistance Army, LRA, in which an estimated 100,000 people were killed and nearly two million displaced.

Alyanga claimed that during the conflict, local leaders and those willing to join government forces – most notably paramilitaries such as the Amuka of northern Uganda and the so-called Arrow Boys of north-eastern Uganda – were given arms to protect civilians against LRA raids.

After the war, however, many failed to hand their weapons back, he said.

“People were screened before they got the arms, but some who managed to get through the screening included troublemakers who simply disappeared with the weapons,” Alyanga explained. “They now use the guns in their possession to commit murder. Even those who returned the guns still know where to get such firearms if they want to.”

Musa Ecwero, the minister for disaster preparedness and refugees, accepts that some of those who received weapons have retained them, but says new disarmament efforts are under way.

Christopher Ameny, a cleric in the Aboke archdiocese in Apac district, says former LRA soldiers also provide a source of illegal weapons.

In 2005, Ameny was appointed by the Uganda Joint Christian Council, UJCC, to educate communities about the misuse of firearms.

“During the implementation of the project, we discovered that there are still lots of illegal arms in the region,” Ameny said. “Many of these were in the hands of former LRA fighters. As former fighters returned home, many buried their guns in case they needed them again. [They] even used coffins so that the arms are well-protected from rusting.”

The spate of killings has alarmed people in the region, whose memories of the LRA insurgency are still fresh.

“They have imitated the LRA style of operation against innocent civilians,” said Alfred Opong, a resident at Ojwii camp, outside Lira. “We pray every day to protect ourselves from these bad people who continue to haunt us.”

Some in northern Uganda are now calling for tighter gun controls. Under current laws, ordinary Ugandans can own small handguns only if they have a licence.

However, Charles Odur Kami, a bishop from Lango diocese, argued that there should be stricter rules over who was eligible to hold a licence. “If this was done, firearms would not be entrusted to wrongdoers,” he said.

Not everyone, though, agrees that tougher gun laws would be effective.

“Thugs have got their own tactics for acquiring arms, and it is very difficult to curtail this,” said Godfrey Aluma, resident district commissioner for Lira, adding that it was unlikely that many of the recent murders could have been prevented by tougher gun laws.

Police spokesman Alyanga says that the cause of most of the recent killings was conflict between family members, often over land or allegations of witchcraft.

“When the clan fails to resolve a problem, people take the law into their own hands and kill those that they believe to be behind the mess,” he said. “Of course, they use illegal arms in their possession.”

Alyanga added that, besides stepping up efforts to catch those suspected of possessing illegal weapons, regional police forces have also embarked on a programme to raise awareness among local communities of their rights and Ugandan law.

Lango bishop Kami also said that government policy must go beyond simply arresting and jailing gunmen, and actually try to address the root causes of the recent shootings. Otherwise, he said, “the killings of our people will not stop”.

Bill Oketch is an IWPR-trained journalist.

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Uganda says Sudan aware of LRA Kony's presence in Darfur, W. Sudan - CAR: "LRA is now a terrorist organisation like Al-Qaeda"

2010-10-31T13:11:00.007Z

JOSEPH Kony, leader of Uganda's Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) terrorist organisation, is hiding in Sudan's Darfur region after fleeing a pursuit by the Uganda army in Central African Republic (CAR), the army said on Friday.

"Joseph Kony is no longer in Central African Republic. He crossed into Sudan a few days ago but some elements of LRA commanded by Dominic Ongwen are still in CAR," Felix Kulayigye, defence ministry spokesman told a news conference.

An International Criminal Court (ICC) indictee, Kony often escapes into Sudan whenever he's pursued in CAR because the Ugandan army lacks the mandate to operate there, the army said.

Andrew Natsios [former U.S. Special Envoy to Sudan in 2006-7] on Tuesday said that elements within the Sudanese government loyal to the Islamist opposition leader Hassan Al-Turabi are seeking to derail the January 2011 referendum in order to avert what appears to be the likely separation of the South.

Natsios who just returned from a trip that took him to South Sudan said that while president Omer Hassan Al-Bashir and his 2nd Vice president Ali Osman Taha are "moderates", he pointed fingers at pro-Turabi figures within the regime who do not want the South to separate.

Click here to read full story at Sudan Watch, parent site of Uganda Watch.

Related Reports

CAR: "LRA is now a terrorist organisation like Al-Qaeda" - ICC Ocampo: "Violence it is not a ticket to power, but to The Hague"
Sudan Watch - Monday, 25 October 2010

Uganda, DRCongo seek new ways to fight insurgents - Nun offers refuge in Sudan - Religious leaders call on UN - LRA wants peace talks resumed
Sudan Watch - Sunday, 19 September 2010

URGENT MESSAGE TO PRESIDENTS BASHIR & KIIR - Shocking video of the LRA hunting children in Sudan
Sudan Watch - Wednesday, 08 September 2010

Acholi clergy want LRA peace talks back

2010-10-27T16:01:00.002+01:00

Acholi clergy want LRA peace talks back
Source: The New Vision.co.ug
Date: Tuesday, 26 October 2010
Written by Patience Aber:

THE Acholi Religious Peace Initiative has said it is still possible to bring Joseph Kony and the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) back to the peace talks table.

In a petition to the US signed by the chairman of the initiative, Bishop Johnson Gakumba, the religious leaders argued that they had spent a significant time dealing with the LRA conflict and, therefore, had a greater understanding of the implications of the conflict in the Great Lakes region.

“A negotiated end to the conflict that leads to the peaceful demobilisation of the combatants would be ideal and, therefore, should be pursued if there is a viable opportunity,” the petition read.

The leaders said it was important that they, as experienced peace builders, be given another opportunity to hold peace talks with the rebels.

“We also agree that the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), the Central African Republic, and Sudan need to be brought on board for any strategy to be successful,” the religious leaders said.

This comes after the African Union agreed to support a joint military force by Uganda, the Central African Republic, the DRC and Sudan to fight the LRA.

However the former Gulu [RDC] Col Walter Ochora described as a joke, the belief by the Acholi Religious Peace Initiative [ARLI] that Joseph Kony and the LRA rebel can return to the peace talks table.

He said giving Kony and the LRA rebels another chance to return to the peace talks table will only give them the opportunity to reorganize themselves and cause more atrocities in the great lakes region.

“To believe that the LRA will return to peace talks is peace Jokes the only way to get rid of the LRA war, is to isolate its top commanders like Joseph Kony, Dominic Ogwen and Okot Odhambo,” Ochora said.

The faith based organization has also called upon the administration of US president Barrack Obama to involve the civil society in the LRA affected regions while implementing the LRA Disarmament and Northern Uganda Recovery Act of 2009.

In May 2010 Obama signed into law the LRA Disarmament and Northern Uganda Recovery Act which renews US commitments and strengthens their capabilities to protect and assist civilians affected by the LRA war.

The Obama administration has until November 2010 to develop an implementation strategy.

Activists, Victims Await US Action Against LRA

2010-10-27T15:05:00.002+01:00

Activists, Victims Await US Action Against LRA
Source: Voice of America www.voanews.com
Date: Tuesday, 26 October 2010

Human-rights activists and victims are eagerly awaiting U.S. government action against the East Africa-based Lord's Resistance Army. A U.S. law signed earlier this year mandates President Barack Obama to devise a strategy before November 20 to stop the rampaging rebel group.

John Prendergast of the U.S.-based Enough Project was one of many activists who welcomed the LRA Disarmament and Northern Uganda Recovery Act that was signed into law in May.

"You had a bipartisan consensus bill that had the highest number of cosponsors for an Africa-related bill in congressional history and the highest number of cosponsors for any bill in 2010," said Prendergast.

He says the onus now is on President Obama to stop this group which first started as a rebellion against Uganda's government in the 1980s and evolved into a brutal movement led by Joseph Kony.

"Twenty-five years have gone by where this guy has gone around, blitzing around northern Uganda and now into three or four countries in Central Africa still kidnapping kids, still cutting the lips off of women, still burning buses and villages and doing all kinds of stuff," Prendergast said. "Raping systematically in certain villages with a militia of no more than 600, 700 people, probably the highest ratio of damage to number of militia in the history of warfare, and we cannot do anything about that? No, you are going to do something about it."

Independent journalist Joe Bavier has been investigating recent activities of the LRA for the U.S.-based Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting. Bavier says the group scattered in several directions after the failed December 2008 joint attack on a LRA camp in the Garamba forests of the Democratic Republic of Congo by armies of several African countries, with logistical support from the U.S. government.

"They are everywhere. They have scattered in the northern Democratic Republic of Congo," said Bavier. "They loot, they carry out attacks in southern Sudan. Joseph Kony, himself, and Okot Odhiambo, one of the other commanders that is wanted by the International Criminal Court in The Hague, have been been operating in southeastern Central African Republic. The impact has been felt in an area where there has basically been no protection of civilians."

Since late 2008, the United Nations and aid groups estimate that the LRA has killed more than 2,000 people, abducted a similar number, and displaced hundreds of thousands of others.

Bavier who has been to areas where the LRA recently committed atrocities says people there are aware of the U.S. law and have very high expectations.

"It is a wish list, basically. They really do hope and expect, even in a lot of cases, the Americans deploy troops on the ground in LRA-affected areas, and take care of the military side of this, personally. And they also expect a lot of humanitarian assistance in these areas," he said.

But Bavier says a complicating factor to the issue is that reports indicate Kony may be seeking safety in the war-wracked western Sudan region of Darfur.

"He has long been an ally of Khartoum. And if he can find safe haven and support in Darfur and perhaps create alliances with pro-Khartoum militias, like the janjaweed in Darfur, we may be looking at a whole new ball game," Bavier added.

The janjaweed are pro-Khartoum militias accused of committing atrocities against civilians in Darfur. Like Joseph Kony, Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir is wanted by the International Criminal Court in The Hague on charges of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity - charges he denies and calls a Western plot against him.

Kony faces several dozen charges, including murder, sexual enslavement and rape. He has also denied the charges, describing himself as a freedom fighter guided by the Bible's Ten Commandments. Kony says accusations against him are propaganda by Uganda's government.

Further Reading

CAR: "LRA is now a terrorist organisation like Al-Qaeda"
- ICC Ocampo: "Violence it is not a ticket to power, but to The Hague"

THE African Union (AU) is helping four nations in central Africa build an international army to corner cross-border guerrillas in the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA). This new army, with soldiers from Uganda, Sudan, Central Africa Republic (CAR) and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo) will pursue the LRA across borders. AU Commissioner for Peace and Security Ramtane Lamara says it's an encouraging plan that the AU will back. Click here to read full story at Sudan Watch, Monday, 25 October 2010.

UN report details several incidents where Ugandan troops (UPDF) are accused of atrocities in DR Congo 1993-2003

2010-10-01T12:26:00.005+01:00

A draft UN report into conflicts in the DR Congo from 1993 to 2003 details several incidents where Ugandan troops (UPDF) are accused of atrocities such as the massacre of civilians, torture and destroying infrastructure that led to civilian deaths.

Ugandan forces backed the Congolese rebels who toppled then president Mobutu Sese Seko in 1997 and occupied various parts of eastern DR Congo until 2003.

The report, expected to be published Friday, is based on data collected by UN investigators from July 2008 to June 2009 and aims to expose "crimes never previously documented" during the ten years of the DR Congo conflict.

Full story below.

UN report jeopardises Uganda role in peace missions
(AFP) – Thursday 30 September 2010:

KAMPALA — Uganda has warned that a United Nations report implicating it in war crimes in DR Congo jeopardised its commitment to regional peace missions, according to a letter obtained by AFP on Thursday.

Uganda leads an African Union force in Somalia where it has some 4,300 men and much smaller numbers of military and police personnel in south Sudan, Darfur, Ivory Coast and East Timor.

"Such sinister tactics undermine Uganda's resolve to continue contributing to, and participating in, various regional and international peacekeeping operations," said the letter by Foreign Minister Sam Kutesa to the UN.

The draft UN report into conflicts in the DR Congo from 1993 to 2003 details several incidents where Ugandan troops (UPDF) are accused of atrocities such as the massacre of civilians, torture and destroying infrastructure that led to civilian deaths.

Ugandan forces backed the Congolese rebels who toppled then president Mobutu Sese Seko in 1997 and occupied various parts of eastern DR Congo until 2003.

The report, expected to be published Friday, is based on data collected by UN investigators from July 2008 to June 2009 and aims to expose "crimes never previously documented" during the ten years of the DR Congo conflict.

But the Ugandan minister termed the document "a compendium of rumours, deeply flawed in methodology, sourcing and standard of proof."

He said Uganda "rejects the draft report in its entirety and demands that it not be published."

The International Court of Justice had in a 2005 ruling found that Uganda violated international human rights law and international humanitarian law during its occupation of parts of DR Congo.

The Hague-based court ordered Uganda to pay reparations to Kinshasa, but Kampala has yet to comply.

Railroad from Juba gets the green light, linking Sudan with Uganda and Kenya

2010-09-29T18:41:00.005+01:00

A consortium made up of German giant ThyssenKrupp, Russia’s MosMetrostroy, and the Texas-based firm Ayr Logistics Group will begin work in October on a long-planned modern rail line from Southern Sudan to Uganda — and ultimately, it is hoped, to the Kenyan ports of Mombasa and Lamu. Read more at www.commentarymagazine.com by J.E. Dyer, 28 September 2010: Missing the Big Picture in Sudan.

LINKING SUDAN WITH UGANDA AND KENYA
Railroad from Juba gets the green light
Source: www.eturbonews.com
By Wolfgang H. Tome, ETN - 23 September 2010

(eTN) - Information was received overnight from Berlin, Germany, that a conference between the New Sudan Foundation, ThyssenKrupp GfT Gleistechnik, Ayr Logistics Ltd., and MosMetrostroy has concluded with a comprehensive agreement to commence construction of the proposed railroad from Juba, which according to impeccable sources, will eventually connect the Southern Sudan with the Indian Ocean seaports of Mombasa and Lamu in Kenya.

Since the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement between the regime in Khartoum and the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement in January 2005, the new Sudan Foundation, chaired by Dr. Costello Garang Ring Lual, has pursued this ambitious infrastructure project to link the Southern Sudan with her neighbors Uganda and Kenya. ThyssenKrupp GfT Gleistechnik, seeing the huge potential for rail traffic across Eastern Africa, backed the vision of Dr. Costello and Ayr Logistics Limited, then came on board to raise the massive financing, thought to be the in the region of at least US$3 billion.

Sources from Berlin confirmed that with the required venture capital now fully underwritten and available, the parties came together for a formal meeting in the German capital to put pen to paper. Added information was also provided that Russia’s MosMetrostroy has been selected as the major contractor, having extensive experience in building and rehabilitating railroads across the vast stretches of Russia. They, too, will financially back the project.

Details of the ground breaking will be available soon and be reported here again as breaking news, with eTurboNews having been the first to tell the story of this planned railroad quite some time ago and now being able to bring this breaking news to its readers ahead of the world media.

In a related development, it was also learned that the New Sudan Foundation, alongside the building of the railroad, will also develop complementary projects like access roads, depots, freight terminals, power stations, and hotels, among others, along the railroad in Southern Sudan, bringing much needed extra infrastructure to the Southern Sudanese region. As previously reported, the Southern Sudanese population will vote in a referendum in early January next year, where they are expected to vote for independence from the North to become Africa’s youngest nation.

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Further Reading
New Sudan Foundation at www.new-sudan-foundation.com

Mobile phones connect Ugandan farmers to agricultural information

2010-09-25T18:21:00.005+01:00

A Community Knowledge Worker in Uganda obtains agricultural information with her cell phone. Full story below.

Mobile Phones Connect Ugandan Farmers to Agricultural Information
From America.gov www.america.gov
Monday, 20 September 2010
By Phillip Kurata, Staff Writer (Washington):

“My goat is sick. Its neck is swollen. It can’t eat,” an old woman in a remote village in Uganda said. She spoke to a man passing by with a mobile phone.

“Let me see if I can help,” said Laban Rutagumirwa.

He sent off a text message that read “goat bloat.” The message went to an agriculture information service devised by the Grameen Foundation and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. A response came back shortly with instructions to mix a half kilo of rock salt with a liter of water and have the goat drink it. Two weeks later, Rutagumirwa was passing through the village and came across the old woman. She happily reported that her goat had recovered.

The woman was lucky that the passerby was Rutagumirwa. He is one of about 140 employees of the Community Knowledge Worker program that is bringing “relevant, actionable information” to poor, remote farmers in Uganda, according to David Edelstein, the Grameen Foundation’s technology center director.

The program started in 2009 in Uganda’s Bushenyi and Mbale districts. Trusted local residents, such as farmers, agriculture extension workers, shopkeepers and school teachers, were trained to disseminate and gather information about agriculture using mobile phones. The workers help the Ugandan farmers treat not only sick goats, but also blighted bananas, coffee berry bacterial infections, discolored tomatoes and other plant and livestock problems. In addition, the mobile phone-equipped workers have put farmers in touch with markets and weather forecasts.

“What we have seen so far is really encouraging,” Edelstein said. “Farmers have seen their crop yields rise. They have learned better planting techniques by the phone. They have been able to diagnose problems with pests and diseases. They monitor market prices by phone. The mobile phones enable them to bargain more effectively with middle men.”

“In the past, some guy pulls up in a truck, puts 100 head of cabbage in the back, pays off the farmer and drives away. Now, with the Community Knowledge Workers helping, the farmers can combine their cabbages into a single batch and force the buyer to pay a better price,” Edelstein said. Thanks to the knowledge workers, the farmers know when the man in the pickup truck will arrive and what the price of cabbage is in the markets, enabling them to demand a fair price from the buyer, he explained.

Weather forecasts are another element of the information service that farmers value. “Farmers are able to avoid planting seeds or applying fertilizer just before a storm hits and washes everything away,” Edelstein said.

The Grameen technology director said the Community Knowledge Worker program will be expanded throughout Uganda and possibly to other East African countries and later to South Asia, where hundreds of millions of people also are engaged in small-holder farming.

Tabitha Salimo, a knowledge worker in Bushenyi, said, “The farmers love the information.”

She said farmers sometimes expect more from her than she can provide. “They sometimes want things that we do not have,” she said. “We do not get them fertilizer. We do not loan them money. We only get them information.”

Salimo charges 100 Ugandan shillings (about $0.05) per call, but she is not always able to collect the fee. “Sometimes, the farmers do not want to pay until they see that what I tell them works,” she said.

Edelstein said what is important at this stage is to get life-improving information into the hands of farmers. He said program managers are trying to determine the appropriate fee for mobile phone queries. He expects that the charge will drop, perhaps to 50 Ugandan shillings. Nevertheless, he believes that the farmers should pay for information because they are more likely to act on if they pay for it.

In addition to providing information, the Community Knowledge Workers collect information on behalf of the World Food Programme, the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture and other international research organizations. The Community Knowledge Workers take photographs of agricultural conditions and conduct surveys for which they are paid. This makes the program economically self-sustaining, according to Edelstein.

“The use of Community Knowledge Workers is much cheaper than previous collection methods that involved sending people to the field from the capitals,” Edelstein said. “The workers collect detailed, up-to-date information in rural areas that would be otherwise unavailable or too costly to collect on a frequent basis. Also very little time is lost between when the data is collected and when it arrives in the hands of the research organizations.”

The Grameen technology director said that with 5 billion mobile phones and large numbers of small-holder farmers throughout the world, the model holds tremendous potential to create higher living standards for the rural poor.

(This is a product of the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://www.america.gov)

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Click here for BBC's weather forecast for Kampala, Uganda and see the following Related Links at http://news.bbc.co.uk:

Elsewhere on bbc.co.uk
1. BBC News Country Profile: Uganda
2. BBC Swahili.com
Elsewhere on the web

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Uganda offers to train DR Congo troops

2010-09-22T13:54:00.005+01:00

THE Ugandan and Congolese armies are conducting joint operations against the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) rebels in DR Congo and the Central African Republic.

Congolese troops fighting rebels from the Allied Defence Forces (ADF) in eastern DR Congo close to the Ugandan border are benefiting from Ugandan intelligence.

Ugandan Defence Minister Crispus Kiyonga and his Congolese counterpart, Charles Mwando, who will meet again in November, agreed to do everything possible to neutralise the LRA and the ADF, a joint statement said.

In another recent sign of willingness to cooperate, the Ugandan government in June arrested a rebel chief operating in eastern DR Congo, Gadi Ngabo, the head of the Patriotic Front for the Liberation of Congo (FPLC).

Full story below.

Uganda offers to train DR.Congo troops
(AFP) – Tuesday, 21 September 2010

KAMPALA — Uganda has offered to train troops of the Democratic Republic of Congo, its former foe, army spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Felix Kulayigye said Tuesday.

"It is the first time that Uganda is offering her military academies to train Congolese government soldiers," Kulayigye told AFP, adding the offer followed a two-day bilateral meeting that ended Sunday in Kampala.

The meeting was between Ugandan Defence Minister Crispus Kiyonga and his Congolese counterpart, Charles Mwando.
In recent years Kampala has trained a plethora of Congolese rebel groups that fought in DR Congo against the Kinshasa government, other proxy groups or amongst themselves.

Kulayigye said it was too early to talk about the training timetable or the number of troops who will participate.

"Uganda offered training space at its military academies to DRC forces. The timetable is to be done by the Congolese when they are able to implement the decision," he said, adding that troop numbers still need to be worked out.

The meeting at the weekend was a follow-up to the Ngurdoto agreement signed by Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni and his Congolese counterpart, Joseph Kabila, in Tanzania in 2007 to normalise relations between the two countries.

The Ugandan and Congolese armies are conducting joint operations against the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) rebels in DR Congo and the Central African Republic.

Congolese troops fighting rebels from the Allied Defence Forces (ADF) in eastern DR Congo close to the Ugandan border are benefiting from Ugandan intelligence.

The two ministers, who will meet again in November, agreed to do everything possible to neutralise the LRA and the ADF, a joint statement said.

In another recent sign of willingness to cooperate, the Ugandan government in June arrested a rebel chief operating in eastern DR Congo, Gadi Ngabo, the head of the Patriotic Front for the Liberation of Congo (FPLC).

Ugandan troops and their rebel allies invaded DR Congo twice, in 1996 and again in 1998. Even after they withdrew in large numbers over the period 2002-2003, Ugandan troops have made numerous incursions into DR Congo, mostly in pursuit of LRA rebels.

Uganda, DRCongo seek new ways to fight insurgents - Nun offers refuge in Sudan - Religious leaders call on UN - LRA wants peace talks resumed

2010-09-20T05:15:00.001+01:00

BEFORE glancing through the following round-up of 21 news reports regarding the LRA (Lord's Resistance Army), please click here (and wait for short advert to end) to view an important video report at TIME.com by Ed Robbins reporting from Western Equatoria, south Sudan. The report, entitled "NUN OFFERS REFUGE FROM VIOLENCE IN SUDAN", features Sister Giovanna, mother superior at a Catholic mission in Ezo, South Sudan, who provides refuge for villagers fleeing vicious attacks by soldiers of the LRA.

I say, compassion is the greatest healer. Upon viewing the video I wanted to reach out my hands and shake Sister Giovanna's hand and give her a big hug for being so compassionate and courageous in speaking out and asking important questions. I think people who are abducted and enslaved by the LRA should be viewed as victims and prisoners of war in urgent need of rescuing and a care plan that includes treatment for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). I am still thinking of poor Moses, wondering who is helping him deal with his nightmares.
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Uganda, DRCongo seek new ways to fight insurgents
From AFP
Sunday, 19 September 2010

(KAMPALA) - Defence leaders from Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo are meeting Sunday in Kampala to discuss new ways to combat rebel groups in the region, notably the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA).

"We will discuss security matters, especially border insurgency by negative forces, the Lord's Resistance Army and others," Ugandan Defence Minister Crispus Kiyonga told AFP.

"We expect this meeting to come up with comprehensive measures to deal with negative forces to ensure there is peace in the region, and to see that there is smooth movement of goods and services between the two countries," he added. Tens of thousands of people have been killed in two decades of fighting since LRA chief Joseph Kony took up arms, initially against the Ugandan government.

Long since driven out of Uganda, the guerrillas have carved out a vast region of control in the dense forests of northeast DR Congo, as well as southern Sudan and the Central African Republic, and their insurgency has been marked by appalling violence against civilians.

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Uganda, Congo discuss new plot against LRA
From The New Vision (www.newvision.co.ug) by Henry Mukasa
Sunday, 19 September, 2010

UGANDA and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) have vowed to work together to annihilate the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) rebels who are threatening the security of the two countries.

Defence minister Dr. Crispus Kiyonga and DRC’s defence and veterans’ minister Charles Mwando made the declaration after a meeting in Munyonyo on Saturday.

The ministers met under the Ngurdoto agreement signed by President Yoweri Museveni and his counterpart, Joseph Kabila in Tanzania on September 8, 2007. The ministers will meet again in November.

According to a statement, the ministers reviewed the security situation along the border and commended each other for the joint operations against the LRA rebels in Congo.

They also thanked each other for the on-going operations against the Alliance Defence Forces (ADF) leaders in Eastern DRC.

“In this respect, they agreed to do everything possible to neutralise Joseph Kony, his group, and the ADF rebels,” the statement said.

Kony is the leader of the LRA rebels, who fought an atrocious war in northern Uganda, maiming, looting property, raping and abducting people.

Kiyonga stated that Uganda was ready to support efforts against lawless Ugandans destabilising peace and security in the region.

Mwando thanked the Ugandan government for arresting rebels like Gen. Gadi Ngabo. Ngabo, the leader of the Patriotic Front in Congo, had declared war on the government of Joseph Kabila, claiming it had failed to keep its promises.

Uganda offered training space at its military academies to DRC forces.

Yesterday, Mwando visited the Kimaka Senior Command and Staff College in Jinja. He was briefed on the history, objectives, course modules and administrative structure of the college.

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Bishops tell US leaders military option won't work against rebels
From Sunday Monitor (www.monitor.co.ug) by Mark Kirumira, Washington
Friday, 17 September 2010 at 06:45

Two Ugandan bishops have told US officials that regional dialogue with the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) rebels would work better than a military option against it.

"The issue is no longer the LRA and Uganda," Archbishop John Baptist Odama of Gulu told Catholic News Service in Washington on Wednesday. "The issue now is regional."

Archbishop Odama has headed the Gulu Archdiocese in northern Uganda since 1999 and, during that time, has worked to end hostilities between the UPDF and the LRA.

He travelled to Washington with Anglican Bishop MacLeord Baker Ochola II, retired bishop of Kitgum.

The bishops recently said they do not oppose the LRA Disarmament and Northern Uganda Recovery Act, which US President Barack Obama signed into law in May, but were urging US officials to end the use of force in dealing with the LRA.

The cited numerous occasions on which force did not work against the rebel group.
Efforts by the government to make peace with the rebels, on four times, through dialogue have yielded nothing with LRA leader Joseph Kony refusing to sign the peace agreement --- the last being in 2007.

The break in the talks forced the UPDF to launch an operation christened Lightening Thunder on the rebels’ bases in DR Congo.

But an LRA rebels’ delegation has reportedly written to the United Nations secretary general Ban Ki-Moon appealing for the resumption of the talks with the government.

The bishops met with State Department officials, who have until November to develop a strategy for disarming the LRA and they also met with congressional leaders.

"We are afraid," Archbishop Odama said.

"Let us bring [their] leaders together -- the new stakeholders."

Bishop Ochola said those opposed to peace -- those who advocate continued fighting -- should also be invited to the dialogue. He said the Acholi Religious Leaders Peace Initiative leaders have offered to mediate multiple times.

Since late 2008, the LRA have killed more than 2,500 civilians in southern Sudan. About 90,000 Sudanese in Western Equatoria province have been displaced from their homes, and 25,000 refugees from Congo and Central African Republic have sought refuge in the province.

Archbishop Odama and Bishop Ochola said capturing or killing Kony would not necessarily end the conflict, because the situation is so complex and includes splinter groups and tribal conflicts.

Kony and his bandits have shifted their base from northern Uganda and now operate in southern Sudan, Congo and the Central African Republic.

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Army dismisses rebel call for fresh talks
From The New Vision (www.newvision.co.ug)
Friday, 17 September, 2010

THE army says calls by the Lords Resistance Army rebels to the UN to initiate fresh peace talks with the government is diversionary and intended to buy time.

UPDF 4th Division Intelligence Officer, Major Victor Opira says peace talks between the government and the LRA were concluded and what is remaining is for the LRA leader, Joseph Kony to sign the final peace agreement document.

He says government is aware that the LRA is not serious and has always wanted to seek for survival means.

Opira also revealed that the strength and capacity of the LRA have greatly been reduced and weakened in the recent operations against the LRA.

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South Sudan army calls for quick provision of security information
From Sudan Tribune (www.sudantribune.com) by Ngor Arol Garang
Friday, 17 September 2010

September 16, 2010 (MALAKAL) - The Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA) on Thursday called for the quick and timely provision of security information, saying that delays in passing on sensitive information to relevent authorities in the region, such as that relating to security, results in delays in crucial intervention.

Photo: SPLA spokesperson Gen Kuol Deim Kuol (Photo Ajang Monychol)

Kuol Deim Kuol, official spokesman of the SPLA told Sudan Tribune from Juba that the latest Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) attack in western Equatoria, occurred just eight miles away from Yambio, capital of the state and the information about their presence was not passed onto the SPLA forces in the area early enough.

The LRA is a northern Ugandan rebel group with no coherent demands which continues to commit atrocities across the region. At its centre is a messianic cult around its leader, the International Criminal Court charged, Josephy Kony.

“It was made known to our forces after the emergence of reports that civilians have sighted them moving about in the area before the attack,” said Kuol. He explained that the provision of information is important as it helps in preparation and proper positioning of armed forces, in order to provide quick and timely intervention.

“You see, in Western Bahr el Ghazal, LRA has limited activities because once elements associated with it are sighted by the civilians; they give information very fast to our forces. This is what is required. Cooperation in coordination and provision of security is very important,” he added.

Kuol pointed out that the LRA is active in the area, especially in the two counties of Nzara and Yambio because of lack coordination and information sharing. “We have deployed enough manpower but this is not what counts. What counts is not the number of security forces but provision of information on time and logistics. There is need for cooperation in this area,” he added.

Kuol also expressed concern over the presence of the LRA off southern soil: “The LRA operates from the Democratic Republic of Congo and our forces have no mandate to enter DRC territory. This is one. The other issue is logistics for the movement of our forces. The last and most important of all is provision of information on time. Intelligence play central role and this is what counts.”

He made an appeal following a report urging the ministry of SPLA and veteran affairs by the regional parliament to increase deployment of the armed forces in Western Equatoria State.

On Wednesday Aleu Ayieny Aleu, chair of the special committee for security and public order responded to a motion previously raised by Bernado K. Martin, a member of parliament, on increased activities and operation of LRA in the area.

The security and public order report was deliberated by undersecretary of the ministry of SPLA and veteran affairs, Bior Ajang and Obote Mamur on behalf of the SPLA chief of general staff, reulsting in eight recommendations.

The committee noted that the inaccessibility of roads was leading to the formation of LRA hideouts. That it is operating in Democratic Republic of Congo and Southern Darfur in Sudan. Lack of coordination and sharing of information on operation and activities of the LRA at the border areas was observed.

The comittee report also indicated that the LRA has established close relationships with unlawful groups, citing cattle raiders and nomads like Ombororo. TIt also suggested that the LRA is receiving logistical and military support from Khartoum’s Sudanese Armed Forces through its liaison office in South Darfur.

It accused the ruling National Congress Party of colloding with the LRA to destabilize the region by undermining the implementation of the CPA in regard to the preperations for the upcoming referendum.

To maintain peace in the region, the parliament recommended that the SPLA end the armed incursion of the LRA and Ombororo nomads wandering about in the region and called on the Government of Southern Sudan (GoSS) to make every effort to support operations of the armed forces, particularly in combating the LRA.

The parliament further urged the ministry of SPLA and veteran affairs to increase the number of the armed forces in the area, to prevent flow of illegal arms and movement, as well as to monitor allegations of the smuggling of arms.

It called for the construction of security roads in order to facilitate the quick movement of the military against illegal armed groups in the region, in particular the LRA.

The regional parliament finally called on the SPLM controlled GoSS to lead regional efforts to combat rebels, in collaboration with the Khartoum’s Government of National Unity, Uganda, Democratic of Congo and Central Africa Republic and in the hope of mediating peace with the LRA. (ST)

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The Invisible Children Organization Makes a Stop at South Walton High School
From www.wjhg.com
Thursday, 16 September 2010

These young members of the Invisible Children's Organization know that no child should live in fear of being abducted, mutilated, or killed. Activists groups are trying to shed light on the destruction caused by the longest running war in Africa's history ...
Reporter: Meagan O'Halloran
Email Address: meagan.ohalloran@wjhg.com

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Sudan: Stop the suffering - Bishop’s international call for fresh approach to LRA threat
From Aid to the Church in Need (members4.boardhost.com)
Press release by John Pontifex
Wednesday, 15 September 2010

CHURCH and civic representatives from four key African countries have signed a declaration appealing for international action to stop guerrilla forces terrorising the region.

About 30 community leaders made up of senior clergy and government representatives put their signature to a communiqué calling on national and international leaders to do more to prevent attacks by the Lords Resistance Army in Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Uganda and the Central African Republic.

The declaration calls on the countries’ governments to work together to quell the LRA threat, demanding that further pressure on the four nations be applied by the EU, the UK, the USA and the UN.

Further articles outlined in the document include an appeal for more humanitarian support to help refugees and displaced people and there is a plea for a resumption of peace talks to bring the LRA threat to an end.

Photo: Bishop Eduardo Hiiboro Kussala of Tombura-Yambio, South Sudan

In an interview with Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need, Bishop Eduardo Hiiboro Kussala of Tombura-Yambio, who organised the conference, stressed the continuing threat posed by the LRA.

Speaking yesterday (Tuesday, 14th September) at the end of the four-day meeting, Bishop Hiiboro underlined the need for international pressure to step up security in the region.

He told ACN: “We have been forgotten by our own government, forgotten by the international community and this means the LRA think they can do anything they like.

“Think of the number of people who have fled their homes, the number of people who have lost their lives and the number of people left as orphans.

“The whole state [of Western Equatoria] is living in panic – not just in South Sudan but in the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda. It is just too much.”

Bishop Hiiboro said a reminder of the LRA threat came just days before the conference got underway last week when eight people were hacked to death by machetes.

A further 14 were badly wounded, some seriously, during the attack which took place in Yambio, the regional capital of Western Equatoria State where the bishop is based and where the conference was held.

Stressing the gruesome violence typical of LRA attacks, Bishop Hiiboro said: “The impact of the LRA is terrible. There are huge numbers of refugees and displaced people trying to escape attack.

“They destroy property, leave children as orphans and, with so many leaving, there are no schools or social services.”

But, underlining the limitations of a military response to the LRA threat, he said: “We have seen what happens by following the military way.

“People continue to suffer and die. We want to say that we need another option – an option for peaceful dialogue.”

A year ago, the remains of six people were discovered nailed to a tree close to Yambio in an atrocity that was likened to a crucifixion scene. Again the LRA was implicated.

Amid widespread reports pointing to LRA collusion with Sudan President Omar al Bashir’s Islamist regime in the capital, Khartoum, Bishop Hiiboro said it was unclear who was backing the insurgents.

He added: “There are people who give them weapons, food and enable them to have telephone communications.

“It is difficult to say who helps them. It is obvious that they receive significant support because they are so very well equipped.”

The LRA issue is expected to have a major bearing on the outcome of the long-awaited referendum on the possible cessation of South Sudan, due in January.

At a time of continuing fear of attacks, reports have shown that voters are likely to be swayed by the government – be it the semi-autonomous administration in the south or the Khartoum-based government of national unity – best placed to bring the LRA threat to an end.

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Ugandan bishops tell US leaders military option won't work against rebels
From Catholic News Service (www.catholicnews.com) by Barb Fraze
Wednesday, 15 September 2010

Photo: Ugandan Archbishop John Baptist Odama of Gulu gestures during an interview with Catholic News Service. Looking on is retired Ugandan Anglican Bishop Macleord Baker Ochola II. (CNS photo/Bob Roller)

WASHINGTON (CNS) - Two Ugandan bishops -- one Catholic and one Anglican -- traveled across Africa and the Atlantic to tell U.S. officials that regional dialogue with the Lord's Resistance Army would work better than a military option against it.

"The issue is no longer the LRA and Uganda," said Archbishop John Baptist Odama of Gulu. "The issue now is regional."

Archbishop Odama has headed the Gulu Archdiocese in northern Uganda since 1999 and, during that time, has worked to end hostilities between the Ugandan military and the rebel Lord's Resistance Army, known for its brutality and especially for kidnapping children to use as soldiers and sex slaves. The LRA, once based in northern Uganda, has spread its operations to Southern Sudan, Congo and the Central African Republic.

The archbishop is president of the Acholi Religious Leaders Peace Initiative, an interfaith organization formed in the late 1990s to respond to the violence in northern Uganda, where the Acholi ethnic group is based. He traveled to Washington with one of the founding members of the organization, Anglican Bishop MacLeord Baker Ochola II, retired bishop of Kitgum.

Both men told Catholic News Service in mid-September that they do not oppose the Lord's Resistance Army Disarmament and Northern Uganda Recovery Act, which President Barack Obama signed into law in May, but were urging U.S. officials to end the use of force in dealing with the LRA. The cited numerous occasions on which force did not work against the rebel group.

The bishops met with State Department officials, who have until November to develop a strategy for disarming the LRA. They also met with congressional leaders.

"We are afraid," Archbishop Odama told CNS. He said the LRA currently is involved in a conflict to destabilize Uganda's northern neighbor, Southern Sudan, which is scheduled to vote in January on whether to secede from Sudan.

Congo and the Central African Republic, two countries that border Southern Sudan, also have an interest in its stability, the archbishop said.

"Let us bring (their) leaders together -- the new stakeholders," he said. "We say: peaceful approach."

Bishop Ochola, whose daughter committed suicide in 1987 after being brutally attacked by the LRA, said those opposed to peace -- those who advocate continued fighting -- should also be invited to the dialogue.

He said the Acholi Religious Leaders Peace Initiative leaders have offered to mediate multiple times. In 2008, rebel leaders had begun negotiations when a Ugandan military offensive drove them into neighboring countries.

In early September, religious leaders from areas affected by the Lord's Resistance Army met in Southern Sudan to outline a path to peace. In a statement, the leaders said LRA atrocities gave "no sign whatsoever of being on the decrease."

The leaders said that in Southern Sudan, the LRA was attacking urban centers with "massive abductions, displacements and killings." They said they feared "enemies of peace" would use the LRA to prevent the secession referendum.

Since late 2008, the LRA has killed more than 2,500 civilians in Southern Sudan. About 90,000 Sudanese in Western Equatoria province have been displaced from their homes, and 25,000 refugees from Congo and Central African Republic have sought refuge in the province.

Archbishop Odama and Bishop Ochola said capturing or killing LRA leader Joseph Kony would not necessarily end the conflict, because the situation is so complex and includes splinter groups and tribal conflicts. They said adding to the complexity of the situation was that most LRA soldiers were kidnapped and are serving involuntarily.

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Response to Lord's Resistance Army Is "Haphazard"
From Rome's Zenit News (www.zenit.org)
Wednesday, 15 September 2010

YAMBIO, Sudan, SEPT. 15, 2010 (Zenit.org).- Religious and civic leaders from four nations are calling for negotiation and better coordination of international efforts to bring an end to two plus decades of terror caused by the Lord's Resistance Army.

Bishop Edward Hiiboro Kussala of Tombura-Yambio, in southern Sudan, organized a four-day meeting last week, which brought together some 60 representatives including delegations from Uganda, Sudan, Democratic Republic of Congo and Central African Republic. Muslims and non-Catholic Christians were also present.

The 46-year-old bishop leads one of the dioceses most hard-hit by the Lord's Resistance Army. The Sudan Tribune reported that at least seven of his parishes have been badly attacked by the rebel group, which is known for brutality.

Bishop Hiiboro spoke Tuesday with Aid to the Church in Need about a reminder of the LRA threat when eight people were hacked to death by machetes in Yambio just days before the religious leaders' conference got under way in that city. Another 14 were badly wounded.

"The impact of the LRA is terrible," he said. "There are huge numbers of refugees and displaced people trying to escape attack.

“They destroy property, leave children as orphans and, with so many leaving, there are no schools or social services.”

Forgotten

The bishop, who has led the Diocese of Tombura-Yambio for just over two years, contended that "[w]e have been forgotten by our own government, forgotten by the international community and this means the LRA think they can do anything they like."

“Think of the number of people who have fled their homes, the number of people who have lost their lives and the number of people left as orphans," he said. “The whole state [of Western Equatoria] is living in panic -- not just in South Sudan but in the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda. It is just too much.”

Though Bishop Hiiboro said it is not clear who backs the army, it is clear that they are well-sponsored.

"There are people who give them weapons, food and enable them to have telephone communications," the bishop explained. "It is difficult to say who helps them. It is obvious that they receive significant support because they are so very well equipped."

Open door

A final statement with 30 signatories from the conference was released Sept. 10. The religious leaders cautioned against military "solutions," noting the dire effects of past efforts.

“The international community has so far failed to develop a comprehensive plan to deal with the LRA as a regional threat, instead addressing the crisis in a piecemeal and haphazard way in the four different countries,” the report stated.

It called for collaboration from the governments of the four nations terrorized by the LRA, and urged greater international pressure from the European Union, the United States and the United Nations.

Bishop Hiiboro told the Fides agency that he is advocating a political solution, which he just recommended in a meeting with the defense minister of Uganda.

"The LRA leader, [Joseph] Kony, has sent me a letter which was delivered to various other regional and international figures -- including the U.N. secretary-general -- saying that he is willing to enter into peace talks once more," the bishop noted. “Let's not close the door on negotiations."

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Bassole’ to Arrive Khartoum End Month for Advancing Government/Movements Talks From Sudan Vision Daily.com - Wednesday, September 15 @ 00:15:00 UTC by Staff Writer

...Government Spokesman Omer Adam Rahma, affirmed government's preparedness for negotiations, brushing aside the movement's accusations of government's attacks on its forces in cooperation with the LRA, adding that LRA was non existent in Darfur. He said, " Nobody can believe in the existence of the LRA troops there." ...

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LRA wants peace talks resumed
From The New Vision (www.newvision.co.ug) by Henry Mukasa
Monday, 13 September, 2010

THE residual LRA rebels’ delegation to the stalled Juba peace talks has written to the secretary general of the UN, Ban Ki-Moon, appealing for the resumption of negotiations with the Government.

In a September 6 letter, the LRA supporters asked the UN boss to take urgent steps to bring the peace talks back on track.

“The leadership of the LRA peace team makes an appeal to the UN secretary general for urgent action to revisit and once again attend to the peace question in Uganda so as to assist in reviving the stalled ‘Northern Uganda peace process,” a letter signed by Justine Labeja, the acting leader of the rebels peace team, stated.

The Government accused the LRA rebels of not being committed to the peace talks.

The Juba peace talks were the fourth time the Government had attempted to end the brutal northern Uganda war through peaceful means. In all attempts, the LRA leader, Joseph Kony, refused to sign the final peace agreement.

The LRA have fought an atrocious war in the north for nearly two decades, killing, maiming and raping people, and looting and torching homesteads.

During the Juba peace talks, the rebels said they were fighting marginalisation by the Government.

After the collapse of the peace talks in January 2007, the Government launched Operation Lightening Thunder on the LRA bases in the DR Congo. Several rebels were killed, captured or surrendered.

However, the rebel collaborators say the military offensive only spread war to the DRC, southern Sudan and the Central African Republic.

LRA top commanders were indicted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for war crimes and crimes against humanity.

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Top LRA commander moves to southern Sudan
From Bikyamasr.com
Monday, 13 September 2010

Testimony from former Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) fighters who were recently captured near Yambio in Sudan’s Western Equatoria state indicates that a notorious LRA commander, Dominic Ongwen, recently crossed into Sudan from the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Ongwen, who was indicted by the International Criminal Court for crimes against humanity and war crimes in 2005, is part of the LRA’s top leadership, second or third in command after leader Joseph Kony. BM

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Religious leaders call on UN to curb LRA activities
From Radio Miraya.org
Sunday, 12 September 2010 at 10:13

A rare 3-day meeting of about thirty religious and community leaders as well as local government officials from the Southern Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Central Africa Republic, and Uganda has criticized the "lack of a coordinated and comprehensive strategy" to tackle the Lords Resistance Army (LRA).

This came after the leaders met in Yambio town of the Western Equatoria State. The recommendations of the conference called on the UN to intervene and be deployed as quickly as possible to the region in order to halt the LRA activities.

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Common front against Ugandan rebels urged
From Gulf Times.com
Sunday, 12 September 2010 at 12:14 AM Doha Time

(AFP/Khartoum) Co-ordinated action must be taken to end the long-running brutal campaign by the Ugandan Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) rebels, leaders from the four countries affected said yesterday.

A rare three-day meeting of 30 religious and community leaders as well as local government officials from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), south Sudan, the Central African Republic (CAR) and Uganda criticised the “lack of a co-ordinated and comprehensive strategy” to tackle the rebels.

“The LRA is committing atrocities across very remote areas of already unstable nations,” read a joint statement following the meeting in the southern Sudanese town of Yambio, state capital of the badly affected Western Equatoria region.

Better co-ordination is needed, they warned, adding that “LRA atrocities give no sign whatsoever of being on the decrease.”

Tens of thousands of people have been killed in two decades of fighting since LRA chief Joseph Kony took up arms, initially against the Ugandan government.

Long since driven out of Uganda, the guerrillas have carved out a vast region of control in the dense forests of northeast DRC, south Sudan and CAR.

“DRC, Sudan and CAR all have internal conflicts that prevent them from sufficiently allocating their forces in a fight against the rebel group,” it added, calling on all national armies to work to boost troop deployment in affected areas.

“The international community has so far failed to develop a comprehensive plan to deal with the LRA as a regional threat, instead addressing the crisis in a piecemeal and haphazard way in the four different countries,” it added.

The signatories demanded that UN peacekeepers be given a “greater capacity to deploy quickly” in response to attacks.

However, the leaders praised the Washington administration for passing a law in May, which commits it to develop a strategy by the end of November to end the rebel campaign of carnage.

The LRA’s acts of startling brutality—including murder, rape, and the forced conscription of children—have forced more than 25,000 people to flee their homes in south Sudan alone since January, the UN says.

Many thousands more have been massacred, abducted or forced from their homes in CAR and DRC by the rebels, whose chiefs are wanted by the International Criminal Court.

The leaders yesterday also called for clarification of the Ugandan army’s role, which has led the hunt for LRA leaders across Sudan, DRC and CAR, since it launched a botched offensive following the collapse of peace talks.

The December 2008 Ugandan-led attacks smashed the rebels’ jungle hideouts in northeast DRC, but analysts suggest the LRA was tipped off and most fighters escaped beforehand, launching reprisal raids across a wide area as they fled.

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Uganda's LRA rebels 'must face African joint action'
From AFP by Peter Martell
Saturday, 11 September 2010 at 7:57 am ET

(KHARTOUM) - Coordinated action must be taken to end the long-running brutal campaign by the Ugandan Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) rebels, leaders from the four countries affected said on Saturday.

A rare three-day meeting of 30 religious and community leaders as well as local government officials from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), south Sudan, the Central African Republic (CAR) and Uganda criticised the "lack of a coordinated and comprehensive strategy" to tackle the rebels.

"The LRA is committing atrocities across very remote areas of already unstable nations," read a joint statement following the meeting in the southern Sudanese town of Yambio, state capital of the badly affected Western Equatoria region.

Better coordination is needed, they warned, adding that "LRA atrocities give no sign whatsoever of being on the decrease."

Tens of thousands of people have been killed in two decades of fighting since LRA chief Joseph Kony took up arms, initially against the Ugandan government.

Long since driven out of Uganda, the guerrillas have carved out a vast region of control in the dense forests of northeast DRC, south Sudan and CAR.

"DRC, Sudan and CAR all have internal conflicts that prevent them from sufficiently allocating their forces in a fight against the rebel group," it added, calling on all national armies to work to boost troop deployment in affected areas.

"The international community has so far failed to develop a comprehensive plan to deal with the LRA as a regional threat, instead addressing the crisis in a piecemeal and haphazard way in the four different countries," it added.

The signatories demanded that UN peacekeepers be given a "greater capacity to deploy quickly" in response to attacks.

However, the leaders praised the Washington administration for passing a law in May, which commits it to develop a strategy by the end of November to end the rebel campaign of carnage.

The LRA's acts of startling brutality -- including murder, rape, and the forced conscription of children -- have forced more than 25,000 people to flee their homes in south Sudan alone since January, the United Nations says.

Many thousands more have been massacred, abducted or forced from their homes in CAR and DRC by the rebels, whose chiefs are wanted by the International Criminal Court.

The leaders on Saturday also called for clarification of the Ugandan army's role, which has led the hunt for LRA leaders across Sudan, DRC and CAR, since it launched a botched offensive following the collapse of peace talks.

The December 2008 Ugandan-led attacks smashed the rebels' jungle hideouts in northeast DRC, but analysts suggest the LRA was tipped off and most fighters escaped beforehand, launching reprisal raids across a wide area as they fled.

The religious leaders on Saturday insisted that the "preferred sustainable solution is a negotiated settlement" of the LRA crisis "after decades of failed military interventions."

Meanwhile, reports suggest that Dominic Ongwen -- the LRA's second or third in command -- has moved from DRC back to south Sudan, according to testimonies of former fighters collected by the Washington-based Enough pressure group.

Ongwen's reported move is "worrying", it said, with south Sudan approaching a historic vote due in January on its potential full independence.

"Sudan is preparing for a very important referendum early next year, and the LRA has a proven record of destabilising entire regions with few soldiers," said the Enough report, released on Wednesday.

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Sudan: North guilty of using LRA rebels to destabilize south?
LRA says it wants a ceasefire with Sudan, Uganda and CAR
From Afrik News.com
Friday, 10 September 2010 by Konye Obaji Ori, Patrick K. Johnsson

Northern Sudan has been accused of employing rebels of the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) to unsettle southern Sudan and the Darfur region ahead of the south’s independence referendum scheduled for January 9, 2011. But an official from the LRA, which has embarked on a mass recruitment, has debunked the claims and suggested that they are rather seeking a peace deal with the region.

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Sudan's Darfur rebels say attacked by Ugandan LRA
From Reuters
Friday, 10 September 2010 at 5:44am GMT

KHARTOUM (Reuters) - A Darfur rebel group said on Thursday it was attacked by Ugandan Lord's Resistance Army guerrillas in Sudan's west.

"A group of LRA attacked our forces in Dafak in South Darfur yesterday," Haydar Galucuma Ateem, vice president of the Darfur rebel Liberation and Justice Movement (LJM), told Reuters from Qatar-based peace talks.

South Sudan, which fought decades of civil war against the north, accuses the northern government of arming the LRA to destabilise the semi-autonomous region ahead of a January 9, 2011 referendum which most believe will result in a vote for independence.

Known for their abduction of child soldiers and extreme brutality, the LRA sought refuge in neighbouring south Sudan during the civil war.

Kampala accused Sudan's central government in Khartoum of providing support to the LRA, a charge Khartoum denies.

After a 2005 north-south peace deal, which did not include a separate conflict in the Darfur region of western Sudan, LRA rebels went on the run and south Sudan said some had moved towards Darfur to receive support from Khartoum there.

South Sudan's government says it cut off Khartoum's supply lines to the LRA after the 2005 accord so the Ugandan rebels moved north to Khartoum-controlled territory in Darfur to get resupplied.

Ateem said two small reconnaissance groups of about 20 young LRA rebels carrying light arms shot and killed one LJM soldier before retreating into dense forest in remote South Darfur.

"Their language was one of the ways we knew they were LRA," he said, adding the Ugandan guerrillas in the past year had often crossed the remote and porous border between South Darfur and the Central African Republic.

"They probably have a relationship with the government of Sudan," Ateem said. "Many of the young people in the area say they are arming the LRA -- the LRA first entered South Darfur about a year ago."

The International Criminal Court issued its first arrest warrants for LRA commanders, whose tactics include mutilating their victims by cutting off their lips and ears.

Groups of LRA soldiers also frequently attack south Sudanese villages near the border with the lawless Democratic Republic of Congo, according to the United Nations and south Sudan government.

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LRA Denies Attack on Sudan-Based Rebels
Voice of America News (voanews.com) by Peter Clottey
Thursday, 09 September 2010
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Britain arrests top LRA negotiator Willy Oryem alias Achila
From Uganda Watch.blogspot.com
Thursday, 09 September 2010
A top Kampala official said Mr Oryem alias Achila, in detention at Harmmondsworth Removal Centre since his arrest upon landing at Heathrow Airport in England on 28 August 2010, has never been “classified as a terrorist”.
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LRA massacre victims call for help
From The New Vision (www.newvision.co.ug) by Chris Ocowun
Wednesday, 08 September, 2010

Survivors of the 1995 Atyak massacre repairing the monument built for the 250 people who were killed by the LRA

In April 1995, the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) rebels led by Vincent Otti attacked Atyak township in the morning and massacred more than 250 civilians, leaving behind about 80 survivors and 100 orphans.

The survivors have appealed to the President to fund the building of a big multipurpose hall and library in Atyak township in memory of the deceased.

They also requested the Government and other development partners to build a bigger monument with a recreation centre across Ayugi River where the bloodbath occurred.

Jacob Nokrac, the chairman of the Atyak Survivors’ Association, on Tuesday observed that the Government helped the injured and bereaved families of the July 11 bomb blasts in Kampala.

“We appeal to the Government to provide us with livestock for income generation and at least sh5m as a revolving fund for the survivors,” he said.

Nokrac also called for grinding mills to process their produce. He said some survivors had bomb fragments in their bodies and needed to be operated upon.

Nokrac disclosed that the survivors had formed a saving and loan association where each member saves between sh1,000-5,000 every week. He said the orphans needed school fees.

Betty Acan, 31, a survivor, said she could not continue with education because her brother who used to pay her school fees was killed in the massacre.

The Atyak sub-county chairman, John Bosco Ocan, called on the Government to take over the running of Lwani Memorial Community Secondary School which was built by the community in memory of those massacred by the rebels.

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Ex LRA commander Thomas Kwoyelo to face trial in Uganda's War Crimes Court
From Uganda Watch.blogspot.com
Sunday, 08 August 2010

The New Vision, Uganda, Monday, 06 September 2010: A former Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) commander, Thomas Kwoyelo, has been charged and committed to the War Crimes Court to face trial. Kwoyelo, 39, appeared before Buganda Road Court Chief Magistrate Vincent Mugabo, who did not allow him to plead to the charges. He becomes the first suspect to be charged with offences relating to war crimes.

Britain arrests top LRA negotiator Willy Oryem alias Achila

2010-09-09T17:38:00.007+01:00

ACCORDING to the following news reports from Kampala, Uganda, a top Kampala official said Mr Oryem alias Achila, in detention at Harmmondsworth Removal Centre since his arrest upon landing at Heathrow Airport in England on 28 August 2010, has never been “classified as a terrorist”.

Britain arrests top LRA negotiator
From Daily Monitor online at www.monitor.co.ug
By Tabu Butagira - Saturday, 04 September 2010

(Kampala) - A former top envoy of the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) rebels at the failed Juba peace talks has been arrested at Heathrow International Airport in London.

Mr Willy Oryem alias Achila, the last administrator of the LRA peace team, confirmed to this newspaper in a brief telephone interview, last evening, that he was still in detention. He gave no reason or details of his arrest, saying; “The Immigrations authority here has to give me permission before I can speak to the press.”

It emerged last night that UK authorities were investigating Mr Oryem, who has largely lived in Nairobi, in relation to his alleged dealings with the Joseph Kony-led rebel group.

The Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Amb. James Mugume, said last night that he learnt of Mr Oryem’s arrest early this week but has no updated information, having been on official duty upcountry.

“The British [government] will have to tell us the reason (for his arrest).”

By last evening, British High Commission officials in Kampala said they were unaware about the development. The Home Office in London said in reply to our enquiries that: “We do not normally make specific comments on individual cases.”

It is, however, understood the UK authorities want to determine if Mr Oryem, who has previously worked with indicted LRA leadership, should be allowed to pass through the country. Ms Peggy, whom Mr Oryem identified to us as his solicitor in the UK, had not returned our telephone calls or responded to voice messages left on her handset.

Five wanted

The International Criminal Court in 2005 issued arrest warrants for Joseph Kony and four of his top commanders, accusing them of committing genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity during their brutal two-decade military campaign in northern Uganda. Three of the indictees are reported to have died.

Yesterday, Ambassdor Mugume said Mr Oryem is not among LRA suspects Uganda is pursuing. The Washington-based Enough Project, which works worldwide to forestall genocide, announced last month that the LRA is on rampage and killing or kidnapping civilians in DRC, South Sudan and the Central Africa Republic unchecked.

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UK stuck with rebel negotiator
From Daily Monitor online at www.monitor.co.ug
By Tabu Butagira - Thursday, 09 September 2010

The UK government is stuck with a former top Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) rebel negotiator after the High Court there blocked his planned deportation to Uganda for allegedly involving in terrorist activity.

A top Kampala official, however, said Mr Willy Oryem, in detention at Harmmondsworth Removal Centre since his arrest upon landing at Heathrow Airport on August 28, has never been “classified as a terrorist”.

“We have written to them (British government) to tell us why he has been arrested,” said Mr Oryem Okello, the state minister for International Affairs.

Ms Peggy Layoo, the suspect’s London solicitor, said her client who suffers from prostate cancer is in failing health after UK Border Agency (UKBA) officials allegedly confiscated his prescribed medicines.

“UKBA was hostile to Mr Oryem who is very vulnerable. He was denied access to a lawyer; made to sit for over 24 hours without rest and he was interviewed during that time when he was severely fatigued and ill,” Ms Layoo said in her application for judicial review.

Judge Sir Andrew Collins said the application for injunction was premature since UKBA had not formally authorised Mr oryem’s removal but no such action should be taken without addressing human rights concerns raised by the solicitor, and until a judge sanctions the deportation.

The basis of the application, Ms Layoo had said, was a breach of natural justice by the UKBA whose staff she told court acted unfairly and denied Mr Oryem the right to be heard or prepare his defence.

“Similarly, there is evidence of bad faith on the side of the Secretary of State [for the Home Department],” she wrote. Documents e-mailed to this newspaper show that High Court Judge, Justice Collins, ordered the Secretary of State, to “...answer the matters raised as soon as possible but must not remove the claimant (Mr Oryem) until an answer has been given and the claim has been referred back to a judge”.

Mr Chris Ward, the political officer/head of communications at the British High Commission in Kampala, confirmed Mr Oryem’s incarceration but gave no reason for the action.

“We cannot comment on the specific reasons for his detention [and] we are unable to comment, in general, on individual immigration cases,” he wrote in reply to our e-mail enquiry.

Our investigations show that Mr Oryem’s troubles emanate from a deal he reportedly cut directly with President Museveni, committing government to return his vast land in Kamokya, now occupied by several tenants, or pocket hefty compensation.

Both minister Okello-Oryem and solicitor Layoo, in accounts offered yesterday, suggested that the former administrator of the LRA peace negotiating team could be a victim of conspiracy orchestrated by his colleagues.

“Our thinking is that this is [a result of] an infighting within the LRA,” said Mr Okello-Oryem, who shares a surname but is not related to the suspect. “There are those who think they got a raw deal after the Juba peace talks and they are trying to antagonise and punish former colleagues perceived to have benefitted.”

The government of Uganda and the rebels, acting through envoys, engaged in dialogue from 2006-2008 in talks hosted by the Government of South Sudan to end the two-decade conflict peacefully. However, LRA leader Joseph Kony declined to sign the Final Peace Agreement citing safety concerns.

Ex LRA commander Thomas Kwoyelo to face trial in Uganda's War Crimes Court

2010-08-08T03:48:00.001+01:00

Former LRA commander sent to war court
Report from The New Vision, Uganda
Monday, 06 September 2010
By Edward Anyoli

A former Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) commander, Thomas Kwoyelo, has been charged and committed to the War Crimes Court to face trial.

Kwoyelo, 39, appeared before Buganda Road Court Chief Magistrate Vincent Mugabo, who did not allow him to plead to the charges.

He becomes the first suspect to be charged with offences relating to war crimes.

“This court does not have the jurisdiction to take your plea, it can only explain the offences to you,” Mugabo said.

He was charged with 12 counts, which included willful killing, taking hostages, extensive destruction of property and causing serious body harm. The trial date is yet to be set by the War Crime Court.

Prosecution led by Principal State Attorney Charles Kaamuli said Kwoyelo in March 1993 commanded an attack on Pagak internally displaced people’s camp in northern Uganda in which several people were killed and others were taken hostage.

Court also heard that Kwoyelo and his men destroyed property and injured scores of people in 2004 in northern Uganda.

He allegedly committed the offences between 1996 and 2009 with others still at large in Gulu, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), and Southern Sudan.

URGENT MESSAGE - Shocking video of Ugandan terror group Lord's Resistance Army hunting children in Sudan

2010-08-08T02:44:00.009+01:00

ONE of the world's most brutal terrorist groups, Joseph Kony's Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), is on the move from the Congo, terrorising civilians.

The below copied report from TIME.com, Tuesday, 07 September 2010, contains a shocking video entitled "The Lord's Resistance Army Hunts Children in Sudan".

Click here (and wait for end of short advert) to hear Ed Robbins reporting for Time.com from Western Equatoria State, southern Sudan.

Please replay the video and listen carefully to a message for everyone. The message is from a deeply traumatised Sudanese boy. The boy's name is Moses. Moses was abducted, attacked, hurt all over, and stabbed with a bayonet, by LRA terrorists. The terrorists forced Moses to kill a young girl. The girl was aged 7 or 8. If he did not kill the girl, they would kill him. The heart wrenching message from Moses says:

"I'M ASKING EVERYONE PLEASE, PRAY TO MAKE IT END"

Replay the video again and imagine yourself as Moses. The flat deadened tone of his voice is haunting. After viewing the report for the first time yesterday and working on it today at Uganda Watch, Sudan Watch and Congo Watch, I can't get Moses out of my mind. His trauma seeped into my bones as I imagined how he must have felt, what his future holds, and how he will think and be haunted for the rest of his life. I find this report deeply distressing and disturbing. I cannot understand why so many people are powerless when it comes to stopping the LRA. How someone like Joseph Kony manages to stay alive is beyond my comprehension. The stresses and strains he has gone through in his lifetime are unimaginable. A living hell, I guess.

See further devastating reports and photos here below.
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Balancing Counterterrorism and Democracy in Uganda
TIME.com - Tuesday, 07 September 2010
By Ioannis Gatsiounis in Kampala, Uganda

Photo: Mourners bury Alice Kyalimpa, a victim of the July 11, 2010, terrorist attacks that tore through a restaurant and rugby club in Uganda's capital Ronald Kabuubi/Reuters. Source: TIME.com report September 07, 2010 "Balancing Counterterrorism and Democracy in Uganda". To view the report in full, click on the link above. If the report has moved, scroll to the end of this entry to read a full copy.

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LRA KILL 8 IN YAMBIO, W. EQUATORIA, S. SUDAN -
More Ugandan PDF forces to be deployed

WES Yambio: LRA Raid And Kill 8 citizens
Report from South Sudan Analysis (SOSA online) - Monday, 06 September 2010:

(YAMBIO) – Ugandan Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) rebels have killed 8 people during weekend raids in Southern Sudan’s Western Equatoria state, a local official said.

Around 6 LRA fighters attacked the market village of Rii-Bodo on Saturday, killing 8 civilians, said Lexon Amozai, State Director of Sudan Relief and Rehabilitation Commission in Western Equatoria State.

The horrifying murders come in the wake of an LRA ambush at a near-by small stream of Nahua.

On Friday the rebels launched a similar assault on the village of Gangura.

“They killed 8 people there, among them two women. There were no soldiers deployed there, so they attacked the civilians,” Mr Amozai said.

A Uganda-led coalition including Congo and South Sudan launched a joint offensive against LRA strongholds in Congo’s isolated Garamba National Park on December 14 after LRA leader Joseph Kony again failed to sign a deal to end his rebellion. However, the operation has failed to arrest Joseph Kony.

In the same weekend related attacks were carried on Sunday at James Diko and Naakiri Bomas under Bangasu payam during a final funeral of one of the LRA Victims.

Kony is wanted by the International Criminal Court in The Hague for war crimes.

Bangasi Joseph Bakosoro, state governor of Western Equatoria state with deeply sorrow and regrets expressed his dissatisfaction for the death of 8 WES citizens of Rii-Bodo on Saturday.

In a press statement, Col Bangasi said that, “it is painful to see such barbaric killings by the notorious LRA fighters on the innocent citizens of western Equatoria more especially as referendum gets around the corner.”

He called upon all the youth to stand up in order to provide security to the state from the marauding LRA and the state Government in collaboration with the UPDF and SPLA.

Security sources say soon the state government “will deploy forces around the payams and Bomas.”

Bakosoro assured the citizens that, “more forces of the Ugandan People Defense (UPDF) forces will be deployed around the most attacked areas of the Bomas.”

He cautioned the forestry department to ensure that “all timber cutters are removed from the forest of the state because it makes no sense for the LRA to be killing people leaving them (timber companies) unharmed hence some might be spices of the LRA.”

Meanwhile the Minister of Local Government and Law Enforcement Agencies Colonel Wilson Sidigi said that he will ensure that support is given to the villagers’ security.

Sidigi promised that he will organize with the County Commissioners of Yambio and Nzara to encouraged the youth to stand firm as the security of the State is in the hands of every citizen of the state.

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LRA Kill Eight In Yambio
Report from SRS (Sudan Radio Service) - Tuesday, 07 September 2010:

(YAMBIO) – About eight people were killed in attacks allegedly perpetrated by the Lord’s Resistance Army over the weekend in outskirts of Yambio town.

The Western Equatoria state Minister of Information and Communication, Gibson Bullen Wande, spoke to SRS from Yambio on Tuesday.

[Gibson Bullen Wande]: “The LRA appeared between Gangura and a place called Baite, attacked the village and killed three people, so now we are seeing how we are going to handle it. Then on Saturday in the evening, the LRA appeared about 7 kilometers away from Yambio town in a place called Riibodoo. They came into the house of a chief with his in-laws. All of them were beaten to death and one person was abducted. So the total number of people that we have established to have been killed during the two attacks of last week has now come to eight so far.”

Gibson Bullen Wande was speaking to SRS from Yambio on Tuesday.

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LRA rebels kill eight in South Sudan raid, local official says
Report from Sudan Tribune online - Tuesday, 07 September 2010
By Richard Ruati - excerpt:

(YAMBIO - September 06, 2010) - The Ugandan rebels Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) has killed eight people in raids over the weekend in South Sudan’s state of Western Equatoria, a local official has said.

The LRA, which is a sectarian religious and military group from northern Uganda, has a history of committing atrocities in the region.

It began as an Acholi tribe rebel movement seeking to overthrow the Ugandan Government. What it stands for now is a matter of debate but in 2005 the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued its first five arrest warrants for LRA leader, Joseph Kony, his deputy and three of his commanders.

Around six LRA fighters attacked the market village of Rii-Bodo at about 2:00 am (local time) on Saturday, 4 August, and killed civilians, said Lexon Amozai who is the state director of the Sudan Relief and Rehabilitation Commission in Western Equatoria State. The murders took place after an LRA ambush at the nearby Nahua stream.

On Friday, the rebels launched a similar assault on the village of Gangura. "They killed eight people there, among them two women. There were no soldiers deployed there, so they attacked the civilians," Amozai said.

A Uganda-led coalition including Congo and South Sudan launched a joint offensive against the LRA strongholds in Congo’s isolated Garamba National Park on December 14, after LRA leader Kony again failed to sign a peace deal. However, the operation has failed to arrest Kony.

On Sunday, August 5, related attacks were carried out in James Diko, Naakiri Bomas and during the funeral of one of the LRA victims in Bangasu. [...]

Security sources say that the state government’s deployment of "forces around the payams [villages] and Bomas,” is imminent.

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"I'M ASKING EVERYONE PLEASE, PRAY TO MAKE IT END"

Photo: Gulu victim. The LRA use torture to instil fear. Uganda's rebel LRA has become synonymous with torture, abductions and killings. (BBC photo/Sudan Watch archive)

Photo: Two young boy's get treated for severe burn wounds in the Lira hospital in northern Uganda, 23 February 2004, after a massacre believed to be committed by the LRA in the Barlonyo camp 26 kilometers north of the town that killed at least 200 people. (AP Photo/Karel Prinsloo/Sudan Watch archive)

Photo: Ochola John was deformed by rebels from the LRA. (BBC) Click here to read the victim's heartbreaking testimony published at BBC News online on 29 June 2006. If the report has moved, click here to read a copy filed on 30 June 2006 at Uganda Watch, a sister site of this blog Sudan Watch.

Photo: Leader of the LRA peace delegation Martin Ojul, left, is welcomed back home at Koch Goma in Amuru. (AP Photo) Source: Report from TIME.com - Saturday, 10 November 2007, by Alexis Okeowo in Gulu. Excerpt:

Sixteen years ago, Irene Abonyo was held down to the ground and her lips and ears viciously sliced off by rebels in northern Uganda. But 70-year old Abonyo is in a forgiving mood. She attended a steamy, overcrowded town-hall meeting to see, on better terms this time, one of the world's most terrifying rebel groups, the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA). After a dialogue, she went over to shake the hand of a former LRA fighter. He held her hand, but refused to have his picture taken with the disfigured woman. "I will still forgive," Abonyo explains. "They are embarrassed of what they have done." Full story by Alexis Okeowo (Gulu, N. Uganda) published at TIME.com on Saturday, 10 November 2007: "Forgiving the Lord's Resistance Army"

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"I'M ASKING EVERYONE PLEASE, PRAY TO MAKE IT END"

Last month, Human Rights Watch said the LRA had killed more than 250 people in the Central African Republic and the Democratic Republic of Congo over the previous year and a half. It said nearly 700 others were kidnapped and forced to be either soldiers or sex slaves. Full story at Voice of America News (VOA) online, Tuesday, 07 September 2010: "LRA Kills 8 in Southern Sudan".

Photo: Southern Sudanese wait for food, shelter, security and medicine at the village of Nzara, along Sudan's border with the Democratic Republic of Congo, on 18 August 2010. Thousands have fled their nearby villages since a recent series of attacks by guerrilla fighters believed to be from the Lord's Resistance Army. (Peter Martell/AFP/Getty Images) Full story by Alan Boswell (Nzara, South Sudan) published at TIME.com on Tuesday, 31 August 2010: "The Ruthless Guerrilla Movement That Won't Die".
- - -

Balancing Counterterrorism and Democracy in Uganda
Report from Time.com
By Ioannis Gatsiounis in Kampala, Uganda
Tuesday, 07 September 2010. Full copy:

U.S. President Barack Obama took office promising to make good governance the cornerstone of his African policy, and Uganda came to typify the shift in priorities. Repeated attempts by President Yoweri Museveni to meet with Obama were denied, apparently in response to Uganda's sluggish pace of political reform ahead of presidential elections in February. President Obama also directly challenged Museveni to lift his support for a draconian bill persecuting gays.

But just as the 9/11 attacks drew the U.S. closer to autocratic Arab regimes whose security services were needed to help fight al-Qaeda, so have the July 11 bombings of two Kampala nightspots by the Somalia-based al-Shabab militant group reminded the Obama Administration of Uganda's importance in the battle against extremism in the Horn of Africa. And that strategic interdependency challenges the U.S. democracy agenda. (See a video of the Lord's Resistance Army hunting children in Sudan.)

"Washington is now forced to do a balancing act," says Livingstone Sweanyana, executive director at the Foundation for Human Rights Initiative in Kampala. "If the U.S. is going to work with Museveni on al-Shabab, the U.S. can't afford to see or treat him as an unfriendly force."

U.S. officials insist that democratic reform still figures at the top of Washington's agenda in Uganda. But as Museveni's National Resistance Movement (NRM) has used the July 11 terror attacks as a pretext to shrink the political space, Washington's critique hasn't kept pace. Three days after the bombings, parliament passed a bill enabling phone-tapping. Weeks later, nationwide demonstrations demanding an independent election commission were violently suppressed on grounds that they could be exploited by terrorists. And the media have since been banned from commenting on the twin bombings. (Can Uganda forgive the Lord's Resistance Army?)

Following the crackdown on protests calling for an election commission, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Johnnie Carson did say that security concerns were no justification for squelching dissent. Curiously, however, the previous day he told a reporter on the sidelines of an African Union (A.U.) summit in Kampala that Museveni had been "elected openly and transparently in free and fair elections," contradicting a 2006 State Department assessment that the polls had been "marred by serious irregularities." (See pictures of Uganda.)

The about-face may be driven by growing desperation. At the same A.U. summit, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder said that "ending the threat of al-Shabab to the world will take more than just law enforcement" and that Washington was therefore going to work closely "to support the African Union's [military] mission in Somalia [AMISOM]." Washington is looking to boost current troop levels from 8,000 — most of them from Burundi and Uganda — to 20,000. The problem is that few member states other than Uganda have volunteered to step up. Museveni, a former rebel leader, is reportedly prepared to mobilize that many troops on his own and has been leading calls to switch AMISOM's mandate from peacekeeping to peace enforcement.

"The U.S. is depending on Uganda to play a role in Somalia to rein in extremist forces," says James Tumusiime, managing editor of the opposition-leaning Observer weekly. "And in light of the attacks, the U.S. is probably beginning to think they're better off with a stable, functioning style of leadership in Uganda — someone who's not necessarily a democrat but a guy in control — rather than support change for democracy's sake."

U.S. diplomats in Kampala say much of their democracy-promotion work is low-key. One example is their success in persuading Uganda to put voter-registration lists online to allow the validation of voter identities. USAID invested around $2 million on democracy and governance programs last year, and that figure is expected to hit $10 million this year. Officials argue that security and democracy are mutually reinforcing.

But support for the key opposition demand of an independent election commission appears to be waning, says Wafula Oguttu, spokesperson for the leading opposition party Forum for Democratic Change (FDC). Recalling Washington's silence after the recent suppression of demonstrations — in which 80 people were arrested and some claimed to have been tortured — Oguttu says, "The U.S. likely would have spoken out against that prior to al-Shabab." Now the opposition is anxiously awaiting U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's quarterly report on Uganda, due late this month, after Congress ordered the State Department to tightly monitor Uganda's election process. "A lot of bad things have happened since May," says Oguttu, and he expects the report to reflect that fact.

The last such report, issued in May, irritated NRM leaders, but prompted no constructive action. Indeed the party's primary polls on Monday were marred by confusion and allegations of ballot-stuffing. Opposition groups hope that Washington will use its leverage as one of Uganda's leading aid donors to press for change. But they fear the U.S. lacks the resolve to press the issue, leaving Uganda's election process heavily skewed toward the ruling party.

Challenges to the legitimacy of the electoral process raise the danger of large-scale political violence, analysts warn. Last September, riots in Kampala left 17 people dead after the king of Buganda kingdom was prevented by Museveni from visiting a nearby district. (Comment on this story.)

"We have shown restraint so far," says the FDC's Oguttu. But if the mechanisms for free and fair elections fail to materialize, he says, "we're going to have a little bit of trouble." He predicts the youth will grow more vocal and could target the destruction of election-commission offices. Meanwhile, the opposition is mulling the option of boycotting February's elections. Whatever the case may be, he says, "expect fireworks." And a new round of political turmoil, of course, is unlikely to help promote either democracy or security.

Find this article at:
http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2016175,00.html

- - -

Uganda Watch Editor's Note: A similar version of the above was published earlier today (Wednesday, 08 September 2010) at this blog's parent site, Sudan Watch http://sudanwatch.blogspot.com and will be cross-posted today at its sister site Congo Watch http://congowatch.blogspot.com.

Business booms in northern Uganda as UK offers more funds

2010-08-02T12:49:00.003+01:00

Report from The Observer, Uganda
By Moses Mugalu - Monday, 02 August 2010 at 11:13
Business booms in northern Uganda as UK offers more funds

The once war-torn northern Uganda has yet again received funds from the United Kingdom as efforts to develop the region intensify. DFID, the UK’s Department for International Development, has offered 16.6 million pounds to rebuild northern Uganda, and lay a strong foundation for business opportunities.

Jane Rintoul, the Head of DFID office in Uganda, estimated that the money will create 20,000 jobs, although such estimates tend to be conservative.

According to the memorandum of understanding between DFID and Government, 13 million pounds will be given as grants to boost viable investments in the region. Another one million pounds is to be spent on youth training programmes, while the Uganda Investment Authority will use the remaining two million pounds to carry out what they term an “economic recovery analysis.”

In trying to resuscitate the business potential of northern Uganda, government, together with DFID and other donors, is deepening a key market for beverage and palm oil companies, among others, which are part of the largest taxpayers.

Mukwano Group’s top officials were late last month in Lira and Oyam districts, dangling a Shs 20 billion bait to the farmers if they could double the production of sunflowers. Northern Uganda has virgin lands for the growing of sun flowers, which companies like Mukwano use to produce cooking oil.

Other firms making trips to northern Uganda include Nile Breweries Limited, which gets sorghum for the production of beer. British American Tobacco Limited also gets a lot of tobacco from the region.

Rintoul explained that grants will directly support the creation of new businesses and the expansion of existing enterprises in agricultural development and trade. This means foreign investors who plan to start doing business in northern Uganda qualify to apply for the DFID grants.

The Private Sector Foundation Uganda has a plan on how to take advantage of the funds. Gideon Badagawa, PSFU Executive Director, said they will organize farmers into cooperatives to access the grants. Officials say that under the cooperative initiative, thousands of small scale farmers will benefit from better market access, storage facilities for their produce as well as share knowledge on modern production methods.

Through their Business Uganda Development Scheme, a support programme, Badagawa says PSFU will also train farmers and help them add value to their produce before reaching the market. “We’ll use part of the grant to purchase equipment for farmers to add value to their produce, look for markets and impart skills so that farmers can sustain their incomes other than giving handouts,” Badagawa said.

While the funds from DFID are to directly benefit the people in northern Uganda, they have a wider implication beyond the country’s borders. Northern Uganda remains the easiest gateway into Southern Sudan, a place almost the size of Uganda with a mineral potential. Businesses, such as construction and retail services, are booming in Southern Sudan after security returned to the area in 2005 following a two-decade insurgence against its neighbour in the north.

Southern Sudan is also rich in oil, with companies from China already prospecting the black gold. With Ugandans scouting for foreign markets to sell their products, Southern Sudan presents a larger and more profitable market.

Rintoul said DFID has committed another 24 million pounds to construct residential houses for teachers and health workers in the region.

At least two million people who returned from the refugee camps in the region at the end of the war are engaged in agricultural activities. They mainly grow simsim, groundnuts, citrus fruits and cotton, whose products need value addition to attract better revenues.

mugalu@observer.ug

20 arrested over attacks in Uganda

2010-07-19T06:00:00.000+01:00

The police said that the latest suspects included people from Uganda, Somalia and Ethiopia. More than 60 agents from the FBI are in Uganda, assisting in the investigations.

20 Arrested Over Attacks in Uganda
From The New York Times
By Josh Kron - July 17, 2010

KAMPALA, Uganda — The police have arrested a second batch of suspects in connection to last Sunday’s terrorist attacks in this capital that killed 76 people, and they said suicide bombers were probably involved in the attacks.

The Shabab, an Islamist insurgency in Somalia, claimed responsibility for the three bombs that struck two popular nightspots where soccer fans had gathered to watch the final match of the World Cup.

The police said that the latest suspects included people from Uganda, Somalia and Ethiopia.

Some of the suspects were been arrested while trying to leave the country and were caught near the borders with Sudan and Rwanda, the police said.

Local news media quoted the police as saying that at least 20 people had been arrested.

“I think the investigations are proceeding well,” said Judith Nabakooba, a police spokeswoman. “We are working in a dedicated way.”

The arrests come as Kampala is preparing to host the 15th African Union summit meeting this month; over 50 African heads of state are expected to attend.

Investigations and new security measures have continued in Kampala, where the mood is tense. More than 60 agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation are in Uganda, assisting in the investigations, according to the United States Embassy.

'At your service, Osama' - the African Bin Laden behind the Uganda bombings

2010-07-18T06:06:00.002+01:00

From The Daily Telegraph
By Colin Freeman and Mike Pflanz in Nairobi
Published: 2:45PM BST Saturday, 17 July 2010
'At your service, Osama' - the African Bin Laden behind the Uganda bombings

As Somalia's al Shebab militants claim responsibility for bombings in Kampala, the Telegraph profiles their spiritual leader, accountant-turned-jihadi Ahmed Abdi Godane.

The leader of Somalia's al-Shebab militant movement, he prefers to be heard rather than seen, ranting away in radio broadcasts from his group's strongholds in northern Mogadishu. Thanks to his fatwahs against pop music, foreign films and even televised football, he already has a captive audience - as of last week, though, he made the rest of the world take notice too.

"What happened in Kampala was just the beginning," he warned in his latest broadcast, gloating over Sunday's twin suicide bombings in the Ugandan capital, in which Shebab-backed "martyrs" slaughtered 76 people as they watched the World Cup final. "If Uganda and Burundi do not withdraw their troops from Somalia, there will be more bombings like these."

Delivered with the same fiery rhetoric with which he recently declared himself "at Osama bin Laden's service", Godane's warning confirmed what many outside Somalia have long dreaded: that the Shebab, which has imposed a Taliban-style regime across much of the anarchic, war-torn land, would one day begin exporting its brand of Islamist violence to the wider world.

Last Sunday's attacks, designed to punish both Uganda and Burundi for providing troops to support Mogadishu's shaky Western-backed provisional government, marked the first time the group had struck outside its own borders. Now, having proved the Shebab's credentials as the world's newest international terrorist group, security officials fear it is only a matter of time before Godane, also known as Abu Zubayr, orders similar attacks against the West.

"This is a move into a different league altogether, and will put Godane and al Shebab on the world map," one Nairobi-based security official told The Sunday Telegraph. "He is very much of the international jihads mindset, and wants Islamic rule across the world, from Somalia to Alaska."

Just like the piracy crisis off Somalia's coastline, the Shebab's declaration of wider war is a sign of how Somalia's problems are becoming those of the wider region. The Ugandan president, Yoweri Museveni, whose security forces yesterday arrested 20 people in connection with the bombings, has called for more troops to be sent Somalia, this time not as bodyguards to the government, but to hunt down the Shebab.

"We are going on the offensive and will get these people," he vowed, calling on other African nations to help beef up the force from its current 5,000 to at least 20,000.

But many fear that would play directly into Godane's hands, allowing him to raise the spectre of a foreign "invasion" against which more Somalis would flock to the Shebab. Such a scenario could ignite a region-wide conflict, pitting the mainly Christian nations of the rest of East Africa against the predominantly Muslim population of Somalia.

Until now, the Shebab - which means "youth" - has thrived through the very fact that the rest of the world has left Somalia to its own devices. Just like the Taliban in Afghanistan, its leaders first won credibility by imposing a degree of law and order in a land plagued by warlords and criminals, and devoid of proper government for 20 years.

Today it controls much of southern Somalia, as well as parts of the capital, Mogadishu. But the relative security it provides has proved a Faustian pact for those who live under its rule. As well as harsh Sharia punishments, such as stonings and amputations, the Shebab imposes religious edicts as extreme as anything the Taliban dreamed up.

The list of "banned" activities, for example, goes well beyond just the obvious targets like music, drink and fraternisation between the sexes. It also includes banning women from wearing bras - on the basis that they showcase the chest - and banning men watching the World Cup: in the stern words of a Shebab spokesman, "they will not benefit anything or get any experience by watching mad men jumping up and down."

Instead, the Shebab encourages more wholesome forms of recreation, such as last year's notorious Koranic recital contest, in which a teenaged winner was awarded prizes of an AK-47, two hand grenades and an anti-tank mine.

Until recently, Western diplomats took comfort that such an odious vision at least had no ambitions beyond Somalia's borders. The focus of the Shebab's military efforts was mainly against the Western-backed transitional government, which it sees as Western stooges, and which currently controls little more than a few blocks of Mogadishu. But in the past year, the Shebab has taken on a more internationalist outlook, recruiting hundreds of foreign fighters into its ranks and advertising Somalia as a safe base from which to wage global jihad.

Much of that dramatic change in direction is put down to Godane, who last year issued a blood-curdling jihadist video called entitled "At your service, Osama". In it, he urged all Somalis to follow the al Qaeda leader, and vowed that "the wars will not end until Islamic Sharia is implemented in all continents in the world."

He is, nonetheless, an unlikely contender to become Africa's answer to bin Laden: born in the breakaway republic of Somaliland, he is described as small, slightly-built figure in his late 30s, whose early career included a spell as an accountant for an airline. In the late 1990s, he joined al Itihad al Islamiya, a now-defunct militant group, and went to Afghanistan to fight.

He and his followers quarrelled with Itihad's leadership when it mooted the idea of peaceful politics after September 11, producing the nucleus of what would go on to become the Shebab today.

However, last week's bombings were not their first taste of foreign blood. In 2003 and 2004, the same splinter group were responsible for a string of murders of Western aid workers, including Richard and Enid Eyeington, a British couple who ran a popular school in Somaliland. While eight men were subsequently sentenced to death for the murders, Godan, according to the US State Department, was "implicated" in the planning.

Today, his main role is as the Shebab's spiritual leader, although like Mullah Omar, the one-eyed ruler of the Taliban, he is extremely reclusive. He rarely appears in public, and is careful never to have his photograph taken - mindful, it seems, of the fate of his comrade Adan Hashi Ayro, who was killed by a US missile strike in 2008.

"Apparently he turns up on the battlefield quite often, but comes dressed just in jeans and a baseball cap to blend in," said Abdi Aynte, the author of a recent research paper on the Shebab, who has interviewed some of Godane's former comrades.

What makes him effective, though, is not his battlefield experience but his background in finance and airlines. "He knows how to move money and people, both of which have been useful in building up links with foreign jihadists", said Mr Aynte. Western intelligence officials estimate Godane may now have recruited up to 500 foreign jihadists in Somalia, some drawn from warzones like Iraq and Afghanistan, others from diaspora communities in Britain and America. The former bring a wealth of guerrilla expertise, but it the latter that cause Washington and London the real worries - they give the Shebab the potential to spread their mayhem to the streets of London and elsewhere.

"Despite all the West's talk about the war on terror, al Shebab has been allowed to become much more powerful and extreme than it used to be," said Rashid Abdi, a Naroibi-based Somali expert with the International Crisis Group thinktank. "Countries with big diaspora communities, like the US and Britain, should now be especially concerned."

Such fears are shared by British police, who claim to have detected evidence of Shebab funding networks within the 100,000-strong Somali community. The British government points out that the vast majority support only moderate Islam, but to quote Godane, it only needs a few people "at Osama's service" to cause the damage – and judging by a recent trip that Mr Abdi made to London, already some are showing signs of radicalisation.

"I was in Shepherd's Bush, where five years ago, all the young Somali men were wearing jeans and trainers," he said. "Now many are growing beards and wearing robes. Sure, a change of wardrobe proves nothing. But I have seen how communities get sucked into the al-Qaeda web, and I was worried by what I saw."

Somali-based terror group al Shabaab behind triple bombing that killed 76 in Kampala, Uganda is funded by al Qaeda

2010-07-17T15:47:00.016+01:00

Al Shabaab, the Somalia-based terror group that has claimed responsibility for July 11's triple suicide blasts that killed 76 people in Uganda's capital, Kampala, has in recent months built up Pakistan-style terror training camps.

Intelligence officials say they believe al Qaeda is using al Shabaab as a symbiotic host body, allowing its operatives access to other African countries. "As much as we're looking at al Shabaab, they are riding on the back of a more experienced player," said Col. Herbert Mbonye, the director of counterterrorism for Uganda's military intelligence body.

A U.S. intelligence official said information gleaned from militant communications shows links between al Shabaab and al Qaeda leaders in Pakistan and Yemen.

From The Wall Street Journal
By WILL CONNORS in Kampala, Uganda, SIOBHAN GORMAN in Washington, D.C., and SARAH CHILDRESS
Somali Militant Group Built Training Camps, al Qaeda Links

The terror group behind last weekend's deadly Uganda blasts recruited a local man to coordinate the attacks and received funds from al Qaeda, say investigators, as it extends its reach beyond lawless Somalia.

Al Shabaab, the Somalia-based group that has claimed responsibility for July 11's triple suicide blasts that killed 76 people in Uganda's capital, Kampala, has in recent months built up Pakistan-style terror training camps. One top leader, Sheikh Muktar Robow, has helped to transform the group from a local insurgency into a global jihadist organization modeled on, and swearing allegiance to, al Qaeda.

That picture of the group, and its development under Mr. Robow, emerged from interviews with Ugandan, Kenyan and U.S. investigators; current and former U.S. intelligence officials; and Somalis, including a member of the militant group.

A U.S. intelligence official said information gleaned from militant communications shows links between al Shabaab and al Qaeda leaders in Pakistan and Yemen. U.S. officials also see evidence of overlap in training and membership and say their working assumption is that al Shabaab has several hundred core members, similar to the numbers in al Qaeda in Pakistan and in al Qaeda's Yemeni outpost.

Intelligence officials say they believe al Qaeda is using the Somali group as a symbiotic host body, allowing its operatives access to other African countries. "As much as we're looking at al Shabaab, they are riding on the back of a more experienced player," said Col. Herbert Mbonye, the director of counterterrorism for Uganda's military intelligence body.

That relationship has raised red flags at U.S. intelligence agencies. In the past 18 months, militant training camps have emerged in Somalia similar to those that developed in Pakistan's tribal areas, a U.S. intelligence official said. Intelligence officials are now following about two dozen individuals from the U.S. and other Western countries who may have been affiliated with al Shabaab, or gone through these camps.

"It's quite an alarming story," the U.S. intelligence official said.

Al Shabaab's relationship with al Qaeda appears to have been cultivated in part by Mr. Robow, a top commander. Also known as Abu Mansur, he is among the U.S. government's most wanted terrorists.

Mr. Robow offered a warning of sorts ahead of Sunday's blasts, which hit a restaurant and a sports club where people had gathered to watch the final match of the World Cup. Speaking during a public address at Friday prayers earlier this month, Mr. Robow called for attacks against countries that had sent some 6,000 troops under African Union auspices to support the Somali government's offensive against al Shabaab. "We tell the Muslim youths and Mujahedeen, wherever they are in the Muslim world, to attack, explode and burn the embassies of Burundi and Uganda," Mr. Robow said, according to local media reports.

Mr. Robow grew up in southern Mogadishu as a devoted student of the Quran, according to public speeches he has made. He studied law at the University of Khartoum in Sudan, and then returned to Mogadishu to teach Arabic for several years. He is about 40, U.S. officials believe, based on a birth date on an Eritrean passport he used.

In 2000, Mr. Robow traveled to Afghanistan to train with the Taliban and al Qaeda, which used the strife-torn South Asian country to plot the Sept. 11 attacks in the U.S. In Afghanistan, Mr. Robow learned to fight, fire a sniper rifle and conceal roadside bombs, an al Shabaab official in Somalia said. He stayed less than a year, leaving before U.S.-led forces swept into Afghanistan.

Back in Somalia, Mr. Robow became a member of the Union of Islamic Courts, which aimed to establish strict Shariah law in the country, which had been largely lawless for a decade. The group came to power in 2006. Mr. Robow helped to establish an Islamist government and founded al Shabaab, a youth brigade that would serve as the union's armed wing.

The Islamist government soon collapsed. Al Shabaab endured. Mr. Robow, a skilled orator, became an al Shabaab spokesman and eventually deputy commander.

Al Shabaab, which controls vast territory in Somalia, has been engaged in a running battle with Somalia's transitional federal government. The group has pinned the government to a strip of the capital, Mogadishu, and largely prevented officials and parliament from meeting.

Beyond his ambition to overthrow Somalia's government, Mr. Robow has advocated linking the group's ambitions to global jihad. Through media interviews and in videos posted online, he sought to attract fighters in Afghanistan, Chechnya and Iraq, largely because foreign recruits could replenish al Shabaab's ranks and aid its finances. In a 2008 interview, he lamented that there "are not enough non-Somali brothers."

The same year, the U.S. Treasury Department declared al Shabaab a terrorist group and named Mr. Robow its "spiritual leader." Mr. Robow later released a statement saying the group was "honored" to be included on the list but expressed disappointment al Shabaab wasn't ranked higher.

Senior U.S. administration officials said some foreign fighters who answered Mr. Robow's calls—some of whom have "close links" with al Qaeda—came with experience, funding and the agenda of establishing Somalia as a base from which to attack Western targets.

The foreigners also brought new tactics. Roadside bombs and suicide blasts, once unheard-of in Somalia, are now part of al Shabaab's armory. The group's commanders have banned dancing, mustaches and, most recently, watching World Cup games on television. Fighters punish offenders with floggings or public amputations.

On Wednesday, armed al Shabaab fighters drove through towns in southern Somalia, blaring a warning to residents through megaphones mounted on their vehicles, according to witnesses contacted by telephone. "You must collaborate with [us] and allow your sons to fight the enemy of Allah," Abu Maryama, a senior al Shabaab official told crowds in the southwestern town of Baidoa. "If you pay no heed to this … you will be considered as another enemy and face punishment."

Harsh retribution and indiscriminate deaths have sapped public support for the group, and created rifts within it. Mr. Robow has been caught between those who want to focus the insurgency in Somali—and retain a measure of popular support— and the global jihadists who don't care about local backing, according the al Shabaab colleague. Mr. Robow, a Somali who has long opposed foreign intervention in his country, may not be considered radical enough for the new agenda, according to a recent report by the International Crisis Group, a Brussels based think tank.In the Uganda attack, the group's two factions apparently found middle ground.

The blasts have presented U.S. officials with a quandary. They see a need to step up support and involvement in the region, but they haven't determined the best course. "Violence always breeds urgency," the U.S. intelligence official said. "The question is: What [to do]?"The U.S. has been tracking al Shabaab and al Qaeda in Somalia for years, officials say. The Central Intelligence Agency works with military special forces units to collect intelligence and pinpoint targets, a former senior intelligence official said. The U.S. also works closely with the Ethiopian and Kenyan governments on counterterrorism operations.

Those efforts have grown in recent years as U.S. officials discovered as many as 20 Americans from Minnesota making their way to Somalia, including one who was determined to have been among five suicide bombers in an October 2008 attack in northern Somalia.

The intelligence-gathering paid off last year when U.S. Special Forces killed Saleh Ali Saleh Nabhan, a top operative linked to both al Qaeda and al Shabaab who was believed to be linked to 1998 U.S. Embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania.

But U.S. Special Forces units and intelligence officials have been grappling with a broader response to the growing terror threat from Somalia. Calling in airstrikes could fuel retaliatory measures against a weak Somali government. It could also stir up anti-U.S. sentiment that would advance the group's agenda, said the U.S. intelligence official.

"If you strike a camp, it makes you feel good, but what do you do the next day?" the official said. "You don't effectively eliminate the threat."

On Thursday, an al Shabaab leader underscored that point, delivering a message on the radio in Mogadishu congratulating what he called the Martyr Saleh Nabhan Brigade for the Kampala attacks.

Intelligence agencies have warned about al Shabaab's growing ambition to attack other countries—particularly Ethiopia, Djibouti and Kenya—as well as the West, the U.S. intelligence official said.U.S. intelligence hadn't picked up many direct threats against Uganda, but there has been a general concern about attacks targeting countries that supply troops to A.U. forces.

Investigators in Uganda say they are questioning a Ugandan man, Ali Isa Ssenkumba, who they say has confessed to helping plan the attacks.

Mr. Ssenkumba, who is in his late thirties and hails from a farming community outside Kampala, told investigators he was recruited by Somali men who persuaded him that he could have success in business in Somalia, according to a Ugandan military official close to the investigation.

Posing as a businessman, Mr. Ssenkumba made frequent trips to Somalia, where he attended an al Shabaab training camp, the Ugandan official said. Mr. Ssenkumba told investigators many other Ugandans are at al Shabaab's Somalia training facilities.

This person says Mr. Ssenkumba become familiar with guards at the borders between Uganda and Sudan and Uganda and Kenya, and received money and coordinated logistics for roughly two dozen al Shabaab members in Uganda who are suspected of plotting the triple suicide blast. Mr. Ssenkumba said, and investigators say they separately determined, that the attack was partially funded by informal money transfers from al Qaeda in Afghanistan.

Police in Kenya said they arrested Mr. Ssenkumba last week, before the attack, and handed him over to Ugandan investigators Tuesday, after the bombings.

According to Nicholas Kamwende, the commanding officer of Kenya's anti-terrorism police unit, Mr. Ssenkumba walked up to an immigration officer on the Kenya-Somalia border some time before the Kampala attacks and turned himself in.

"He said he didn't want to stay any longer with al Shabaab, that he wanted to go home," Mr. Kamwende said. "We didn't have anything to hold him on and we thought the Ugandans would be in a better position to exploit what he knew."

Mr. Ssenkumba wasn't made available to comment and it wasn't immediately apparent whether he was represented by a lawyer. Neither Mr. Kamwende nor Ugandan officials would say whether Mr. Ssenkumba provided information before the impending attack.Ugandan officials say Mr. Ssenkumba didn't turn himself in voluntarily.

—Nicholas Baryio in Kampala and Keith Johnson
in Washington contributed to this article.
Write to Siobhan Gorman at siobhan.gorman@wsj.com

Over 50 dead as three bomb blasts rock Ugandan capital Kampala, terrorist attack possible: official

2010-07-12T00:23:00.014+01:00

Photo from Daily Monitor: Some of those injured in the bomb blast at Kyaddondo Rugby grounds in Kampala – Photo by Wandera Ouma

50 die in Kampala bomb blasts
From Daily Monitor by Alex B. Atuhaire & Andrew Bagala
Monday, July 12 2010 at 02:06:

(Kampala) - More than 50 people have been killed in three separate bomb blasts in the Ugandan capital – Kampala as the residents watched the 2010 World Cup final on giant screens.

Police confirmed that 13 people, more than half of them foreigners were killed at Ethiopian Village Restaurant in Kabalagala, a Kampala suburb, while Daily Monitor reporters counted about 40 bodies at Kyaddondo rugby grounds where a huge crowd was watching the Spain Vs Netherlands Word Cup final.

Another blast was reported to have gone off in Ntinda, another Kampala surburb, as more than 100 were reported admitted in hospitals and clinics in the capital including the national referral hospital - Mulago.

Over 40 dead as two bomb blasts rock Ugandan capital, terrorist attack possible: official
From xinhuanet.com:

KAMPALA, 12 July 2010 (Xinhua) -- More than 40 people are feared dead after two bomb explosions rocked Kampala, Uganda's capital, on Sunday night, according to a local official.

"Over 40 people could have been killed in the blasts," said Moses Sakira, deputy director of Criminal Investigation Department. He said almost all of the victims were adults.

Uganda's New Vision website put the death toll at at least 33.

"We cannot rule out the terrorist attack possibility now," said Sakira. "It might be possible."

The Somali militia warned to launch attacks targeting civilians in Uganda, which had sent peacekeeping troops to the war-battered Somalia.

But the country's army spokesman Felix Kulayigye said it is still too early to know whether Somali militia were behind the bomb attacks as security forces just started the investigation at the scene.

According to the New Vision website, one explosion targeted the Kyadondo Rugby Club. The blasts occurred minutes after 11 p.m..

Blood, broken chairs, clothes and shoes were seen on the ground at the scene. Security soldiers and rescuers were evacuating and saving the wounded.

The scene has been cordoned off.

A witness who gave his name as Klaus told Xinhua that hundreds of local people were watching the World Cup final in front of a big projector at the club as the blast occurred.

The other blast was reported at the Ethiopian village, in the Kabalagala. The New Vision said a third blast was reported in Ntinda, which the local police did not confirm.

Uganda blasts 'deplorable, cowardly,' says Obama
(AFP) – 35 minutes ago

WASHINGTON — US President Barack Obama called the deadly explosions that ripped through two restaurants in the Ugandan capital Kampala on Sunday "deplorable and cowardly," a spokesman said.

"The president is deeply saddened by the loss of life resulting from these deplorable and cowardly attacks, and sends his condolences to the people of Uganda and the loved ones of those who have been killed or injured," National Security Council spokesman Mike Hammer said in a statement.

"The United States is ready to provide any assistance requested by the Ugandan government."

A senior administration official said the United States was in contact with its embassy in Kampala and was in touch with the Federal Bureau of Investigation regarding requests for assistance from Uganda's government.

At least 23 people were killed in the explosions as crowds watched the World Cup football final, police said.

One blast hit an Ethiopian restaurant in the south of the capital and the other was at a rugby sports club in the east of Kampala, police chief Kale Kayihura told reporters.

"These bombs were definitely targeting World Cup crowds," Kayihura said.

FURTHER REPORTS

Bombs explode at sites in Uganda, 20 deaths feared

Atlanta Journal Constitution - Godfrey Olukya - ‎1 hour ago‎

At Least 23 Killed in Uganda Blasts

Voice of America - ‎1 hour ago‎

AF APNewsAlert

The Associated Press - ‎1 hour ago‎

Deadly blasts hit Ugandan capital

Aljazeera.net - ‎1 hour ago‎

Uganda capital blasts 'kill 23'

BBC News - ‎2 hours ago‎

Explosions rock Ugandan capital, 23 dead: police

Reuters Canada - Richard Lough, Angus MacSwan - ‎2 hours ago‎

African ingenuity: Who would have thought to use a jerrican as a boombox! That’s just beyond mad genius

2010-05-22T00:35:00.002+01:00

Here is the most enjoyable video ever publicised at Uganda Watch. I found it online at AfriGadget's blogpost [ http://bit.ly/cRp8VK ] 20 May 2010 entitled "Genius strikes again: kids in village build radio from scrap parts".

Note the video's caption:

"Kids builds a working radio from scraps in a day
My brother Caleb, and my nephews Ronald and Jesse built a radio from spare parts in one day for their boys quarters club house. All without instructions or guidance. Just through the pure process of trial and error. What else could these kids build with a soldering iron and a few lines of code. Wish I had the money to buy them some starter kits"

Hat tip: Erik Hersman's tweet at 6:06 AM May 20th via Twitter for iPhone
[ http://twitter.com/whiteafrican/statuses/14359833374 ]

African ingenuity: Who would have thought to use a jerrican as a boombox! That’s just beyond mad genius

2010-05-21T23:43:00.009+01:00

Click here for full story, republished due to technical problems.

UN chief Ban Ki-Moon & Ugandan President Museveni to play football on Uganda’s war victims day, 30 May 2010

2010-05-21T14:20:00.009+01:00

What a great fun idea. Let's hope this report is true.

Secretary General, Uganda President to play football
From Afrik.com by Geof Maggaun - Friday, 21 May 2010:

Ugandans are eagerly waiting for a football match in which UN secretary general, Ban Ki-Moon is expected to play on the same pitch with Uganda’s president Yoweri Museveni.

According to the organizers of the match, which is meant to honour war victims in Uganda, Ki-moon and Museveni will play in different teams made up of war victims from northern Uganda.

The match is being organized by a non government organization called Uganda victims foundation. The chairman of the foundation, Santos, John Labeja said ’’UN secretary general, Ban Ki-moon will be playing in a football game at Nelson Mandela stadium on the eve of a review conference for the ICC scheduled to take place in Uganda starting on May 31st. Uganda’s president Yoweri Museveni will also be playing in a game that will last 60 minutes.’’

According to him the football game will be a highlight that will mark Uganda’s war victims day, which falls on Sunday, 30th May 2010. The day is meant to remember those harassed by the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) rebels in northern Uganda. He said most of them still remain traumatized.

LRA rebles fought Uganda government troops from 1987 up to 2006 when they were flushed from Uganda and they escaped to southern Sudan. They killed many people and harassed others by beating and cutting off parts of their bodies’’

They accepted to talk peace and participated in peace talks until 2008 when the talks were concluded but their leader Joseph Kony refused to sign the final peace agreement.

His refusal prompted an attack from Ugandan, southern Sudan and Democratic republic of Congo’s troops at the rebels base in Garamba forest in Congo.Since then the rebels have been attacking people in Central African republic and western Congo villages.

A Ugandan football team adminstrator, Dan Mukasa said,’’ We are eagerly waiting for the match. It is interesting to see people of high profile playing football with war victims. I am sure the stadium will fill to capacity.’’

Asharq Al-Awsat talks to SPLM Sec Gen Pagan Amum

2010-05-09T01:25:00.002+01:00

Sources from the South Sudan army revealed that elements from the guerrilla Lord’s Resistance Army of Uganda received joint training and armament with other militias affiliated to Arab tribes in order to re-launch attacks against South Sudan, which might secede from Sudan early next year via the referendum. South Sudan army sources added that the training process was sponsored by elements in Khartoum.

Asharq Al-Awsat talks to SPLM Sec Gen Pagan Amum
From Asharq Al-Awsat - Saturday, 08 May 2010
By Mustafa Sirri

London, Asharq Al-Awsat - The Sudan People’s Liberation Movement, which rules in the south of Sudan, has warned against tampering with the Referendum on Self Determination that is scheduled to take place early next year. It also rejected that the south is accountable for Sudan’s foreign debts estimated at 34 billion dollars and expressed its belief that that money was mainly used to kill southerners.

Sources from the South Sudan army revealed that elements from the guerrilla Lord’s Resistance Army of Uganda received joint training and armament with other militias affiliated to Arab tribes in order to re-launch attacks against South Sudan, which might secede from Sudan early next year via the referendum. South Sudan army sources added that the training process was sponsored by elements in Khartoum.

Amum indicated that the Sudanese currency presently in circulation had been funded by the National Congress Party and the SPLM and argued that over the past two years, the Governor of the Central Bank has acted as if the north and the government of Khartoum are the sole owners of the Sudanese pound. He added that the Central Bank Governor had stated that the currency would remain in circulation after the referendum, even if the south secedes, and that is unacceptable. “If the south secedes, South Sudan might be compelled to abandon the Sudanese pound and use hard currency instead,” Amum said. Amum stated that dealing in foreign currencies in the south might offer more advantages than the conditions set by the Central Bank Governor. Amum said, “The set conditions are unjust. Mechanisms and agreements would have to be created to tackle such problems.”

Amum said that the priority of the new government of Southern Sudan is to prepare for the referendum and added that the President of the Government of South Sudan [Silva Kiir] had stated that well-known parties had been working on delaying the referendum and that these parties call for Sudanese unity whilst being the first to harm that unity. “They are still around and are still trying to create problems and will ultimately harm Sudan. It is pointless that they call for Sudan's unity because they insist on adopting policies that treat southerners as second-class citizens.” Amum referred to the fact that Silva Kiir had reiterated that the SPLM called for a new Sudan that upholds justice, equality, freedom and mutual respect. Amum then launched a fierce attack on the National Congress Party, saying that it had proposed a project that does not encourage coexistence in one country. He added, “For that reason, the movement's leader called upon southerners to vote for their complete freedom away from opportunists and tyrants who are harming the south.”

Amum maintained that the unity of Sudan could only be realized through adopting a pan-nationalist project for building a multi-opinionated, multi-ethnic, multi-cultured and multi-religious Sudanese nation based on mutual respect. Amum said, “If the National Congress Party insists on implementing a program for building the Islamic republic then southerners will have no choice but to vote for secession. If the National Congress Party insists on imposing its policies of oppression and racial discrimination then southerners must secede, and if the National Congress Party continues to plunder the wealth of the south and unjustly divide oil revenues in the absence of transparency, then southerners will have to break free from those tyrants.”

Secretary General of the SPLM, Pagan Amum, told Asharq Al-Awsat that the movement protested against the statement made by Saber Mohammed al-Hassan, the Governor of the Bank of Sudan, in which he stated that the rescheduling of [the payment of] Sudan’s foreign debts, estimated at 34 billion dollars, should be settled before the Referendum of Self Determination is held. Amum added, “The National Congress Party should be held accountable for that amount of money that it used to kill southerners mercilessly during the civil war.” He also maintained that there was no logical link between the debts and the self-determination referendum. “Who incurred those debts? Where did the money go? What investments were they used for? These debts are stained with blood and have nothing to do with the practice of the right to self determination in the upcoming referendum.”

SPECIAL REPORT: Child soldiers & Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA)

2010-05-01T18:27:00.000+01:00

Children who become soldiers
From the SID Forum
By Saskia Baas*
April 27, 2010:

Over the past few years, the use of children as soldiers in armed conflict has become a source of immense moral outrage among rights activists as well as the general public. In 2005, the UN Security Council officially condemned the use of child-soldiers by parties to armed conflict and organisations such as Unicef and Save the Children have launched big campaigns to raise awareness on the tragic fate of children who become soldiers during civil wars in Africa, Asia and South America. Horrendous stories have surfaced of children who were abducted, drugged and turned into killing machines during the bloody civil wars in Sierra Leone and the Ivory Coast. These stories form a legitimate ground for wide condemnation, indeed.

However, although the “child-soldier” is often depicted as a helpless victim of the evildoings of other (adult) actors, this is a simplification that does not do justice to the complex reality of a civil war. During the civil war in South Sudan (1983-2005) the recruitment of children under the age of eighteen was common practice in the largest rebel movement: the Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA). The stories of these children – many of whom are by now adults and youngsters – challenge the image of childsoldiers as helpless victims, with no choice or opinion of their own.

Meet Tricia, who joined the SPLA when she was ten years old. When the government army had killed her father, she decided she wanted to fight back: “I became angry. I walked to a town where the SPLA was stationed and I said to them that I want to be a soldier. I took training for two years. I was still small and I was struggling even to carry the gun.” After she completed her training, the army leadership decided she was too young to fight and sent her to a refugee camp in Kenya to go to school. But after a year, she walked back to Sudan to join the army again: “My heart didn’t want to stay in the school. I wanted to fight. Every day in the school, my mind was thinking about going back to the army. This was because of what happened to my father. I was still angry.”

Another soldier, Moses, joined the rebels’ side when he was twelve years old. His home area became very insecure as a result of the war. He explains that he joined the rebels after an attack on his village by the enemy: “When the enemy came, they were killing people and taking the women and cows. They put fire in the house. My father was killed and three men in my sister’s house. I was afraid, I ran away. In the forest, I found soldiers and I joined them.” Although the life of a soldier exposes children to extremely threatening circumstances, it is often overlooked that they were facing the same, or even worse threats in their home communities. Civil war creates extreme insecurities, and becoming a soldier can be a form of seeking relative protection.

Yet, life for children in the army was also harsh and dangerous. There was seldom enough food, and many soldiers died of hunger, malaria or diarrhoea. On the frontlines, soldiers saw their friends die in front of them and many got injured. Simon tells us how he got injured: “When I was sixteen, I got shot in my leg. It had to be amputated and I now use an artificial leg. After that, I could not go back to battle. I stayed in the liberated areas, but still in uniform.” Philip also got injured when he was sixteen “When we started to fight, I felt bad about it. The war made everything worse. People died, got hurt and fled. I got injured in my leg. I had to go to the hospital far from the battles. I had to stay behind in the barracks since then.”

In the SPLA, it was not common for young children to be sent to the frontlines to fight, although there were exceptions to that rule. Many children who wanted to become soldiers were turned down altogether and sent to refugee camps, like what happened to Tricia. Generally, children who were taken into the army were given lighter tasks in the barracks. Yet, some young soldiers recalled how eager they were to go to the frontlines, like Jacob: “I was twelve when I joined the SPLA. I had to join the army, because I needed to protect myself. After the training, I was feeling strong. But the commanders thought I was still too young to fight, so I had to stay in the barracks with them. When I was thirteen, I didn’t want to wait anymore, and they let me go to battle. They saw I was ready for it.”

When possible, the SPLA organised classes for its soldiers in the barracks, mainly during ceasefires. Children were also sent to refugee camps or to safe areas for periods of time to attend school. Daniel explains how he was selected for education: “I joined the SPLA when I was fourteen years old. Then, our commander came to the barracks and they said to me “you are still young, you go to school”. Twenty were selected like that. I went to Kenya and finished my primary and secondary school there.” While life in the ranks of the army was extremely challenging for children, the life they had left behind was often not much better. Those who remained civilians throughout the war were subjected to attacks by the army, disease and famine. In 2005, the SPLA signed a peace agreement with the Sudanese government, putting an end to twenty years of a devastating civil war.

Directly after the peace, rights groups pressured the SPLA to release all soldiers who were then under the age of eighteen. Unicef committed itself to help them reintegrate into civilian life, and received funds to do so, but never managed to get projects going. None of the young soldiers ever received any form of support from Unicef. They had to depend on their families, like Daniel, who was sixteen when the peace was signed: “After the peace, I travelled to where my uncle lives. I was released from the army to go to school and I like it. I am in class 7 now. When I finish my education, I want to teach my people how to plant crops and how to take care of them. I don’t want a job in the army.”

Since the peace, the SPLA is an official army, and its remaining soldiers started receiving salaries. Tricia is now twenty-two years old and earning about $200 a month, which makes her more than well-off for Sudanese standards. She talks about her future: “I am now in the military intelligence. I also want to continue my education. I am going to ask for permission to go to school. But after I finish, I will come back to my job. I want to stay in the army. The army is my life.”

Jacob is now thirty years old, and stationed in South Sudan’s capital Juba where he is performing a civilian task. He hopes to find a way to continue his education, but this is difficult: “The problem is that I am too old for the regular schools here. I’ve been in the army for 16 years now. I am a soldier, and I feel that I have to be in the army. It is a job, somehow. All my experience is in the army. I won’t match in any other place. I belong in the army.” He is also now receiving a salary and is saving up for the dowry, as he is planning to get married and start a family.

The image of a child-soldier as a helpless victim who is abducted and forced, is based on only one part of reality and requires nuance. Although the image works well for those organisations seeking to raise funds for their projects, it does not provide room for children who became soldiers in an attempt to shape their destinies. Civil wars expose people to horrendous experiences and make children specifically vulnerable. Under these threatening circumstances, becoming a fighter may be a perfectly rational way to seek protection, even for children. However, that should not diminish our moral outrage. If anything, it should redirect our indignation towards states and leaders who instigate these wars, and those who look away and fail to act.

*Saskia Baas is a PhD candidate at the University of Amsterdam, completing a dissertation on armed opposition movements in Sudan and has done extensive field work in Sudan in 2008 – 2009, interviewing around 80 rebels. Names in the article are not the respondents’ real names.

Related article on the SID forum: Forgotten… by Jan Pronk

Traders importing goods from Uganda are complaining of double taxation in southern Sudan

2010-04-28T09:16:00.002+01:00

From SRS - Sudan Radio Service, Tuesday, 27 April 2010:

(Juba, southern Sudan) – Traders importing goods from Uganda are complaining of double taxation in southern Sudan.

They claim that import tax is imposed on their goods in Nimule and in Juba by revenue authorities.

Some traders spoke to SRS in Juba on Monday.

[Trader 1]: “We clear twice. Why should we clear in Nimule as we are entering and here in Juba? In other countries, we clear once. You clear at the border and you go and offload. But not here. We clear twice; you clear from here and in Nimule. We pay for documents here and in Nimule. Don’t you see? Everything is affecting us.”

[Trader 2]: “In most of the countries, we pay once except Sudan. I don’t know why. The government of Southern Sudan has to do something about this issue!

SRS spoke to the Head of Central Equatoria Revenue Authority, Samuel Modiyang.

He explains why there is double taxation on imports.

[Samuel Modiyang]: “There are levels of government. We are in the level of state. The policy in every state is that every state has to collect money to meet the cost of government machinery. So, those local revenues are collected from the goods brought from abroad. Here, Goss and Gonu are also collecting for the national duty, which is excise duty. It is always collected at the entry point, at Nimule. When they arrive here, we collect our taxes for the state. We have a legal basis for that. We have a law which was passed by the Legislative Assembly that authorizes us to collect those taxes.”

Samuel Modiyang, the head of Central Equatoria Revenue Authority, was speaking to SRS in Juba on Monday.

More news from SRS - Sudan Radio Service:

27-Apr-2010

26-Apr-2010

Sudan Sports Latest

LRA rebels surrender in Yambio, Western Equatoria, southern Sudan

2010-04-22T23:17:00.005+01:00

Lord’s Resistance Army rebels surrender in Sudan
From Afrik.com by Geof Magga Thursday, 22 April 2010

Two Lords Resistance army (LRA) rebels yesterday surrendered to the Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA) in Yambio town in Western Equatoria state of southern Sudan.

According to SPLA spokesman, major general Kuol Deim Kuol the two fighters surrendered peacefully without fighting.

"Two soldiers of the Ugandan rebel group Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) have surrendered in Yambio in Western Equatoria State. They said that they escaped from Central African Republic where they recently survived an ambush by Uganda peoples defence force.

Kuol said one of the fighters who surrendered was at the rank of captain in the rebel army, while the other was a private.

LRA rebels led by Joseph Kony have killed thousands of people in Uganda, southern Sudan Democratic republic of Congo and of recent in Central African Republic.

The LRA rebel group started in northern Uganda in mid 1980’s by former alter boy Joseph Kony who claimed that he was fighting bad governance but using the bible’s ten commandments as guidelines for his war.

During the late 1990’s Ugandan government troops mounted pressure on the rebels making them flee to southern Sudan where they built a base.

In 2006 the rebels accepted to talk peace with the Ugandan government, but they dragged on for two years.

When the talks were concluded in 2008, Joseph Kony refused to sign the final peace agreement which led to the joint force of Uganda, Congolese and southern Sudanese troops to attack his base in Garanba forest at the boarder between Southern Sudan and Congo.

Joseph Kony and his fighters escaped to Central African Republic where they have been killing and mutilating people. Ugandan forces have pursued them there.

Last month, Ugandan President announced that Joseph Kony had fled into Darfur which is under the government of Sudan. He also announced that the feared and ruthless rebel leader will not be allowed to stand trial at the International Criminal Court in The Hague and that he will definitely be hanged, should the authorities lay their hands on him.

The Economist is looking for a new Africa correspondent to be based in London

2010-04-18T00:15:00.001+01:00

Africa correspondent
From The Economist print edition, 15 April 2010:

The Economist is looking for a new Africa correspondent to be based in London, to edit and commission articles, to write on African issues, and to report from any part of the continent. Please send applications, including a covering letter, cv and two past articles, to newafricapost@economist.com by May 3rd.

Where is the Telegraph's David Blair these days, I wonder. He'd do a great job as Africa correspondent for The Economist. I miss his reporting on Africa.

The Economist is looking for a new Africa correspondent to be based in London

2010-04-18T00:15:00.000+01:00

Africa correspondent
From The Economist print edition, 15 April 2010:

The Economist is looking for a new Africa correspondent to be based in London, to edit and commission articles, to write on African issues, and to report from any part of the continent. Please send applications, including a covering letter, cv and two past articles, to newafricapost@economist.com by May 3rd.

Where is the Telegraph's David Blair these days, I wonder. He'd do a great job as Africa correspondent for The Economist.