Posts
Saturday, February 13, 2016
Saturday, January 30, 2016
Besigye in Kiruhura
I didn't warn people of Kiruhura that change is like a wildfire that spreads to all corners of the forest.
Posted by Moses Atocon Atyekwo on Friday, 29 January 2016
Tuesday, July 28, 2015
Thursday, June 4, 2015
Anyira Pa Rwot.
Gloria Adokorach- Anyira Pa Rwot....TraditionalGloria Adokorach- Anyira Pa Rwot....Beautiful Traditional
Posted by Northern Artist on Thursday, 4 June 2015
Tuesday, May 26, 2015
My First Solo.
Congrats Wilson on your first solo!!!
Posted by Canadian Flight Centre on Monday, 25 May 2015
Tuesday, March 17, 2015
Men will be extinct: Appreciate them now
Men face mass extinction because male genes are dying out, according to researchers. What would the world be without men? Some women might think it's a good idea.
But my advice is to love and cherish the men in your life right now because it's probably that the male gender won't be around in generations to come.
"Men are on the road to extinction as their genes shrink and slowly fade away," Professor Jennifer Graves, a genetic expert warned. She is a researcher in human sex chromosomes who says that the male Y chromosome is dying and could one day run out. But don't worry just yet - the change is not due to take place for another five million years.
But all is not lost. She said men may follow the path of the vole (a type of rodent) which still manages to reproduce despite not having the vital genes that make up the Y chromosome.
"You need a Y chromosome to be male," said Prof Jennifer Graves. "Three hundred million years ago the Y chromosome had about 1,400 genes on it, and now it's only got 45 left, so at this rate we're going to run out of genes on the Y chromosome in about five million years.
"The Y chromosome is dying and the big question is what happens then."
The male Y chromosome has a gene (SRY) which switches on the development of testis and pumps out male hormones that determine maleness. In her lecture, entitled "The Decline and Fall of the Y Chromosome and the Future of Men," Prof Graves discussed the disappearance of the Y chromosome and the implications for humans.
She said it was not known what would happen once the Y chromosome disappeared. "Humans can't become asexual like some lizards, because several vital genes must come from the male," she continued. "But the good news is that certain rodent species - the mole voles of Eastern Europe and the country rats of Japan - have no Y chromosome and no SRY gene.
"Yet there are still plenty of healthy male mole voles and country rats running around. Some other gene must have taken over the job and we'd like to know what that gene is."
The scientist said there were several genes which could take over from SRY, adding whichever one did take over is based purely on chance.
"It is even possible that two or more different sex-determination systems based on different genes could arise in different populations," she added.
"These could no longer reproduce with each other, leading to two different species of humans."
It's true, we won't be around in 5 million years to see the results of the disappearance of the Y chromosome. But it still gives us pause to stop and appreciate males as they exist today. It is difficult to imagine a world without men. A world of only women seems impossible. Let's hope that, another chromosome will take over. That gene hasn't been determined yet.
It's too hard to imagine a world without male genes. One day women may go to museums just to see examples of the extinct male, the way we view dinosaurs today.
Monday, July 7, 2014
Monday, February 24, 2014
President Museveni's full speech at signing of Anti-Homosexuality bill
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| President Museveni signs the Anti-Homosexuality bill into law shortly before delivering his speech in which he lashed out at the Western countries. Photo by William Rujuta
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He then went ahead to stress that Uganda is a rich country that does not need aid, because aid is in itself a problem. This all happened this afternoon at state house Entebbe. Read the full address of the President below
President Museveni today assented to the anti-homosexuality bill, making it a law amidst debate and controversies from Western powers and Human rights activists. The President stressed that despite US president barrack Obama getting disappointed with the signing of this bill, We (Ugandans) have also been disappointed for a very long time too by the policies of the west that do not make us "happy".
He then went ahead to stress that Uganda is a rich country that does not need aid, because aid is in itself a problem. This all happened this afternoon at state house Entebbe. Read the full address of the President below:
It seems the topic of homosexuals was provoked by the arrogant and careless Western groups that are fond of coming into our schools and recruiting young children into homosexuality and lesbianism, just as they carelessly handle other issues concerning Africa.
Initially, I did not pay much attention
to it because I was busy with the immediate issues of defense, security, electricity, the roads, the railways, factories, modernization of agriculture, etc.
When, eventually, I concentrated my mind on it, I distilled three problems:
1. those who were promoting homo-sexuality and recruiting normal people into it;
2. as a consequence of No. 1 above, many of those recruited were doing so for mercenary reasons – to get money – in effect homosexual prostitutes; these mercenary homosexual prostitutes had to be punished;
3. Homosexuals exhibiting themselves; Africans are flabbergasted by exhibitionism of sexual acts – whether heterosexual or otherwise and for good reason. Why do you exhibit your sexual conduct? Are you short of opportunity for privacy - where you can kiss, fondle (kukirigiita, kwagaaga) etc.?
Are we interested in seeing your sexual acts – we the Public? I am not able to understand the logic of the Western Culture. However, we Africans always keep our opinions to ourselves and never seek to impose our point of view on the others. If only they could let us alone.
It was my view that the above three should be punished harshly in order to defend our society from disorientation. Therefore, on these three I was in total accord with the MPs and other Ugandans. I had, however, a problem with Category 4 or what I thought was category 4 – those “born” homosexual.
I thought there were such people – those who are either genetic or congenital homosexuals. The reason I thought so was because I could not understand why a man could fail to be attracted to the beauties of a woman and, instead, be attracted to a fellow man. It meant, according to me, that there was something wrong with that man – he was born a homosexual – abnormal.
I, therefore, thought that it would be wrong to punish somebody because of how he was created, disgusting though it may be to us. That is why I refused to sign the Bill. In order to get to the truth, we involved Uganda Scientists as well as consulting Scientists from outside Uganda.
My question to them was: “Are there people that are homosexual right from birth?”. After exhaustive studies, it has been found that homosexuality is in two categories: there are those who engage in homosexuality for mercenary reasons on account of the under – developed sectors of our economy that cause people to remain in poverty, the great opportunities that abound not withstanding; and then there are those that become homosexual by both nature (genetic) and nurture (up-bringing).
The studies that were done on identical twins in Sweden showed that 34% - 39% were homosexual on account of nature and 66% were homosexual on account of nurture.
Therefore, even in those studies, nurture was more significant than nature. Can somebody be homosexual purely by nature without nurture? The answer is: “No”. No study has shown that. Since nurture is the main cause of homosexuality, then society can do something about it to discourage the trends. That is why I have agreed to sign the Bill.
Since Western societies do not appreciate politeness, let me take this opportunity to warn our people publicly about the wrong practices indulged in and promoted by some of the outsiders.
One of them is “oral sex”. Our youth should reject this because God designed the human being most appropriately for pleasurable, sustainable and healthy sex. Some of the traditional styles are very pleasurable and healthy. The mouth is not engineered for that purpose except kissing. Besides, it is very unhealthy. People can even contract gonorrhea of the mouth and throat on account of so-called “oral sex”, not to mention worms, hepatitis E, etc.
The Ministry of Gender and Youth should de-campaign this buyayism imported from outside and sensitize the youth about the healthy life style that is abundant in our cultures.
We reject the notion that somebody can be homosexual by choice; that a man can choose to love a fellow man; that sexual orientation is a matter of choice. Since my original thesis that there may be people who are born homosexual has been disproved by science, then the homosexuals have lost the argument in Uganda.
They should rehabilitate themselves and society should assist them to do so.
Yoweri K. Museveni Gen. (Rtd)
P R E S I D E N T
Sunday, February 16, 2014
HKRAC doesn’t have the balls to fight in the USM arena
Dear Vision First & HKRAC,
After reading the below, I was greatly pained and still feel my Heart bleeding as a person who was once a Refugee and a client to both organizations. It's so unfortunate to see you two powerfull institutions changing the frontline yet the desperate asylum seekers and refugees in Hong Kong hopes are in your hands. If you both have the interests of this poor members of society, then you must fight the same battle NOT turning the guns on yourselves. I hope your clients themselves will be able to judge your actions.
Yours concerned,
Wilson Lakony. HKRAC doesn’t have the balls to fight in the USM arena
Dear Aleta –
In reply to your below email requesting use of our notice board, we are not posting your flyer, and here are my thoughts why.
First, there is little you can teach about USM that is not in the public arena already and hasn’t been torn apart by the Hong Kong Bar Association 14 February 2014 submission.
Second, we appreciate that HKRAC’s days as the UNHCR golden boy are over. We blogged in “Winners and Losers” that HKRAC is about to experience a culture shock entering shark-infested USM waters. To achieve results in this arena more than cocktail parties are necessary as the opponent of refugees is fierce and powerful.
Most lawyers in the “Big City” law firms that support HKRAC are clueless about the cruel oppression refugees suffer. It is of concern that they are mostly unqualified to represent protection claimants at the Immigration Department, unable to face racist magistrates and unskilled for judicial reviews in the High Court. There is less than a dozen human rights lawyers in town and Duty Lawyer Service will not assign more cases to them.
If HKRAC cannot give legal advice or appoint pro bono lawyers, then it is reduced to a pathetic signboard pointing the way towards a process in which it has no say and no power.
Refugees desperately require either legal advice, which HKRAC cannot give, or fearless advocacy, which HKRAC cannot stomach!
Had you paid attention to OCCUPY ISS, you would know that Vision First is closed to support the Refugee Union’s historic occupation of a despotic contractor. Not only did I sleep in the streets for three days, ready for a police assault, but I haven’t been to the office since 10 February and won’t return until ISS falls.
On the frontline, the absence of HKRAC and other NGOs and churches serving refugees was regrettably noted. Instead of emailing about our notice board, you could have bolstered the protest line with your staff and flyers – that would have earned you great respect!
Similarly, instead of sitting at your desk, you could have inspected refugee ghettos and offered assistance to a thousand neglected refugees, who supposedly didn’t fit your lucrative business model before.
Let me vent some anger (which is well pondered over), by saying that it is apparent to us that HKRAC doesn’t have the balls to fight in the USM arena. There is tremendous brutality behind Immigration, Duty Lawyer Service, adjudicators and their hard-line trainers.
If you don’t know the enemy how can you enter the fight? We just hope HKRAC will become an asset in this fierce battle. But be aware that nothing you have learnt at UNHCR can prepare you for this dirty fight!
Cosmo
———- Forwarded message ———-
From: Aleta Miller <######@hkrac.org>
Date: Thu, Feb 13, 2014 at 9:54 PM
Subject: HKRAC USM info sessions
To: Danielle Stutterd
Dear Danielle,
I hope you are well. I’m attaching a flyer about new group information sessions on the USM which HKRAC are launching. Please find a flyer attached.
I’d be grateful if you could print the flyer and put it on the notice board in your center so that your clients can have access to the sessions. We can also drop some smaller leaflets to your centre if you would like to have them available to your clients.
I’m always happy to talk more about our services and answer any questions you may have, don’t hesitate to ask. Let me know if you’d like us to drop some flyers over.
Warm regards,
Aleta Miller
Executive Director
Hong Kong Refugee Advice Centre
Saturday, January 11, 2014
Tuesday, December 10, 2013
Nelson Mandela memorial: Barack Obama wins loudest roar of approval from restless crowd
Only one man was ever going to please the soaked, restless and expectant crowd at Nelson Mandela's memorial service on Tuesday.
They wanted soaring rhetoric, they wanted hope and above all they wanted President Barack Obama, who arrived very late but was greeted with a massive roar by those inside the stadium. Speaking of Mandela as his personal inspiration, the US leader declared: "He makes me want to be a better man."
The wild response made it clear that here in South Africa at least he was seen as the heir to Nelson Mandela, the man whose death last Thursday the crowd might have come to mourn, but whose life they wanted most of all to celebrate.
Mr Obama was inspired to make an audacious speech - even daring to lecture some of the 90 other world leaders sitting around him for failing to live up to the example set by "the great liberator".
Praising "a life like no other" he said: "It took a man like Mandela to liberate not just the prisoner, but the jailer as well." The speech was passionate and heartfelt. Americans had been through the same struggle for equal rights he said, adding: "Michelle and I are beneficiaries of that."
To people watching inside the FNB stadium and in the wider South Africa, he said: "The world thanks you for sharing Nelson Mandela with us. His struggle was your struggle. His triumph was your triumph."
Heavy rain was blamed for rows of empty seats in the uncovered section of the stadium, along with travel delays and the refusal of the increasingly unpopular President Jacob Zuma to declare a national holiday.
But for the world leaders gathered in comfortable seats under cover, this was an extraordinary chance to get together in an atmosphere that was unexpectedly relaxed. They were all dressed as for a funeral, but there were wide grins as Mr Obama and the British Prime Minister, David Cameron, posed for a "selfie" photograph with the rather glamorous prime minister of Denmark, Helle Thorning-Schmidt.
President Barack Obama (R) and British Prime Minister David Cameron (L) posing for a photo with Denmark's Prime Minister Helle Thorning Schmidt (C) during the memorial service (ROBERTO SCHMIDT/AFP)
Michelle Obama did not appear pleased at just how well her husband was getting on with his new Danish friend, and stared away from the scene.
Michelle Obama did not join in with the three leaders (ROBERTO SCHMIDT/AFP)
The historic handshake (GETTY IMAGES)
This was thought to be the largest gathering of world leaders at an event of this kind since the funeral of Winston Churchill in 1965, but the mood among them was set by the brief they had been given that this was a celebration of a long and great life.
Having flown in overnight, Mr Cameron arrived at the stadium early, saying he hadn't wanted to get stuck in traffic. "You know us Brits get there on time," he said; but his promptness helped him avoid a difficult encounter with his own bogeyman, the late-arriving president of Zimbabwe, Robert Mugabe.
Instead he could mix with the likes of Bono, lead singer of U2, the supermodel Naomi Campbell and the Hollywood star Charlize Theron. Born in South Africa, she welled up when telling the Telegraph how her memories of Mandela were "just a tremendous memory of love and compassion and warmth".
Bono and Charlize Theron at the service (ODD ANDERSEN/AFP)
Even Nick Clegg, the deputy prime minister, was able to enjoy his own brief special moment, with Bill Clinton, one of the four past and present American presidents in the stadium. Jimmy Carter and George W Bush were the others, Every living British prime minister was present, including Tony Blair, Gordon Brown and Sir John Major, who told The Telegraph: "It's very difficult to see that anyone's life will be quite as extraordinary as Nelson Mandela's in the way it has affected this country and the rest of the world. It's a celebration and there's a lot to celebrate."
Gordon and Sarah Brown talk with George W Bush (KAI PFAFFENBACH/REUTERS)
Mr Obama appeared troubled by the conditions at first, but relaxed so much during his speech that he even attempted a local accent, when praising Mandela as the embodiment of the African ideal of unity, Ubuntu, He then became even bolder, as if being this close to Mandela's memory had charged him up, bringing back memories of his first, hope-filled campaign for the US presidency.
Attempting to live up to the crowd's expectations and take on Mandela's mantle, Mr Obama challenged his fellow presidents, prime ministers and heads of state to search their souls and ask whether they lived up to the example of the man they had come to praise.
"Around the world today, men and women are still imprisoned for their political beliefs; and are still persecuted for what they look like, how they worship and who they love," he said in the presence of leaders of Iran, China and Zimbabwe, among others. "There are too many leaders who claim solidarity with Madiba's struggle for freedom but do not tolerate dissent from their own people."
But there was dissent inside the stadium, where even members of the Mandela family struggled to make themselves heard against the surge of boos and jeers every time the face of Mr Zuma appeared on giant screens in the stadium.
South African President Jacob Zuma (SIPHIWE SIBEKO/REUTERS)
Three of Mr Mandela's grandchildren and one of his great-grandchildren looked distressed by the treatment as they read a poem in his memory that compared him to "a giant tree that has fallen, scattering a thousand brilliant leaves." The loud dissent was embarrassing for the ruling ANC party and in particular Mr Zuma, at a moment when their country was the centre of the world's attention.
But many in the crowd managed to brush off mere politics and insist on giving even louder thanks for the life of the Nobel laureate, whose face appeared on many brightly coloured clothes.
Down in the enclosure where the Mandela family sat, all dressed in black, there was understandably only deep mourning. Graca Machel, the Nobel laureate's third wife and now widow, made her first public appearance since his death at the start of the month.
She moved slowly to her place with a furrowed brow, looking devastated.
Gracha Machel at the service (SIPHIWE SIBEKO/REUTERS)
This was the second time she had been to a funeral service for a husband, having lost President Samora of Mozambique to a plane crash nearly 30 years ago.
Mrs Machel sat near to Winnie Mandela, the second wife who had entered on the arm of her daughter Zindzi. This was a show of unity from the Mandela clan, whose members fought each other in the courts all summer even as the patriarch was lying on life support in hospital. Mandla, the grandson who attempted to force the others to bury his grandfather in his own village, to his own potential gain, was back among his family.
Winnie Madikizela Mandela, left, and Graca Machel, right (KAI PFAFFENBACH/REUTERS)
The traditional funeral will instead take place on Sunday in Qunu, the village in the Eastern Cape that Nelson Mandela regarded as his home.
World leaders were asked to keep away from it due to the difficulty of travel in the remote region, but Prince Charles is believed to be making plans to attend.
The stadium in which Tuesday's ceremony took place was on the site where Mr Mandela made his first major public speech after being released from prison after 27 years, in 1990. The rebuilt arena was also where he made his last public appearance during the closing ceremony for the 2010 World Cup. After a long illness, he died at the age of 95.
Tickets for yesterday's event were free, as were the buses and trains laid on to take people there. Boitshepo Matsitsi, 25, a businesswoman from Soweto, said she rose at 4.30am and drove her car to the security cordon before getting out and walking the rest of the way. "I've never felt so close to Madiba. We wouldn't have missed this for anything."
Yvonne Moratiele, 37, her head wrapped in an ANC scarf and a flag draping her body, said Mandela would be getting the send-off he deserved. "In Africa, when the lion dies, the jungle roars. We're here to make sure that happens."
When President Zuma came to the stage at last he gave a poor speech, reading from notes that he held close to his chest. His promise to follow Mandela in working to free South Africa of hunger, homelessness and inequality will not have appeased those who accuse him of squandering Mandela's legacy and acting out of self interest.
People gathered to celebrate Nelson Mandela's life (REUTERS/Kai Pfaffenbach)
Thato Makapa, 36, summed up the boos for Zuma in one word: "Corruption. How can he stand on a podium and talk about our Madiba?"
The day really belonged to Mr Obama. "He reminds us of Madiba," said Viola Maliti, 37, a judge's secretary. "He was also the first black president. He may not have done much for Africa yet but there's still time."
Mr Obama took care to praise "the other early giants of the ANC" and said he had first heard the name of Nelson Mandela – and learned of the struggle against apartheid - when he was a young student.
"It stirred something in me. It woke me up to my responsibilities - to others, and to myself - and set me on an improbable journey that finds me here today."
He praised Mandela for admitting his imperfections and for being full of mischief. "He was not a bust made of marble; he was a man of flesh and blood - a son and husband, a father and a friend. That is why we learned so much from him; that is why we can learn from him still."
Bringing his speech to a climax with the words of Nelson Mandela's favourite poem, Invictus, he said: "'I am the master of my fate. I am the captain of my soul.' What a magnificent soul it was. We will miss him deeply."
Friday, November 29, 2013
Kony’s surrender talks: Was the world hoodwinked?
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| Dr Ruhakana Rugunda, then the Internal Affairs minister, meets Joseph Kony at Ri-Kwangba at the DR Congo-Sudan border in February 2007. FILE PHOTO
|
It seems apparently so, according to emerging details.
Mr Francisco Madeira, the African Union’s special envoy on the LRA, told the UN Security Council on November 20, that Central African Republic (CAR) leaders were in touch with the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) rebel group and its overall commander Kony.
Mr Madeira based his briefing on updates received from CAR’s interim president Michel Djotodia during their interface in Bangui at the end of October.
According to various government and diplomatic sources, the LRA in a message promised its fighters would have assembled by November 3 if guaranteed safe passage and supplies.
In other words, the prowling rebels already skipped their own deadline to gather in one place and it was 17 days after this trick that Mr Madeira
notified the UN Security Council - vaulting over the uncomfortable detail that the development had been overtaken by reality on the ground.
A US Department of State official quoted by UK public broadcaster, the BBC, noted that Washington was not persuaded that Kony was on the point of abdicating rebellion.
The US official was not alone, and no concrete information other than loose lines dropped by beleaguered CAR officials, has come to light to validate those serious claims of the intended surrender.
In the past, Kony has told lies or walked back on his commitments to more credible intermediaries, even after persuaded national leaders and international actors bended backwards to accommodate his testy demands.
Mr Paul Ronan, the co-founder of Resolve, a frontline advocacy group on LRA issues, says the surrender talks claims “most likely aren’t true”.
The only confirmation so far is that CAR transitional president Djotodia, noted Mr Ronan, is in contact with an LRA group, and not Kony’s.
Multiple sources have told the Daily Monitor that Otto Laderere, known to be Kony’s former security aide who replaced Caesar Acellam as LRA’s intelligence chief, in late August made contact with one Demane.
Demane is a general in Djotodia’s Seleka group that ousted President François Bozizé Yangouvonda in March this year.
Hideouts
Laderere’s group is hibernating in Nzako in CAR’s remote but mineral-rich south-east, where the rebels and their dependents reportedly also practice subsistence agriculture.
The AU Regional Taskforce, as the regional intervention force supported by about 100 US Special Forces is called, has over the past months destroyed LRA camps and denied the rebels a permanent home.
Unable to roam freely and pillage villages to replenish dwindling supplies, the rebels have once again picked from their bag of tricks the most-tempting sweetener: An offer to renounce rebellion in exchange for a safe haven and food.
The rebels during their initial contact in August put their number together with dependents at 1, 200.
They then increased it to 2,000 and later doubled it to between 4,000 and 5,000 when they got feelers of possible deliveries, an exaggeration calculated to attract bigger quantities of food and medical supplies to last them longer.
Yet independent estimates show LRA’s fighting force is no more than 600, the rank and file being depleted by deaths and a spate of defections encouraged by regional militaries through air-dropped leaflets.
This newspaper understands that Djotodia as well as NGOs, eager to get some credit for getting one of the world’s most wanted men out of the bush, hauled generous portions of food and medicines to the rebels before everything suddenly went silent again.
According to Resolve’s Ronan, the interim leadership separately forced villagers and civil society actors to deliver food to rebel hide-outs, often at great risk to their safety.
By October 31 when UN and AU envoys; Abou Moussa and Mr Madeira met and told CAR leaders not to deliver supplies to LRA without concrete action - say release of children and women in captivity - the rebel group under Laderere had already snapped up substantial rations, leaving the world to guess their next course of action.
Djotodia remains unrecognised internationally as president or head-of-state, eight months after his violent power grab and his authority to preside over the country has significantly been eroded by the recent spiral in violence masterminded by unruly elements among his armed allies.
More troops in CAR
The UN, at the urging of France, CAR’s former colonial master, on Tuesday proposed to deploy a 7,000-strong intervention force to stabilise the country teetering towards full-blown genocide fanned by religious sentiments.
A source at the heart of security matters in the Great Lakes Region says the Seleka rebels “systematically plundered” the wealth of the Catholic Church - one of the richest institutions in
the landlocked country - during the war that brought Djotodia to power in March.
They ransacked missions, stripped removable property and commandeered four-wheel vehicles, including those owned by NGOs, to the distaste of the faithful.
Because Muslims dominate the command, rank and file of Seleka running the struggling transitional government, the previous looting combined with ongoing bloody military operations targeting Bozizé loyalists has tended to be interpreted in religious hues.
Isolated internationally, and beleaguered at home, Djotodia is a desperate man willing to trade off anything except his life to gain credibility.
Stakeholders, including within the African Union, believe the struggling CAR leader tossed up the Kony surrender card to draw international attention and build a clout for recognition.
Others suggest both he and general Demane hope to tap part of or whole $5 million (Shs12.5 billion) US bounty on the elusive LRA chief if he surrendered to them.
Hope flickers in hunt for Kony
The Ugandan, Congolese, CAR and South Sudan forces have been hunting LRA rebels for months under
the aegis of the African Union.
In October 2011, US President Barack Obama assigned about 100 combat-equipped US Navy SEALS as field advisors to help regional armies remove Joseph Kony and other top LRA commanders from the battlefield.
UPDF’s Brig Sam Kavuma replaced Brig Dick Prit Olum as commander of the AU Regional Taskforce in July, around the same time Washington expanded its assistance previously to UPDF to cover other armies on LRA chase.The American assistance includes sharing high-tech intelligence and gathering capabilities, training, and airlifting of troops as well as logistical supplies.
The 3,085-strong Regional Taskforce is headquartered in Yambio, South Sudan, and has tactical bases in Central African Republic’s Obbo; Nzara, South Sudan; and, Ddungu in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
“The force is very robust; it has been destroying LRA camps; tracking those fleeing and denied them a permanent base to re-organise from,” said a senior AU official who asked not to be named because they are not authorised to speak to the media.
“There is heightened pressure on LRA and optimism on our part that we are closer than ever before to achieve our ultimate objective: To eliminate the LRA,” the source said.
In mid-September, 2013, AU envoy Francisco Madeira secured diplomatic authorisation from a previously hesitant Kinshasa, allowing the Regional Taskforce (SPLA contingent) to co-hunt LRA rebels inside DR Congo territory alongside 500 FARDC troops who joined the operation only in February this year.
The UPDF has some 2,000 troops on the mission, SPLA 500, adding to CAR’s 85.
From survival revolt to enigma
The rebellion in the northern Uganda began shortly after President Museveni, in January 1986, overthrew the military junta of Gen Tito Okello, himself an Acholi.
The official version of the genesis of the northern armed conflict is that it was masterminded by disgruntled Acholi soldiers to try to topple new-comer Museveni and reclaim lost state power.
In an account to this newspaper in September, exiled renegade UPDF Col Samson Mande, the commander of the National Resistance Army battalion that captured Acholi land, however, said the war was triggered off by revenge killings and indiscriminate looting by some NRA guerrillas.
The first armed resistance, he said, was organised by volunteer Ojuk, a Captain in the vanquished Uganda National Liberation Army (UNLA).
It then morphed into the Holy Spirit Movement commanded by Alice Auma Lakwena, who claimed to have mythical powers that could dissolve bullets fired at her fighters. The bullets did not melt, and the NRA outgunned her advancing group in Busoga.
The little-educated Joseph Kony, her close relative and former altar boy with an odd ambition to rule Uganda based on the biblical Ten Commandments, started off the LRA in 1987.
His forces killed for leisure, conscripted and indoctrinated children as core fighters and pillaged villages in his ancestral land.
At the height of the near two-decade insurgency, humanitarian organisations estimated up to 1. 7 million people in northern Uganda huddled in Internally Displaced People’s Camps, living in squalor and dying in tens daily of preventable diseases.
A population escaping Kony’s wrath ran into harm meted by government soldiers, under David Sejusa, formerly Tinyefuza.
The humiliation of a people created jitters and
frustration that translated into venomous political grievance.
Hope flickered when Gen Aronda Nyakairima’s Operation Iron Fist kicked LRA rebels from their hideouts in mountainous parts of South Sudan, forcing them in August 2005 to sprint to Gramba Parkland in northeastern DR Congo.
The collapse of the Juba talks gave UPDF in December 2008 the incentive to pursue LRA inside DRC, flushing them out of the forested hide-out.
Today, a four-country military contingent, the Regional taskforce, keeps the LRA constantly on the run, without a permanent camp to plan or replenish dwindling stock.
LRA TIMELINE
1987: Ex-Altar Boy Joseph Kony starts the LRA group.
1993/4: Betty Bigombe, then minister for Pacification of the North, opens peace talks. Meets face-to-face with Kony, but talks collapse over mistrust.
2004: Bigombe brokers fresh negotiations, and it fails again.
2005: LRA flees to DRC, South Sudan brokers peace talks, warring parties sign ceasefire deal
2006-8. Juba peace talks take place. Kony declines to sign final peace agreement, citing his ICC indictment
and arrest warrant.
Dec. 2008: UPDF launches Operation Lightning Thunder and dislodges LRA from DRC’s Garamba Park
2011 to-date: Regional armies hunt down LRA in Central Africa.
Nov. 20, 2013: AU tells UN Security Council Kony is in surrender talks with CAR leaders.
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