We all know about President Barack Obama's father being Kenyan, but now claims are being made that Obama's grandfather was a Ugandan.
In an article published in the Kampala newspaper, the Daily Monitor, and written by Angelo Izama, a group claims that Obama's Luo tribal connections extend to regions of Kenya that were once part of Uganda in the 1920s when it was a British protectorate.
According to the Monitor, the information came in a statement signed by Nelson Umah Tete about a book titled “The Luo” by George William Alenyo.
The organisation, Luo Community [Ugandan Chapter], is however an unregistered entity whose real membership remains unknown, the Monitor said.
“By 1926 when Obama’s grandfather Onyango Obama was born in Nyanza province [it] was still part of the Uganda protectorate whose boundary extended up to the Rift Valley in Nakuru” the statement said, adding that the boundaries were not altered until 1926.
As we all know, Obama’s African roots have been a source of excitement in the region, and a beer has been named after him in Kenya. Children born on the day he won the presidency have been named after him.
DVD’s with his speeches are selling like blockbusters and his acceptance speech has been turned into a cellular phone ringtone, the Monitor reports.
While ‘Obamania’ has shown no signs of ebbing, it holds a special significance to ethnic Luo group.
It must be noted that the Luo tribe in western Kenya is closely related to the Acholi tribe in northern Uganda, of which Joseph Kony, the leader of the Lord's Resistance Army is a member.
The Acholi as well as the Luo, as they're known, both speak the Luo language, which in northern Uganda is also simply called Acholi.
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
New focus on Africa needed
The suspense and anticipation is palatable as the U.S. swears- in Barack Obama as its first African-American president.
It is a milestone, of course, and a colossal turn-around in American governance and policy.
While Obama surely will bring about change on many fronts, one of the places it is sorely needed is Africa.
But leveraging change in Africa won't come immediately, as Obama's priority must be the crumbling U.S. economy. As the world's economic engine, the U.S. economy drives the fortunes of the world.
Some levers for shifting gears are already in place in Africa. Specifically, the U.S. military's new African Command, Africom.
While it does not necessarily mean more troop involvement, it well could. In announcing the new command, generals said that U.S. forces in Africa would support humanitarian aid efforts there.
This has led to complaints about the militarization of foreign aid, which is a legitimate concern. However, given the state of most Africa countries, the carrot-and-stick approach could prove effective.
Having lived in the Balkans, the Caucasus, Afghanistan and Africa, I know well the failure of foreign aid. Providing aid without demanding results and accountability is not only wrong, it perpetuates the conditions that created the need.
The best example we have is with Joseph Kony and the Lord's Resistance Army, now rampaging through northeastern Democratic Republic of the Congo where it has killed more than 600 innocent people, abducted hundreds of others, and raped and mutilated scores more.
This is the same army that was pampered and fed by a collection of European countries for more than two years as an inducement to negotiate. But after two years, Kony and his LRA made fools of the international community by not signing a peace deal on three separate occasions.
And now Kony's on what is the most bloody rampage in his army's horrific 22-year existence.
Chances are slight that the U.S. will get involved in the hunt for Kony that continues by the Ugandan Army.
What we can expect quickly, however, is some action in Darfur. During his campaign, Obama called for direct action in Darfur, and this has been reiterated by his designated Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton.
First is the likely imposition of a no-fly zone over Darfur, which will be enforced by U.S. air power already based in the region. This would effectively ground Sudan's fleet of Antonov bombers and attack helicopters, and would go a long way toward stopping the destruction of Darfur's villages.
Other actions have been suggested, as were leaked in a recent White House memo, such as jamming Sudan's communications system and blockading Sudan's ports -- a move that would halt the flow of Sudan oil which President Omar al-Bashir uses to fund his war in Darfur.
While the world's attention to Africa will soon shift to Darfur, it would be nice if some of that attention would spill over to the bloody corner of the DRC where Kony and his LRA continues kill innocent people with impunity.
It is a milestone, of course, and a colossal turn-around in American governance and policy.
While Obama surely will bring about change on many fronts, one of the places it is sorely needed is Africa.
But leveraging change in Africa won't come immediately, as Obama's priority must be the crumbling U.S. economy. As the world's economic engine, the U.S. economy drives the fortunes of the world.
Some levers for shifting gears are already in place in Africa. Specifically, the U.S. military's new African Command, Africom.
While it does not necessarily mean more troop involvement, it well could. In announcing the new command, generals said that U.S. forces in Africa would support humanitarian aid efforts there.
This has led to complaints about the militarization of foreign aid, which is a legitimate concern. However, given the state of most Africa countries, the carrot-and-stick approach could prove effective.
Having lived in the Balkans, the Caucasus, Afghanistan and Africa, I know well the failure of foreign aid. Providing aid without demanding results and accountability is not only wrong, it perpetuates the conditions that created the need.
The best example we have is with Joseph Kony and the Lord's Resistance Army, now rampaging through northeastern Democratic Republic of the Congo where it has killed more than 600 innocent people, abducted hundreds of others, and raped and mutilated scores more.
This is the same army that was pampered and fed by a collection of European countries for more than two years as an inducement to negotiate. But after two years, Kony and his LRA made fools of the international community by not signing a peace deal on three separate occasions.
And now Kony's on what is the most bloody rampage in his army's horrific 22-year existence.
Chances are slight that the U.S. will get involved in the hunt for Kony that continues by the Ugandan Army.
What we can expect quickly, however, is some action in Darfur. During his campaign, Obama called for direct action in Darfur, and this has been reiterated by his designated Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton.
First is the likely imposition of a no-fly zone over Darfur, which will be enforced by U.S. air power already based in the region. This would effectively ground Sudan's fleet of Antonov bombers and attack helicopters, and would go a long way toward stopping the destruction of Darfur's villages.
Other actions have been suggested, as were leaked in a recent White House memo, such as jamming Sudan's communications system and blockading Sudan's ports -- a move that would halt the flow of Sudan oil which President Omar al-Bashir uses to fund his war in Darfur.
While the world's attention to Africa will soon shift to Darfur, it would be nice if some of that attention would spill over to the bloody corner of the DRC where Kony and his LRA continues kill innocent people with impunity.
Monday, January 19, 2009
Death toll climbs
According to a story in the New Vision newspaper in Kampala, Uganda, hundreds of civilians were burned to death on Saturday by the Lord’s Resistance Army rebels.
The rebels set ablaze a church called Bima in the Democratic Republic of Congo at midnight as the faithful prayed, according to the New Vision.
It is not yet known how many were in the church at the time, according to Radio Okapi, the UN's radio network in Congo. The rebels reportedly attacked others with axes and knives, slitting throats and crushing skulls.
The massacre occurred in the towns of Tora and Libombi, and two nearby mining communities located 130km from Dungu, the base of operations for the Ugandan military which is chasing the LRA.
According to the president of the civil society of Dungu, Felicien Balani: “The LRA entered around midnight. They surprised the faithful of the church who were in a prayer vigil. They burned them in the church,” said Balani.
The rebels also burnt several houses at the gold mine town of Tora. So far recorded are five deaths and six injured.
Civil society organisations working in Dungu said over 100 people had fled the area by yesterday.
“In Doruma, it was really awful. They had killed at least 300 people. We were in a village where there are only six survivors, all the others were killed,” said Anneke Van Woudenberg, of Human Rights Watch.
“One of the few survivors, a 72-year-old man who arrived late for Christmas lunch, hid in the bushes and watched in horror as his wife, children and grandchildren were killed,” Woudenberg told New Vision.
After the massacre, the rebels “ate the Christmas feast the villagers had prepared, and then slept among the dead bodies before continuing on their trail of destruction and death” through another 12 villages.
Another 86 people were massacred in the most recent incidents.
The rebels set ablaze a church called Bima in the Democratic Republic of Congo at midnight as the faithful prayed, according to the New Vision.
It is not yet known how many were in the church at the time, according to Radio Okapi, the UN's radio network in Congo. The rebels reportedly attacked others with axes and knives, slitting throats and crushing skulls.
The massacre occurred in the towns of Tora and Libombi, and two nearby mining communities located 130km from Dungu, the base of operations for the Ugandan military which is chasing the LRA.
According to the president of the civil society of Dungu, Felicien Balani: “The LRA entered around midnight. They surprised the faithful of the church who were in a prayer vigil. They burned them in the church,” said Balani.
The rebels also burnt several houses at the gold mine town of Tora. So far recorded are five deaths and six injured.
Civil society organisations working in Dungu said over 100 people had fled the area by yesterday.
“In Doruma, it was really awful. They had killed at least 300 people. We were in a village where there are only six survivors, all the others were killed,” said Anneke Van Woudenberg, of Human Rights Watch.
“One of the few survivors, a 72-year-old man who arrived late for Christmas lunch, hid in the bushes and watched in horror as his wife, children and grandchildren were killed,” Woudenberg told New Vision.
After the massacre, the rebels “ate the Christmas feast the villagers had prepared, and then slept among the dead bodies before continuing on their trail of destruction and death” through another 12 villages.
Another 86 people were massacred in the most recent incidents.
Sunday, January 18, 2009
More time, more trouble
Ugandan officials are going to travel to the Democratic Republic of Congo's capital of Kinshasa this week to ask for more time to hunt rebels.
Uganda had approval from the DRC to chase the rebels of the Lord's Resistance Army for a month that ended Jan. 14, 30 days after the military first attacked the LRA camps in the Garamba National Park on Dec. 14.
Even though the deadline passed, Uganda made no moves to withdraw its troops.
Neither has it produced evidence that a month of fighting has done anything to slow, stop, kill or capture the LRA and its leader Joseph Kony.
Instead, the death toll among the civilian population of northeastern DRC continues to mount, with the UN saying more than 600 have been killed, about 400 more abducted and more than 100,000 people displaced.
It is also somewhat gratifying to see that the Enough project, has finally joined me and a growing chorus who have condemned the Ugandan operation as a dismal failure, despite the government's claims to the contrary.
Uganda's request for an extension signals what I predicted shortly after the attack began. Uganda will only create the same disastrous situation that it did in northern Uganda when it conducted a "war" against Kony and the LRA.
As has been widely reported in the Ugandan news media and as I amply demonstrate in my new book on the LRA (First Kill Your Family: Child Soldiers of Uganda and the Lord's Resistance Army), the war in the north was poorly fought and undermanned.
This was due to the massive fraud perpetrated by the Ugandan army's high command which listed thousands of "ghost soldiers" on it's pay rolls as fighting in the north, when they didn't exist. The generals and commanders pocketed the money.
Meanwhile, the Acholi and Langi people of northern Uganda were herded into 200 refugee camps and bore the brunt of the LRA's endless attacks on these poorly guarded camps, which became the LRA's favorite soft targets.
Since the Ugandan army was unable to capture Kony or defeat the LRA after more than 20 years of war, why does it think it can do so in the DRC which is more difficult terraine and more remote?
It can't. Ultimately the Ugandan army will be forced to set up its own military camps and from them wage war against the LRA.
As a sign of things to come, Ugandan army spokesman Paddy Ankunda told the French Press Agency, that, "It's going to take a little more thinking to figure out how civilians are going to be protected."
Fortunately, most of the regional population already has fled. Those who remain will be herded into defensible civilian camps, much like those in northern Uganda. Viola! We're right back to where we were in Uganda: an endless war with endless bloodshed.
Meanwhile, the situation swirling around this botched campaign is taking on ever more bizarre dimensions.
The LRA's self-proclaimed spokesman, David Nyekorach-Matsanga, told AFP that a ceasefire agreement was imminent.
This is as credible as Matsanga's previous claims.
"There is a ceasefire coming soon because the Ugandan army knows it has not achieved its objective. The LRA will never be defeated through fighting, only through dialogue," he told AFP.
Matsanga, who says he is in regular contact with the elusive Kony, said talks are ongoing between Kampala and former Mozambican president Joaquim Chissano, who serves as the UN special envoy to LRA-affected areas.
Ugandan officials don't beleive Matsanga because there is need. What is the point of a ceasefire? A peace agreement has already been negotited and now only needs to be signed, something Kony has refused to do three times.
A ceasefire will only give the LRA time to regroup. Uganda knows that.
"There will only be a ceasefire if Joseph Kony himself gives categorical assurances that he will sign the Final Peace Agreement," Uganda's deputy foreign minister, Okello Oryem, told AFP.
"The communication must come directly from Kony," Okello told AFP.
Ankunda, meanwhile, was quick to reject the claim that Matsanga and Kony recently spoke. "David Matsanga is not in touch with Kony. That is a fact," he said.
That certainly hasn't stopped Matsanga from getting all the press he wants.
Uganda had approval from the DRC to chase the rebels of the Lord's Resistance Army for a month that ended Jan. 14, 30 days after the military first attacked the LRA camps in the Garamba National Park on Dec. 14.
Even though the deadline passed, Uganda made no moves to withdraw its troops.
Neither has it produced evidence that a month of fighting has done anything to slow, stop, kill or capture the LRA and its leader Joseph Kony.
Instead, the death toll among the civilian population of northeastern DRC continues to mount, with the UN saying more than 600 have been killed, about 400 more abducted and more than 100,000 people displaced.
It is also somewhat gratifying to see that the Enough project, has finally joined me and a growing chorus who have condemned the Ugandan operation as a dismal failure, despite the government's claims to the contrary.
Uganda's request for an extension signals what I predicted shortly after the attack began. Uganda will only create the same disastrous situation that it did in northern Uganda when it conducted a "war" against Kony and the LRA.
As has been widely reported in the Ugandan news media and as I amply demonstrate in my new book on the LRA (First Kill Your Family: Child Soldiers of Uganda and the Lord's Resistance Army), the war in the north was poorly fought and undermanned.
This was due to the massive fraud perpetrated by the Ugandan army's high command which listed thousands of "ghost soldiers" on it's pay rolls as fighting in the north, when they didn't exist. The generals and commanders pocketed the money.
Meanwhile, the Acholi and Langi people of northern Uganda were herded into 200 refugee camps and bore the brunt of the LRA's endless attacks on these poorly guarded camps, which became the LRA's favorite soft targets.
Since the Ugandan army was unable to capture Kony or defeat the LRA after more than 20 years of war, why does it think it can do so in the DRC which is more difficult terraine and more remote?
It can't. Ultimately the Ugandan army will be forced to set up its own military camps and from them wage war against the LRA.
As a sign of things to come, Ugandan army spokesman Paddy Ankunda told the French Press Agency, that, "It's going to take a little more thinking to figure out how civilians are going to be protected."
Fortunately, most of the regional population already has fled. Those who remain will be herded into defensible civilian camps, much like those in northern Uganda. Viola! We're right back to where we were in Uganda: an endless war with endless bloodshed.
Meanwhile, the situation swirling around this botched campaign is taking on ever more bizarre dimensions.
The LRA's self-proclaimed spokesman, David Nyekorach-Matsanga, told AFP that a ceasefire agreement was imminent.
This is as credible as Matsanga's previous claims.
"There is a ceasefire coming soon because the Ugandan army knows it has not achieved its objective. The LRA will never be defeated through fighting, only through dialogue," he told AFP.
Matsanga, who says he is in regular contact with the elusive Kony, said talks are ongoing between Kampala and former Mozambican president Joaquim Chissano, who serves as the UN special envoy to LRA-affected areas.
Ugandan officials don't beleive Matsanga because there is need. What is the point of a ceasefire? A peace agreement has already been negotited and now only needs to be signed, something Kony has refused to do three times.
A ceasefire will only give the LRA time to regroup. Uganda knows that.
"There will only be a ceasefire if Joseph Kony himself gives categorical assurances that he will sign the Final Peace Agreement," Uganda's deputy foreign minister, Okello Oryem, told AFP.
"The communication must come directly from Kony," Okello told AFP.
Ankunda, meanwhile, was quick to reject the claim that Matsanga and Kony recently spoke. "David Matsanga is not in touch with Kony. That is a fact," he said.
That certainly hasn't stopped Matsanga from getting all the press he wants.
Saturday, January 17, 2009
Condemnation, but no action
The United Nations Security Council has once again condemned the atrocities that are currently being committed by the Lord's Resistance Army.
On Friday, the UNSC issued a press statement, read aloud by the Council President Jean-Maurice Ripert of France, which chairs the council this month.
Here it is:
"The members of the Security Council strongly condemned the recent attacks carried out by the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), which have resulted in over 500 dead and over 400 abducted, as well as the displacement of over 104,000 people. The members of the Council expressed their grave concern at the scale of these atrocities and emphasized that those responsible must be brought to justice.
"The members of the Security Council reiterated the statement of the President of the Security Council 22 December 2008. The members of the Council expressed their deep concern that the Council’s previous calls for the LRA to cease its attacks, and recruitment and use of children, and to release all women, children and non-combatants, have not been heeded.
"The members of the Security Council demanded that the members of the LRA cease all attacks on civilians immediately, and urged them to surrender, assemble, and disarm, as required by the Final Peace Agreement."
Does the world need yet another strongly worded statement? It seems that the LRA, and its leader Joseph Kony, the self-proclaimed prophet and spirit medium, has committed enough atrocities in the past twenty-two years to warrant more than grumbling from the UN's guiding council.
The French like to present themselves as the bastion of "liberty, fraternity, and equality," but they're disinclined to do much to enforce those values.
It's not as though France couldn't.
As I stated last week during a interview on BBC radio's The World Today show, putting an end to Kony and the LRA's endless rampages will take more than letting the Ugandan army wander around the jungles of northeastern Democratic Republic of the Congo.
It will take a well-trained and well-equipped force authorized by the UN and composed of international troops with the specific goal of capturing or killing Kony.
This is not without precedent. It's been done before in other African countries, including eastern DRC when the inept horde of UN peacekeepers there, which number an astounding 17,000 soldiers, were unable to keep the peace. The UN authorized a limited European Union force to enter the country, settle the situation, then pull out. It worked.
Such a force is sitting very close by. It's called European Force, or Eufor, and is about 5,000 EU troops, mostly French, who are in eastern Chad on the border with Sudan.
They're positioned as a deterrent to any further invasions by the Sudan-backed rebels who attacked the Chad capital of Ndjamena last February. And, some speculate that the force may be there to help protect Chad's oil fields, which are pumping out crude that is piped to the west coast of Africa via Cameroon.
But, there's not much for them do these days. Why can't the UN send them in for one-month mission? It's clear the Ugandan army needs help, as does South Sudan and the Central African Republic, where most say the LRA is headed.
The Sudan People Liberation Army (SPLA), which is South Sudan's army, has found dozens of body of people believed to be killed by the Ugandan Lord Resistance Army (LRA) after being abducted.
And, the BBC reports that rebels attacked a village in the DRC this week, killing four people, including a girl of four and abducting a boy of nine. A bishop in South Sudan says two men had their hands and legs chopped off and were beaten to death, as boys watched.
The BBC noted that the LRA now operates in at least four countries in the region, and that the CAR has sent troops to its border with DR Congo in an effort to push back the rebels.
The survivors of the LRA attacks told a UN agency that the rebels looted and torched their houses, forcing them to flee into the forest.
"What we saw was shocking," David Nthengwe, UNHCR spokesman for eastern DR Congo, told the BBC. "People live in fear in the forest. Many of them are unable to move, as they fear that the LRA is going to attack them."
Clearly the Ugandan army is not making much progress. Yet, the Eufor sits there in Chadian desert, just an hour away by air.
On Friday, the UNSC issued a press statement, read aloud by the Council President Jean-Maurice Ripert of France, which chairs the council this month.
Here it is:
"The members of the Security Council strongly condemned the recent attacks carried out by the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), which have resulted in over 500 dead and over 400 abducted, as well as the displacement of over 104,000 people. The members of the Council expressed their grave concern at the scale of these atrocities and emphasized that those responsible must be brought to justice.
"The members of the Security Council reiterated the statement of the President of the Security Council 22 December 2008. The members of the Council expressed their deep concern that the Council’s previous calls for the LRA to cease its attacks, and recruitment and use of children, and to release all women, children and non-combatants, have not been heeded.
"The members of the Security Council demanded that the members of the LRA cease all attacks on civilians immediately, and urged them to surrender, assemble, and disarm, as required by the Final Peace Agreement."
Does the world need yet another strongly worded statement? It seems that the LRA, and its leader Joseph Kony, the self-proclaimed prophet and spirit medium, has committed enough atrocities in the past twenty-two years to warrant more than grumbling from the UN's guiding council.
The French like to present themselves as the bastion of "liberty, fraternity, and equality," but they're disinclined to do much to enforce those values.
It's not as though France couldn't.
As I stated last week during a interview on BBC radio's The World Today show, putting an end to Kony and the LRA's endless rampages will take more than letting the Ugandan army wander around the jungles of northeastern Democratic Republic of the Congo.
It will take a well-trained and well-equipped force authorized by the UN and composed of international troops with the specific goal of capturing or killing Kony.
This is not without precedent. It's been done before in other African countries, including eastern DRC when the inept horde of UN peacekeepers there, which number an astounding 17,000 soldiers, were unable to keep the peace. The UN authorized a limited European Union force to enter the country, settle the situation, then pull out. It worked.
Such a force is sitting very close by. It's called European Force, or Eufor, and is about 5,000 EU troops, mostly French, who are in eastern Chad on the border with Sudan.
They're positioned as a deterrent to any further invasions by the Sudan-backed rebels who attacked the Chad capital of Ndjamena last February. And, some speculate that the force may be there to help protect Chad's oil fields, which are pumping out crude that is piped to the west coast of Africa via Cameroon.
But, there's not much for them do these days. Why can't the UN send them in for one-month mission? It's clear the Ugandan army needs help, as does South Sudan and the Central African Republic, where most say the LRA is headed.
The Sudan People Liberation Army (SPLA), which is South Sudan's army, has found dozens of body of people believed to be killed by the Ugandan Lord Resistance Army (LRA) after being abducted.
And, the BBC reports that rebels attacked a village in the DRC this week, killing four people, including a girl of four and abducting a boy of nine. A bishop in South Sudan says two men had their hands and legs chopped off and were beaten to death, as boys watched.
The BBC noted that the LRA now operates in at least four countries in the region, and that the CAR has sent troops to its border with DR Congo in an effort to push back the rebels.
The survivors of the LRA attacks told a UN agency that the rebels looted and torched their houses, forcing them to flee into the forest.
"What we saw was shocking," David Nthengwe, UNHCR spokesman for eastern DR Congo, told the BBC. "People live in fear in the forest. Many of them are unable to move, as they fear that the LRA is going to attack them."
Clearly the Ugandan army is not making much progress. Yet, the Eufor sits there in Chadian desert, just an hour away by air.
Friday, January 16, 2009
LRA in disarray, again
My friend and fellow reporter, Henry Mukasa of the New Vision newspaper in Kampala, this week contacted the former spokesman for Lord's Resistance Army's former negotiating team.
The former spokesman, Obonyo Olweny, says that the self-proclaimed spokesman and chief negotiator for the LRA, David Matsanga, does not represent the LRA and never has.
By so doing, Olweny has shed light on the chaos behind the scenes of the LRA, which has been under attack by the Ugandan army since December 14, and at this point appears to be scrambling for its life.
Most significantly, in his response to these charges, Matsanga has revealed that a new rebel group may be emerging in northern Uganda called the Uganda People's Liberation Front/Army.
Who are these people and what do they want? Matsanga says they're an Acholi cabal based in London and headed by a man named Ladit Balgara.
If the Acholi diaspora are forming a new rebel group, does this mean they've written off LRA leader Joseph Kony, the self-proclaimed prophet and spirit medium meant to lead the Acholi?
Could Uganda President Yoweri Museveni be on the verge of victory at last?
These issues will be dealt with in future dispatches.
Olweny is a former English teacher and currently a resident of Nairobi, I believe, and Henry and I spend a lot of time with him in July 2006 when the peace talks were beginning between the LRA and Uganda in Juba, South Sudan.
After Olweny and the leaders of the former negotiators, Martin Ojul, in particular, were supposedly fired by Kony in early 2008 -- in a surprise announcement made by Matsanga, not Kony -- Olweny dropped out of sight, only to re-emerge this week.
Ojul, by the way, now lives in Kampala on a Ugandan government salary.
The Olweny-Matsanga dispute has revealed one reality of the LRA: Kony keeps his own council.
According to sources at the late November meeting between Kony and the Acholi religious and cultural leaders, Kony knew nothing about the peace agreement that has been negotiated for two and a half years. When his fellow Acholi tried to explain it to him, including the Catholic archbishop from Gulu, Kony became angry and called them traitors.
“Kony never saw the text of the agreement until the day of signing. Is that normal?” Olweny told New Vision. Now, to be fair, Olweny here may be confirming earlier reports, but could also be simply repeating them.
But what he also said is more interesting:
“Since the attack on LRA bases in the DRC, I don’t think he (Matsanga) has talked to Kony. Kony is under pressure. He hardly talks to anyone,” Olweny said.
“Kony sees Matsanga as responsible for the attack. He misled him,” he added.
This is an amazing charge, but probably true. Matsanga should be looking over his shoulder. Yet, Matsanga continues to speak for the LRA.
As I've said before, Matsanga is in this for the money. As previously noted, Matsanga was stopped in the airport in Juba this past April, just a couple of days after he has successfully duped the entire international community into believing Kony was prepared to sign a peace deal.
Matsanga had $20,000 in cash, his pay for three months work as the LRA negotiation team leader. Matsanga then fled, and deputy, the Dr. James Obita, a western educated Acholi, took over.
Obita managed to pull yet another layer of wool over the world's eyes, and convinced everyone that Kony would sign the deal in May. Again Kony didn't show. Obita dropped out of sight. Obita then accepted amnesty from the government and reportedly is also collecting govenment money.
Would Matsanga keep quiet if Uganda offered him a job and a house in Kampala? Hmmm.
In the interim from May to about October, Matsanga saw an opening, and with no one openly disputing his claim, he re-emerged and convinced the world that Kony would sign a deal at the end of November.
Despite Olweny's remarks, Matsanga maintains that he is in contact with Kony, despite a statement said to be from the LRA "high command" this past weekend, that Matsanga was fired.
Matsanga explained it this way: “This group of former LRA delegates have teamed up with self-confessed paupers and senior militarists in Nairobi and London, namely Obonyo Olweny and Alex Oloya, under a new outfit called Uganda Peoples Liberation Front/Army (UPLF) headed by Ladit Balgara based in London to cause mayhem for the people of northern Uganda,” Matsanga said in an email sent to The New Vision.
“They issue unsigned statements using the LRA letterheads that Obonyo acquired during his spokesman tenure one year ago.”
“Those who have plotted against me have lost in the past and will lose on this round. They have been advised (by Kony) to desist from such malicious acts and work with me to bring peace in northern Uganda,” Matsanga said.
When asked to describe Matsanga's motivations, Olweny said, "He is the one asking for money in the name of LRA and the blood of the suffering people in the north. We began the peace process in Juba and he came from London begging to join the LRA delegation. You tell him he has failed to deliver the peace agreement he promised to his paymasters,” he added.
It is clear that Olweny is enjoying Matsanga's failures, because his "paymasters" are the UN, which has been funding the peace talks.
Asked whether it was true that he had joined a new rebel front (UPLF/A), Olweny said: “I think Matsanga is running out of his mind.”
That is not a denial, rather it's an attempt to disparage the messanger.
Matsanga blamed what he called “merchants of conflicts in Uganda based in London” for sowing discord in the LRA to derail the peace process.
Sowing discord in the LRA? That assumes there has been unity.
The former spokesman, Obonyo Olweny, says that the self-proclaimed spokesman and chief negotiator for the LRA, David Matsanga, does not represent the LRA and never has.
By so doing, Olweny has shed light on the chaos behind the scenes of the LRA, which has been under attack by the Ugandan army since December 14, and at this point appears to be scrambling for its life.
Most significantly, in his response to these charges, Matsanga has revealed that a new rebel group may be emerging in northern Uganda called the Uganda People's Liberation Front/Army.
Who are these people and what do they want? Matsanga says they're an Acholi cabal based in London and headed by a man named Ladit Balgara.
If the Acholi diaspora are forming a new rebel group, does this mean they've written off LRA leader Joseph Kony, the self-proclaimed prophet and spirit medium meant to lead the Acholi?
Could Uganda President Yoweri Museveni be on the verge of victory at last?
These issues will be dealt with in future dispatches.
Olweny is a former English teacher and currently a resident of Nairobi, I believe, and Henry and I spend a lot of time with him in July 2006 when the peace talks were beginning between the LRA and Uganda in Juba, South Sudan.
After Olweny and the leaders of the former negotiators, Martin Ojul, in particular, were supposedly fired by Kony in early 2008 -- in a surprise announcement made by Matsanga, not Kony -- Olweny dropped out of sight, only to re-emerge this week.
Ojul, by the way, now lives in Kampala on a Ugandan government salary.
The Olweny-Matsanga dispute has revealed one reality of the LRA: Kony keeps his own council.
According to sources at the late November meeting between Kony and the Acholi religious and cultural leaders, Kony knew nothing about the peace agreement that has been negotiated for two and a half years. When his fellow Acholi tried to explain it to him, including the Catholic archbishop from Gulu, Kony became angry and called them traitors.
“Kony never saw the text of the agreement until the day of signing. Is that normal?” Olweny told New Vision. Now, to be fair, Olweny here may be confirming earlier reports, but could also be simply repeating them.
But what he also said is more interesting:
“Since the attack on LRA bases in the DRC, I don’t think he (Matsanga) has talked to Kony. Kony is under pressure. He hardly talks to anyone,” Olweny said.
“Kony sees Matsanga as responsible for the attack. He misled him,” he added.
This is an amazing charge, but probably true. Matsanga should be looking over his shoulder. Yet, Matsanga continues to speak for the LRA.
As I've said before, Matsanga is in this for the money. As previously noted, Matsanga was stopped in the airport in Juba this past April, just a couple of days after he has successfully duped the entire international community into believing Kony was prepared to sign a peace deal.
Matsanga had $20,000 in cash, his pay for three months work as the LRA negotiation team leader. Matsanga then fled, and deputy, the Dr. James Obita, a western educated Acholi, took over.
Obita managed to pull yet another layer of wool over the world's eyes, and convinced everyone that Kony would sign the deal in May. Again Kony didn't show. Obita dropped out of sight. Obita then accepted amnesty from the government and reportedly is also collecting govenment money.
Would Matsanga keep quiet if Uganda offered him a job and a house in Kampala? Hmmm.
In the interim from May to about October, Matsanga saw an opening, and with no one openly disputing his claim, he re-emerged and convinced the world that Kony would sign a deal at the end of November.
Despite Olweny's remarks, Matsanga maintains that he is in contact with Kony, despite a statement said to be from the LRA "high command" this past weekend, that Matsanga was fired.
Matsanga explained it this way: “This group of former LRA delegates have teamed up with self-confessed paupers and senior militarists in Nairobi and London, namely Obonyo Olweny and Alex Oloya, under a new outfit called Uganda Peoples Liberation Front/Army (UPLF) headed by Ladit Balgara based in London to cause mayhem for the people of northern Uganda,” Matsanga said in an email sent to The New Vision.
“They issue unsigned statements using the LRA letterheads that Obonyo acquired during his spokesman tenure one year ago.”
“Those who have plotted against me have lost in the past and will lose on this round. They have been advised (by Kony) to desist from such malicious acts and work with me to bring peace in northern Uganda,” Matsanga said.
When asked to describe Matsanga's motivations, Olweny said, "He is the one asking for money in the name of LRA and the blood of the suffering people in the north. We began the peace process in Juba and he came from London begging to join the LRA delegation. You tell him he has failed to deliver the peace agreement he promised to his paymasters,” he added.
It is clear that Olweny is enjoying Matsanga's failures, because his "paymasters" are the UN, which has been funding the peace talks.
Asked whether it was true that he had joined a new rebel front (UPLF/A), Olweny said: “I think Matsanga is running out of his mind.”
That is not a denial, rather it's an attempt to disparage the messanger.
Matsanga blamed what he called “merchants of conflicts in Uganda based in London” for sowing discord in the LRA to derail the peace process.
Sowing discord in the LRA? That assumes there has been unity.
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
Rampage or runaways?
More conflicting information, or perhaps non-information, is coming out of northeastern Democratic Republic of the Congo as Uganda's army pursues the rebel Lord's Resistance Army.
In a story written by Henry Mukasa, the government-owned daily, New Vision, quotes Gen. Patrick Kankiriho as claiming to have "engaged" forces led by the LRA's deputy, Okot Odhiambo, 30km north of Doruma on Monday.
That would put them right on the border with South Sudan, or even in that country, and he claims that two were killed and two were captured two."
Speaking from Dungu, the general said that now eight LRA fighters have been captured and 38 killed since the offensive was launched on December 14, 2008. Over 21 rebels have surrendered to the allies in various parts of Congo and South Sudan and nine captives were rescued.
“We have reached a stage of ‘search and destroy’ for fighters and rescue for captives. We rescue the abductees and the combatants who want to fight us, we engage them,” Kankiriho explained.
The commander said after the battle, two sub-machine guns, four full magazines, two empty magazines and two Sudanese uniforms were recovered.
In another battle on Sunday, Kankiriho said four rebels were killed south of Lagoro. One was captured, two women rescued north of Doruma, while another rebel surrendered with his gun at Yambio in Sudan.
Kankiriho explained that the joint forces had tightened their noose around Kony and his scattered fighters in the vast and densely- forested Garamba National Park in Congo.
“You think he is asking for ceasefire for nothing? The man is under immense pressure. Big, big pressure. We shall get him,” he stressed.
Despite this tough talk, the UN is reporting a different side of the story.
Reuters news agency says that the UN now puts the total civilian dead at the hands of the LRA at 537, since the Dec. 14th attack on LRA camps in northeastern DRC.
Another 408 people had been kidnapped by the rebels, according to UN High Commission on Refugees, and more than 104,000 people are thought to have been forced from their homes into the bush by the violence.
"The displaced population is in dire need of food, shelter, medicines, clothes and other aid items. The area, which by itself poses immense logistical challenges due to the lack of roads or their poor condition, remains highly volatile," UNHCR spokesman Ron Redmond said in a statement in Geneva.
As most are wondering, what has happened to LRA leader Joseph Kony, the self-proclaimed prophet and spirit medium?
The Ugandan general refused to say, arguing that this would pre-empt army action drive the Kony further underground. He advised the critics of the military offensive to wait for photographs that show the recent successes.
The New Vision also reported that the Central African Republic (CAR) began deploying more troops on its border with Congo to guard against incursions by the LRA.
Kankiriho said the group was composed of families of rebel commanders and a few fighters guarding them, led by Odhiambo, who is reportedly wounded.
In a story written by Henry Mukasa, the government-owned daily, New Vision, quotes Gen. Patrick Kankiriho as claiming to have "engaged" forces led by the LRA's deputy, Okot Odhiambo, 30km north of Doruma on Monday.
That would put them right on the border with South Sudan, or even in that country, and he claims that two were killed and two were captured two."
Speaking from Dungu, the general said that now eight LRA fighters have been captured and 38 killed since the offensive was launched on December 14, 2008. Over 21 rebels have surrendered to the allies in various parts of Congo and South Sudan and nine captives were rescued.
“We have reached a stage of ‘search and destroy’ for fighters and rescue for captives. We rescue the abductees and the combatants who want to fight us, we engage them,” Kankiriho explained.
The commander said after the battle, two sub-machine guns, four full magazines, two empty magazines and two Sudanese uniforms were recovered.
In another battle on Sunday, Kankiriho said four rebels were killed south of Lagoro. One was captured, two women rescued north of Doruma, while another rebel surrendered with his gun at Yambio in Sudan.
Kankiriho explained that the joint forces had tightened their noose around Kony and his scattered fighters in the vast and densely- forested Garamba National Park in Congo.
“You think he is asking for ceasefire for nothing? The man is under immense pressure. Big, big pressure. We shall get him,” he stressed.
Despite this tough talk, the UN is reporting a different side of the story.
Reuters news agency says that the UN now puts the total civilian dead at the hands of the LRA at 537, since the Dec. 14th attack on LRA camps in northeastern DRC.
Another 408 people had been kidnapped by the rebels, according to UN High Commission on Refugees, and more than 104,000 people are thought to have been forced from their homes into the bush by the violence.
"The displaced population is in dire need of food, shelter, medicines, clothes and other aid items. The area, which by itself poses immense logistical challenges due to the lack of roads or their poor condition, remains highly volatile," UNHCR spokesman Ron Redmond said in a statement in Geneva.
As most are wondering, what has happened to LRA leader Joseph Kony, the self-proclaimed prophet and spirit medium?
The Ugandan general refused to say, arguing that this would pre-empt army action drive the Kony further underground. He advised the critics of the military offensive to wait for photographs that show the recent successes.
The New Vision also reported that the Central African Republic (CAR) began deploying more troops on its border with Congo to guard against incursions by the LRA.
Kankiriho said the group was composed of families of rebel commanders and a few fighters guarding them, led by Odhiambo, who is reportedly wounded.
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