Monday, December 22, 2008

Kony hiding in Central African Republic

That is the price country pays for having failed states as neighbors. As the pressure became too great on the LRA in Uganda, they fled to South Sudan. When the fighting became problematic there they established bases in Democratic Republic of the Congo. And now that the governments of South Sudan, DRC and Uganda has jointly attacked the LRA, they have moved further northwest to CAR. If the LRA had been operating in Germany or in Malaysia, they would have had no choice but to abdicate after the pressure got too high in their country; there were simply no weak neighbors keep on fighting.

The LRA claims its whole leadership survived last week's attack. This is not too surprising given their skills at avoiding military strikes in the past. But although the guerrilla is alive and well, there is no escaping the fact that it is on the run and it is getting farther and farther from Uganda. While it is not the optimal solution for Northern Uganda, the distance between them and Kony allow reconstruction to happen and a semblance of normal life to restart. Hopefully by the time (and if) the LRA comes back, Acholi communities and the Ugandan government will be resilient enough to withstand them. As for CAR, god bless them; the last thing they needed was yet another rebel group.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

The point by Mr. Tremblay is a bit misleading. Kony is not yet in CAR but rather hiding in the bushes of DRC not far from CAR. He ought to be aware that US and France have satelites positioned in the area and he will measily be tracked, there are also other modalities and heat sensing devices being used. Yes, CAR just like DRC, is not strong militarily and has other rebel issues but President Bozize has a gentlemen agreement for Uganda's UPDF to help him get the job done. Mr. Tremblay needs to understand this region of Africa for what it is and know its past rather than comparing it to Malaysia and other countries. He may have done 25 countries in 4 continents, some of us have covered the world many times over as well as some 53 African countries many times over. We do not claim to give the rest of the world a student expert opinion about Africa.