Read This!

Reader input:

I received the following commentary from a reader of this blog after my last post, "Congo Craziness". Twon Dako is a northern Ugandan, and offered up a perspective that is often missed. In the age of the Internet and the World Wide Web, it is very easy to type in a search term, gather countless articles, and gobble up all the information presented. Unfortunately (especially when we are thousands of miles away from the news) we often miss the context of that news, the human connection.

As posted at 9:15 p.m. on January 27th:

As a northern Ugandan who has followed the blogs from your last trip (many of them transporting me right back to familiar locations and people), I am so grateful for your enthusiasm for helping the children and schools, and also fully aware of the sacrifices you make towards it. Apwoyo matek!!!

I also wanted to comment on the latest military action in the DRC aimed at ending the LRA threat. I think I speak for most Acholi in saying to us, news of the offensive was very sad and heartbreaking, ending hope for the only viable way to achieve real peace in the region.

From the perspective of our experiences over the last 23 years, this looks uncannily like déjà vu, reminding us of Operation Iron Fist I (2002) and later Iron Fist II (forays into southern Sudan declared to eliminate the LRA once and for all) and many others before that. Here are what they all have in common:

Each time, as the local population in the war zone presses for dialogue with the LRA to end the war, and it looks like there is peace on the horizon, the government and army gradually ramp up their rhetoric against the LRA, and for a military solution, then they launch a sudden scary-named end-all military operation, with a lot of bravado. The operations involve aggressive strategies such as the use of helicopter gunships and bombing indiscriminately without a care for abductees, but generally not engaging them closely enough to harm the LRA leadership or rescue a significant number of abductees.

As the LRA very predictably scatter and retaliate against the civilian populations, and as they widen their forage for food and supplies (having lost their bases and supplies), the Uganda army and government then step aside to watch from a safe distance, leaving civilian populations totally unprotected. As a result of Operation Iron Fist in Sudan, the LRA intensified and extended the range of their raids and abductions in Sudan, and in Uganda even farther than Acholi, into Lango and Teso in eastern Uganda, places not previously affected. And reaching levels of brutality never witnessed before. Then just like the current military offensive in the DRC, with Iron Fist, the Ugandan army asked Sudan for many subsequent extensions to give them time to wipe out the LRA. I don’t need to tell you what the outcome was.

And then when proof is demanded of the loudly proclaimed success of the operation, the army provides photographs of an assortment of trophies from Kony. Following Iron Fist, I think it was Kony’s favorite “Kaunda” suit and photographs among other things. This time in Operation Lightning Thunder it was a wig, guitar, pots and pans, and later computers and satellite phones. All this proof is provided with impressive claims of very narrowly missing the capture of Kony by a whisker - they nearly grabbed his shadow, and how it is only a matter of time before LRA are history. (It is a big joke with many Ugandans.) We’ve heard it so often it sounds like a broken record!

As the death toll, horror, destruction, and displacement from reported increased LRA atrocities mount, then the Uganda government propaganda arm loudly proclaim to the UN, the world and any international donor partners who will listen how evil the LRA are, while avoiding all responsibility on their part, and giving a litany of excuses for the failures to meet operation goals (bad weather, dense jungle terrain this time), and no explanations for their failure to protect civilians – always getting to the scene of a just concluded massacre or discovering a fresh mass grave.

All this may not make logical sense to most straight-thinking people but through the half-hearted military operations with predictable results they can now provide fresh proof of the evil and brutality of LRA, further demonizing them (if that is possible), and more importantly creating justification for more aid for military spending, and more empathy for their side. At the same time, it is a great excuse for the continued total marginalization of northern Uganda and abdication of government responsibility towards its northern citizens. Surprise, surprise - the president last week suspended the implementation of the PRDP (Peace, Reovery & Development Plan) worth hundreds of millions of dollars!

So, was the Uganda army attack December 14 attack and the few LRA “trophies” captured worth the 640 plus Congolese, Sudanese and abducted Ugandan children’s lives with massive displacement and human suffering incurred in the region? Is it worth the new risks and exposure of victim communities? Could a little more patience and diplomatic or psychological strategy have yielded better results in this hostage situation? You be the judge.

I pray that our worst fears are not realized so that you and all the volunteer teachers will still be able to go to northern Uganda this summer.

Twon Dako (not my real name)

January 27, 2009 9:15 PM

Thank you, Twon, for providing us with your unique perspective. I hope that, in sharing your thoughts, others will understand the true frustration and desperation of the people of northern Uganda. Apwoyo tutwal.