Is the end in sight for the Lord’s Resistance Army?

The dramatic events in Libya the last week understandably overshadowed another quite significant development on the African continent, with the announcement  earlier in October by US President Barack Obama of the deployment of around 100 “combat-equipped” US troops, mostly Special Operations Forces, to central Africa  to help the Ugandan army track down rebel leader Joseph Kony and his cultish Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA). 

For the last 20 years the LRA has been responsible for a reign of terror over a large area covering north-western Uganda, southern Sudan, north-eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and southern Central African Republic (CAR).

President Obama made it clear that although the US troops are “combat-equipped”, they will only provide information, advice and assistance and will not engage LRA forces unless necessary for self-defence.

What is the Lord’s Resistance Army?

The Lord’s Resistance Army is one of a succession of armed groups that emerged in Uganda in the late 1980’s. Convinced they were politically getting a raw deal they took up arms against the Museveni-government in an attempt to gain recognition for their plight.

The LRA’s recipe for reviving its fortunes was spiritual purification, to be achieved by violent resistance to the Museveni government and an internal purge of those who collaborated with it.

The leader, Joseph Kony, is a former Catholic altar-boy and now a self-styled prophet and medium whose spiritual powers elicit fear and devotion from his followers. He is said to have 60 wives, many picked from the girls he and his followers have abducted over many years.

The perception is that there is a good chance the LRA will simply collapse if Kony and his main henchmen were killed or apprehended.

Over the years the LRA has carried out shocking atrocities, raping women, killing babies with heated machetes, hacking off limbs and cutting off the noses, lips, and ears of its victims, killing thousands – more than 30 000 according to some estimates – to create fear among the general population and warn them against assisting the authorities.

A series of counterinsurgency campaigns by the Ugandan military and the decision by the regime in Sudan to cut off critical financial and logistical support eventually forced the LRA to the negotiating table in 2006. The International Criminal Court also increased the pressure, issuing arrest warrants against Kony and four of his lieutenants for crimes against humanity.

Peace talks got under way but dragged on without any outcome and eventually broke down in late 2008. This triggered a renewed military campaign that has reduced LRA numbers to between 200 and 400 fighters but has failed to kill or capture the senior leadership.

Since the mid-2000s, the LRA has migrated from its original base in Uganda, seeking refuge in the remote hinterland on the borders of the DRC, CAR, and South Sudan. The group has long since abandoned any political agenda which at some stage endorsed the instalment of a theocracy in Uganda based on the Biblical 10 commandments; its sole objective since is to survive.

According to Anneke van Woudenberg, a senior researcher with Human Rights Watch, the LRA has perfected its hideous techniques over the last 25 years. They choose their victims carefully.

Children younger than eight or nine are too small to march long distances and carry equipment, so they tend to be killed fairly soon after abduction. Teenagers older than 15 can be difficult to brainwash, therefore kids between 10 and 15 are the prime targets.They are the kids who are raped for years on end, who are ordered to mutilate and murder. It is these kids who become the fighting force that has terrorised civilians in several central African countries.

The Lord's Resistance Army is really one of the most brutal, vicious rebel groups around. They check every box on the war crimes list.

The first attempt

The US has been quietly involved in the war on the LRA for several years, even helping the Ugandans plan a 2008 raid that failed.

Operation Lightning Thunder launched in December 2008 involved 17 US military advisers who provided logistics, communications, and intelligence support. The mission was a failure due to a litany of factors. Leaky intelligence allowed the LRA leadership to get advance warning, bad weather impeded aerial attacks and poor coordination rendered the ground offensive ineffective.

The costs of the failed operation were devastating for the civilians. The LRA responded with bloody reprisals causing much death and suffering.

With Libya now, to its mind, sorted the US can turn its attention to a hopefully much lesser challenge. Since the failure of Operation Lightning Thunder in 2008 the Americans have been looking for a chance to redeem themselves.

Reaction to Obama’s announcement

With the LRA universally condemned for its hideous actions spanning more than 20 years unrelenting pressure from many high-profile human rights organisations compelled the Obama administration to respond.

Evoking the Responsibility to Protect, a doctrine used to justify the US-led Nato campaign in Libya and with the support of human rights organisations the announcement by President Obama was widely welcomed.

The governments of Uganda and South Sudan have also officially welcomed the decision.

At home in the US, the announcement also met with little opposition except a few carefully worded reservations from some prominent Republican politicians questioning President Obama’s explanation that America’s national interests will be preserved.

Few took any notice of the ranting by some ill-informed and ignorant Christian fundamentalists who were under the impression that the Lord’s Resistance Army refers to a group of brave and god-loving Christian soldiers, condemning the Obama-administration for its evil decision.

More seriously some critics argue that it is nothing but a pretext for targeting the terrorists the US is really worried about – al Qaeda in Africa and freeing up more Ugandan troops for service in Somalia as part of the UN contingent to roll up al-Shabaab, another Islamic fundamentalist group that appears prominently on the Most Wanted list in the US.

Greater stability in central Africa does hold long-term benefits for the US -- easier and safer access to the oilfields of South Sudan and Lake Albert in Uganda, where large quantities of oil will be pumped in the near future plus the mineral riches in the DRC.

There can be no denying that the Obama-administration must have considered the advantages to the US to help free a region rich in mineral resources and oil from the presence of the LRA.

But, likewise it is hard to imagine that anyone can blame the US for this decision.

There is little question that anyone who h suffered under the brutality of the LRA will welcome any help from anywhere to free them from the LRA menace.