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Elisabeth Janaina
Nov 22, 2013, 4:16:54 AM11/22/13
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From: John Ashworth <ashwor...@gmail.com>
Date: Fri, Nov 22, 2013 at 9:09 AM
Subject: [sudan-john-ashworth] Doubts about LRA 'surrender talks'
To: Group <sudan-joh...@googlegroups.com>
It is sensible to be cautious about negotiations with LRA, based on
past experience. On the other hand, no opportunity to resolve such a
long-running and destructive conflict peacefully should ever be
ignored.
John
BEGIN
1. Central African Republic held surrender talks with warlord Kony - U.N., A.U.
Wed, Nov 20 2013
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The Central African Republic has been in
contact with warlord Joseph Kony and his Lord's Resistance Army
fighters to urge them to surrender, but Kony's whereabouts are still
unknown, the United Nations and the African Union said on Wednesday.
Kony, who has been indicted for war crimes by the International
Criminal Court in The Hague, waged a brutal guerrilla war against
Ugandan government in the north of the country for nearly two decades,
before fleeing with his fighters into the jungles of central Africa
around 2005.
A 5,000-strong African Union Regional Task Force, supported by about
100 U.S. Special Forces, has been hunting Kony and his fighters. Most
of them are thought to be hiding in jungles straddling the borders of
Central African Republic, South Sudan and Democratic Republic of
Congo.
"The current military pressure has kept the LRA, including its leader
Joseph Kony, on the run," the AU's special envoy on the LRA, Francisco
Madeira, told the U.N. Security Council.
"This heightened pressure forced the LRA to try his time-tested tricks
of buying time by duping the CAR authorities into "negotiations" to
purportedly allow Kony and his LRA to "surrender" and re-settle in
Nzako, CAR," he said.
Instead, Madeira said, according to the Regional Task Force Kony has
used the negotiations as a window of opportunity to relocate many of
his fighters to north-eastern CAR.
Madeira and the head of the U.N. Regional Office for Central Africa,
Abou Moussa, who also briefed the council, said that Michel Djotodia,
interim president of the virtually lawless Central African Republican,
told them he had contacted Kony.
"His people have been in contact with him (Kony), and they wanted to
encourage him to surrender," Madeira told reporters after the
briefing. "Many reports indicate that he is suffering from some
serious illness, uncharacterized illness."
Djotodia became interim CAR president after northern Seleka rebels
seized the capital, Bangui, in March and ousted President Francois
Bozize. Since then the landlocked, nation of 4.6 million people has
slipped into chaos.
Kony and his commanders are accused of abducting thousands of children
throughout the region to use as fighters in a rebel army that earned a
reputation for chopping off limbs as a form of discipline.
"Military operations have degraded the LRA and limited it to pursuing
survival tactics. However, recent attacks in South Sudan attributed to
the LRA are a reminder that the group remains a serious and
unpredictable threat to communities throughout the sub-region," Moussa
told the Security Council.
(Reporting by Michelle Nichols; editing by Christopher Wilson)
http://uk.reuters.com/article/2013/11/20/uk-un-centralafrica-kony-idUKBRE9AJ1C520131120
END1
2. Joseph Kony: US doubts LRA rebel leader's surrender
BBC 21 November 2013 Last updated at 22:08 GMT
US officials have cast doubt on reports that Ugandan rebel leader
Joseph Kony is negotiating his surrender in the Central African
Republic (CAR).
A US State Department official told the BBC that some rebels had been
in contact but Kony was not among them.
However, CAR officials later insisted that Kony, who is wanted for
alleged war crimes, has been in talks with their government.
The US has offered up to $5m (£3.3m) for leads resulting in his arrest.
Kony founded the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) in northern Uganda more
than 20 years ago, and his fighters are notorious for abducting
children to serve as sex slaves and child soldiers.
The US official also noted that Kony had previously used "any and
every pretext to rest, regroup, and rearm, ultimately returning to
kidnapping, killing, displacing and otherwise abusing civilian
populations".
The LRA was forced out of Uganda in 2005 and since then has wreaked
havoc in CAR, South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Kony was on the verge of signing a peace deal in 2008 but insisted
that the International Criminal Court (ICC) first drop its arrest
warrant, which it refused to do.
On Wednesday, a CAR government spokesman told the BBC that Kony was in
the country but wanted his security to be guaranteed before giving
himself up.
According to AFP news agency, CAR leader Michel Djotodia, said:
"Joseph Kony wants to come out of the bush. We are negotiating with
him."
A US State Department official said Washington was aware that CAR
authorities had "been in contact for several months with a small LRA
group in CAR that has expressed interest in surrendering".
But later on Thursday, a spokesman for Mr Djotodia told the BBC's
Newshour radio programme that the president had had a phone
conversation with Kony, who was in the remote Central African town of
Nzoka "with nearly 7,000 people, with his whole group, women and
children".
BBC Africa security correspondent Moses Rono says this is not the
first time that a breakthrough has been reported with the LRA.
But he says that Kony is now a shadow of his former self, reportedly
in fading health, having lost many fighters and operating in a
volatile region, with armed gangs keen to earn the $5m reward.
The African Union's special envoy on the LRA, Francisco Madeira, told
the UN Security Council on Wednesday he had seen reports that Kony was
suffering from a "serious, uncharacterised illness".
In April the Ugandan army suspended a search for Kony in CAR, blaming
"hostility" from the government formed when Mr Djotodia's rebel forces
seized power there.
Some 3,000 African troops, backed by 100 US special forces, have been
hunting him and his fighters across the region.
Mr Madeira said the military pressure had kept Kony and the LRA "on the run".
Kony claims the LRA's mission is to install a government in Uganda
based on the Biblical Ten Commandments.
But he is wanted by the International Criminal Court in The Hague on
charges of rape, mutilation and murder of civilians, as well as
forcibly recruiting children to serve as soldiers and sex slaves.
Analysis
Moses Rono BBC Africa security correspondent
We have been here before. There were even better prospects when former
Ugandan official Betty Bigombe made direct contact with Kony.
What is slightly different this time is Kony is a shadow of his former
self, reportedly in fading health, having lost many fighters and
operating in a volatile region.
In South Sudan, he does not have sanctuary - since Khartoum stopped
support. A local vigilante group on the border with Uganda and CAR has
been protecting people against LRA attacks.
In DR Congo, a robust UN mission has just helped the local army defeat
M23 rebels. This force could be easily deployed to help in the hunt
for Kony.
In CAR, near-anarchy makes it relatively easy for regional armies
hunting him to cross the border and capture him. Armed gangs in the
chaotic nation could also seek to catch him to claim the $5m bounty
offered by the US.
After two decades on the run, Kony is short of options. That he has
reportedly talked of possible surrender indicates how desperate he is.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-25036874
END2
3. The backstory on Kony’s “surrender talks”
By Paul Ronan
The Resolve 21 November 2013
This week numerous media outlets have reported that LRA leader Joseph
Kony is in “surrender talks” with authorities in Central African
Republic. These reports, which stem from misinterpretation of a
briefing by the UN SRSG Abou Moussa and AU LRA envoy Francisco Madeira
to the UN Security Council yesterday, are almost certainly false.
Here’s more of the real story, based on interviews I conducted in
Bangui in late October 2013 and insight from other LRA experts,
particularly@lediocakaj.
Kony and Djotodia: Pen Pals?
In August, an LRA group acting under the command Maj. Otto Ladeere
delivered two letters to community members near the town of Nzako, in
CAR’s Haut Kotto Mbomou province. One was addressed to CAR’s
transitional president, Michael Djotodia, and the other to local
authorities in Nzako. In the letters and subsequent follow-up, the LRA
group claimed that they wanted to lay down their arms and settle in
CAR, and that other LRA commanders, including Kony, were interested in
doing the same. However, there was – and remains – no evidence that
the LRA’s letter was actually authorized by Kony or represents his
desire to defect (more on that below).
Djotodia received the LRA’s letter, and promptly sent a response back
to the LRA group. Though the exact contents have not been released
publicly, it reportedly encouraged the LRA to defect and expressed the
CAR authorities’ willingness to facilitate the process. Djotodia
designated General Demane*, a close ally, to spearhead these efforts.
Meanwhile, local authorities in Nzako designated an elder community
leader to serve as an interlocutor with the LRA. He reportedly stays
with the LRA group periodically and has visited their camp, but little
is known of his background or involvement.
In September, following the delivery of Djotodia’s letter to Ladeere’s
group, contact between the LRA and CAR authorities intensified. CAR
authorities communicated to the UN peacebuilding mission in CAR
(BINUCA) that the LRA group was planning to surrender in Nzako on
September 24. BINUCA and the US government sent a joint mission to
Nzako that day, but no LRA members materialized. However, over the
next few days a civil society delegation traveled to Banale, a small
mining community east of Nzako that lies closer to the LRA camp. They
brought with them rope, tarps, and food, which were likely procured by
General Demane on the LRA’s request.
On October 8, Nzako authorities and Seleka troops under General Demane
traveled to meet with the LRA. There they reportedly conducted a
ritual ceremony with the LRA to cement their “friendship” in which two
sheep were sacrificed. Another local delegation visited the LRA camp
near Banale on October 15, delivering more food (mostly cassava and
groundnuts) and medicine to the group.
In the following days, the LRA groups reportedly moved further west,
crossing the Mbari River and settling approximately 20km east of
Nzako. On October 24, CAR authorities again communicated that LRA
members planned to defect in Nzako. Though none showed up that day,
five LRA representatives reportedly travelled to Nzako the next day
and spent several days meeting with local authorities and community
leaders before returning to the bush, reportedly with plans to return
with a larger group to defect.
However, November 3, another planned date for the LRA to come out,
came and passed with no new defections. What will happen next remains
unclear, especially as the LRA group reportedly has told local
community members that unless international aid groups provided them
with more supplies, they will go back into the bush. Meanwhile,
eyewitnesses in Nzako report that Seleka troops have forced community
members to procure food and deliver it to the LRA, effectively putting
civilian lives at risk to feed a dangerous rebel group.
Moussa and Madeira, the leading UN and AU diplomats on LRA issues,
were in Bangui in late October to meet with authorities in CAR,
including Djotodia. One of the key issues on the agenda was discussing
how to respond to the LRA group’s contact with CAR authorities, with
Moussa and Madeira cautioning Djotodia against providing further
material support to the LRA. It was based on these meetings that they
briefed the UN Security Council and inadvertently set off a media
firestorm.
A genuine defection opportunity, or a ruse?
Djotodia and CAR authorities would be well served to be more skeptical
of the LRA group’s expressed desire to defect. The LRA has exploited
negotiations processes for their own benefit in the past, most
recently during the Juba peace talks from 2006-2008, which has many
parallels in the current situation in Nzako. As they did in Juba, the
LRA is greatly exaggerating the size of their group, telling CAR
authorities it ranges between 1,000-2,000 (and even more) when Cakaj’s
most recent estimate of the LRA’s size places it between 500- 600.
This exaggeration could be a tactic to acquire additional food
supplies that can be sent to other groups or used once the LRA
abandons the negotiations, a ruse the LRA utilized effectively during
the Juba talks.
The timing of the LRA’s outreach is also reminiscent of the Juba
talks. The LRA’s agreement to start peace talks in 2006 occurred after
they had fled to DR Congo as a result of increasing military pressure
and a hostile political environment in their former strongholds in
South Sudan. Similarly, the LRA has faced a surge of military pressure
so far this year. A March raid on LRA camps in Kafia Kingi by Ugandan
troops operating under the AU Regional Task Force (RTF) disrupted one
of Kony’s favorite safe havens, and in recent months Uganda troops
have resumed operations in CAR that had been suspended following the
March coup in Bangui. In September, AU RTF troops from South Sudan and
DR Congo destroyed two major LRA camps in Congolese territory that had
served as rear supply bases for senior LRA commanders operating in
CAR.
Research released for Resolve this summer by Cakaj highlights some of
Ladeere’s history and provides some additional insight into the LRA’s
possible motivations. Ladeere was once one of Kony’s trusted
bodyguards, and later promoted to command the Independent Battalion,
one of Kony’s security units. In early 2013, Ladeere was reportedly
given command of one of Kony’s satellite groups operating in either
the Sudanese-controlled Kafia Kingi enclave or across the border in
northeastern CAR.
Though it’s unclear exactly when Ladeere’s group traveled southwest
from there towards Nzako, Kony’s group left Kafia Kingi in March 2013
just before a Ugandan military raid on his camp. Ladeere’s group may
have fled towards Nzako immediately after that, and may have been
responsible for a series of a brutal attacks on Central African
communities that lie between Kafia Kingi and Nzako in May and June
2013.
Unfortunate blow-up
Though the intentions of Ladeere’s group remain unclear, what is clear
is that reports of Kony surrendering, or even participating in
negotiations to surrender, are dramatically exaggerated. It’s possible
that Ladeere is acting independently and is simply using Kony’s name
to legitimize his actions. Even if he is acting on Kony’s orders,
history should warn Djotodia and the CAR authorities against taking
the group’s stated intention of defecting at face value.
*General Demane served with Djotodia in the Union des Forces
Démocratiques pour le Rassemblement (UFDR), one of the groups that
comprised the Seleka force that overthrew the CAR government in March
2013. He reportedly commands Seleka troops operating in Nzako and
nearby towns such as Bria, which dot a sparsely populated landscape
rich in diamonds, gold, and uranium. As a former field commander with
the UFDR, Demane is likely very familiar with the LRA, which clashed
with UFDR forces in 2010 and 2011.
http://www.theresolve.org/2013/11/the-backstory-on-konys-surrender-talks/
END3
4. Uganda welcomes Kony surrender but will not protect him from the ICC
November 21, 2013 (KAMPALA) - Uganda’s military on Thursday welcomed
reports of negotiations on possible surrender of the leader of the
rebel Lords Resistance Army (LRA) but cautioned it will not be able to
protect the rebel leader from prosecution by the International
Criminal court (ICC).
Media reports have quoted officials from Central Africa Republic (CAR)
as saying they are in contact with the rebel leaders who they say is
in bad health and wants assurance over his security after
surrendering.
The AFP news agency quoted CAR President, Michel Djotodia saying that
his government was in negotiations with Kony. "Joseph Kony wants to
come out of the bush. We are negotiating with him."
Kony and his senior commanders were indicted by The Hague based ICC in
2005. He is accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity.
In an interview with Sudan Tribune on Thursday, the deputy
spokesperson of the Uganda’s military, Robert Ngabirona said they
welcome reports of the notorious rebel leaders’ surrender.
"We welcome him back home. We have an open amnesty for the LRA and
indeed some LRA fighters who abandoned rebellion have been educated,
rehabilitated and integrated in the Uganda Peoples Defence
Forces(UPDF)", said Ngabirano.
The army spokesman, however, added that if the LRA leader surrenders
he will not be protected from prosecution by the ICC.
"Kony is wanted by the ICC. If he surrenders, well and good. We
welcome him but the ICC will have to pick on from there."
The military spokesman however said Uganda had not yet received any
official communication from CAR on the negotiations it is having with
the LRA.
LOCALS, AMERICANS SKEPTICAL
In northern Uganda where for 20 years, the LRA wrecked havoc
displacing nearly two million people from their homes at the peak of
the conflict, news of Kony’s reported plan to surrender has been
received with scepticism
"Kony will not surrender,’’ said Sam Lawino, a journalist who
extensively covered the conflict in northern Uganda before the LRA was
flushed out of the country in 2006.
"Kony fears the ICC. I don’t think he will surrender with the ICC
there. It could just be a new tactic by the LRA", said Lawino.
"I will be surprised if Kony surrenders. I doubt he will,’’ said a
resident of Gulu town who did not want to be named. Gulu was at the
epicentre of the conflict in the region.
Talks between the LRA and the Ugandan government ended inconclusively
in the South Sudan capital of Juba, with the key sticking point being
the ICC indictments which the LRA leadership wanted dropped. The
Ugandan government said, as it is saying now, that it does not have
the powers to drop the ICC charges.
News of LRA surrender has also been received with scepticism in
Washington. An American official stated that some LRA rebels had been
in contact with the government in CAR but Kony was not among them.
"At this time, we have little reason to believe that Joseph Kony is
part of this group,” the State Department official said.
The US has a USD 5 million dollar bounty on Kony’s head.
INVISIBLE CHILDREN CAUTION
The American advocacy group, Invisible Children, which has been at the
forefront of the highlighting the atrocities of the LRA in northern
Uganda and in the Great Lakes region cautioned on Thursday that Kony
could be playing an old trick.
"Any report that Kony may want to negotiate a surrender should
automatically be met with caution. None of our local sources have
substantiated the claims that there is a direct communication with
Kony", said the Chief Executive of the charity, Been Keesey, in a blog
post adding ‘‘Additionally, Kony has used and abused the call for
peace talks many times… usually at moments when his power is the
weakest.’’
On Wednesday this week Invisible Children presented a petition to the
Ugandan parliament signed by over 3,500 community members affected by
the LRA conflict in four countries in the Great Lakes while calling on
the international community and regional governments to do more in
ending the conflict.
UGANDA ARMY WAITING FOR INSTRUCTIONS
The fight against the LRA rebels by armies in the Great Lakes region
stalled after Seleka rebels who took over power in CAR in March this
year ordered foreign troops to leave its territory.
But Uganda’s deputy army spokesman, Robert Ngabirano said the Ugandan
army is still in CAR but only at designated assembly points and with
instructions not to hunt for the LRA.
"We have soldiers at assembly points but not fighting. We are waiting
for orders from our Commander –in- Chief and the African Union (AU)",
said Ngabirano.
About AU 3,000 troops with assistance of 100 military advisers sent by
US President Barrack Obama was fighting the LRA until they were
ordered to leave the country by the new government in CAR.
(ST) http://www.sudantribune.com/spip.php?article48887
END4
______________________
John Ashworth
Sudan, South Sudan Advisor
ashwor...@gmail.com
+254 725 926 297 (Kenya mobile)
+211 919 695 362 (South Sudan mobile)
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From: John Ashworth <ashwor...@gmail.com>
Date: Fri, Nov 22, 2013 at 9:09 AM
Subject: [sudan-john-ashworth] Doubts about LRA 'surrender talks'
To: Group <sudan-joh...@googlegroups.com>
It is sensible to be cautious about negotiations with LRA, based on
past experience. On the other hand, no opportunity to resolve such a
long-running and destructive conflict peacefully should ever be
ignored.
John
BEGIN
1. Central African Republic held surrender talks with warlord Kony - U.N., A.U.
Wed, Nov 20 2013
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The Central African Republic has been in
contact with warlord Joseph Kony and his Lord's Resistance Army
fighters to urge them to surrender, but Kony's whereabouts are still
unknown, the United Nations and the African Union said on Wednesday.
Kony, who has been indicted for war crimes by the International
Criminal Court in The Hague, waged a brutal guerrilla war against
Ugandan government in the north of the country for nearly two decades,
before fleeing with his fighters into the jungles of central Africa
around 2005.
A 5,000-strong African Union Regional Task Force, supported by about
100 U.S. Special Forces, has been hunting Kony and his fighters. Most
of them are thought to be hiding in jungles straddling the borders of
Central African Republic, South Sudan and Democratic Republic of
Congo.
"The current military pressure has kept the LRA, including its leader
Joseph Kony, on the run," the AU's special envoy on the LRA, Francisco
Madeira, told the U.N. Security Council.
"This heightened pressure forced the LRA to try his time-tested tricks
of buying time by duping the CAR authorities into "negotiations" to
purportedly allow Kony and his LRA to "surrender" and re-settle in
Nzako, CAR," he said.
Instead, Madeira said, according to the Regional Task Force Kony has
used the negotiations as a window of opportunity to relocate many of
his fighters to north-eastern CAR.
Madeira and the head of the U.N. Regional Office for Central Africa,
Abou Moussa, who also briefed the council, said that Michel Djotodia,
interim president of the virtually lawless Central African Republican,
told them he had contacted Kony.
"His people have been in contact with him (Kony), and they wanted to
encourage him to surrender," Madeira told reporters after the
briefing. "Many reports indicate that he is suffering from some
serious illness, uncharacterized illness."
Djotodia became interim CAR president after northern Seleka rebels
seized the capital, Bangui, in March and ousted President Francois
Bozize. Since then the landlocked, nation of 4.6 million people has
slipped into chaos.
Kony and his commanders are accused of abducting thousands of children
throughout the region to use as fighters in a rebel army that earned a
reputation for chopping off limbs as a form of discipline.
"Military operations have degraded the LRA and limited it to pursuing
survival tactics. However, recent attacks in South Sudan attributed to
the LRA are a reminder that the group remains a serious and
unpredictable threat to communities throughout the sub-region," Moussa
told the Security Council.
(Reporting by Michelle Nichols; editing by Christopher Wilson)
http://uk.reuters.com/article/2013/11/20/uk-un-centralafrica-kony-idUKBRE9AJ1C520131120
END1
2. Joseph Kony: US doubts LRA rebel leader's surrender
BBC 21 November 2013 Last updated at 22:08 GMT
US officials have cast doubt on reports that Ugandan rebel leader
Joseph Kony is negotiating his surrender in the Central African
Republic (CAR).
A US State Department official told the BBC that some rebels had been
in contact but Kony was not among them.
However, CAR officials later insisted that Kony, who is wanted for
alleged war crimes, has been in talks with their government.
The US has offered up to $5m (£3.3m) for leads resulting in his arrest.
Kony founded the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) in northern Uganda more
than 20 years ago, and his fighters are notorious for abducting
children to serve as sex slaves and child soldiers.
The US official also noted that Kony had previously used "any and
every pretext to rest, regroup, and rearm, ultimately returning to
kidnapping, killing, displacing and otherwise abusing civilian
populations".
The LRA was forced out of Uganda in 2005 and since then has wreaked
havoc in CAR, South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Kony was on the verge of signing a peace deal in 2008 but insisted
that the International Criminal Court (ICC) first drop its arrest
warrant, which it refused to do.
On Wednesday, a CAR government spokesman told the BBC that Kony was in
the country but wanted his security to be guaranteed before giving
himself up.
According to AFP news agency, CAR leader Michel Djotodia, said:
"Joseph Kony wants to come out of the bush. We are negotiating with
him."
A US State Department official said Washington was aware that CAR
authorities had "been in contact for several months with a small LRA
group in CAR that has expressed interest in surrendering".
But later on Thursday, a spokesman for Mr Djotodia told the BBC's
Newshour radio programme that the president had had a phone
conversation with Kony, who was in the remote Central African town of
Nzoka "with nearly 7,000 people, with his whole group, women and
children".
BBC Africa security correspondent Moses Rono says this is not the
first time that a breakthrough has been reported with the LRA.
But he says that Kony is now a shadow of his former self, reportedly
in fading health, having lost many fighters and operating in a
volatile region, with armed gangs keen to earn the $5m reward.
The African Union's special envoy on the LRA, Francisco Madeira, told
the UN Security Council on Wednesday he had seen reports that Kony was
suffering from a "serious, uncharacterised illness".
In April the Ugandan army suspended a search for Kony in CAR, blaming
"hostility" from the government formed when Mr Djotodia's rebel forces
seized power there.
Some 3,000 African troops, backed by 100 US special forces, have been
hunting him and his fighters across the region.
Mr Madeira said the military pressure had kept Kony and the LRA "on the run".
Kony claims the LRA's mission is to install a government in Uganda
based on the Biblical Ten Commandments.
But he is wanted by the International Criminal Court in The Hague on
charges of rape, mutilation and murder of civilians, as well as
forcibly recruiting children to serve as soldiers and sex slaves.
Analysis
Moses Rono BBC Africa security correspondent
We have been here before. There were even better prospects when former
Ugandan official Betty Bigombe made direct contact with Kony.
What is slightly different this time is Kony is a shadow of his former
self, reportedly in fading health, having lost many fighters and
operating in a volatile region.
In South Sudan, he does not have sanctuary - since Khartoum stopped
support. A local vigilante group on the border with Uganda and CAR has
been protecting people against LRA attacks.
In DR Congo, a robust UN mission has just helped the local army defeat
M23 rebels. This force could be easily deployed to help in the hunt
for Kony.
In CAR, near-anarchy makes it relatively easy for regional armies
hunting him to cross the border and capture him. Armed gangs in the
chaotic nation could also seek to catch him to claim the $5m bounty
offered by the US.
After two decades on the run, Kony is short of options. That he has
reportedly talked of possible surrender indicates how desperate he is.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-25036874
END2
3. The backstory on Kony’s “surrender talks”
By Paul Ronan
The Resolve 21 November 2013
This week numerous media outlets have reported that LRA leader Joseph
Kony is in “surrender talks” with authorities in Central African
Republic. These reports, which stem from misinterpretation of a
briefing by the UN SRSG Abou Moussa and AU LRA envoy Francisco Madeira
to the UN Security Council yesterday, are almost certainly false.
Here’s more of the real story, based on interviews I conducted in
Bangui in late October 2013 and insight from other LRA experts,
particularly@lediocakaj.
Kony and Djotodia: Pen Pals?
In August, an LRA group acting under the command Maj. Otto Ladeere
delivered two letters to community members near the town of Nzako, in
CAR’s Haut Kotto Mbomou province. One was addressed to CAR’s
transitional president, Michael Djotodia, and the other to local
authorities in Nzako. In the letters and subsequent follow-up, the LRA
group claimed that they wanted to lay down their arms and settle in
CAR, and that other LRA commanders, including Kony, were interested in
doing the same. However, there was – and remains – no evidence that
the LRA’s letter was actually authorized by Kony or represents his
desire to defect (more on that below).
Djotodia received the LRA’s letter, and promptly sent a response back
to the LRA group. Though the exact contents have not been released
publicly, it reportedly encouraged the LRA to defect and expressed the
CAR authorities’ willingness to facilitate the process. Djotodia
designated General Demane*, a close ally, to spearhead these efforts.
Meanwhile, local authorities in Nzako designated an elder community
leader to serve as an interlocutor with the LRA. He reportedly stays
with the LRA group periodically and has visited their camp, but little
is known of his background or involvement.
In September, following the delivery of Djotodia’s letter to Ladeere’s
group, contact between the LRA and CAR authorities intensified. CAR
authorities communicated to the UN peacebuilding mission in CAR
(BINUCA) that the LRA group was planning to surrender in Nzako on
September 24. BINUCA and the US government sent a joint mission to
Nzako that day, but no LRA members materialized. However, over the
next few days a civil society delegation traveled to Banale, a small
mining community east of Nzako that lies closer to the LRA camp. They
brought with them rope, tarps, and food, which were likely procured by
General Demane on the LRA’s request.
On October 8, Nzako authorities and Seleka troops under General Demane
traveled to meet with the LRA. There they reportedly conducted a
ritual ceremony with the LRA to cement their “friendship” in which two
sheep were sacrificed. Another local delegation visited the LRA camp
near Banale on October 15, delivering more food (mostly cassava and
groundnuts) and medicine to the group.
In the following days, the LRA groups reportedly moved further west,
crossing the Mbari River and settling approximately 20km east of
Nzako. On October 24, CAR authorities again communicated that LRA
members planned to defect in Nzako. Though none showed up that day,
five LRA representatives reportedly travelled to Nzako the next day
and spent several days meeting with local authorities and community
leaders before returning to the bush, reportedly with plans to return
with a larger group to defect.
However, November 3, another planned date for the LRA to come out,
came and passed with no new defections. What will happen next remains
unclear, especially as the LRA group reportedly has told local
community members that unless international aid groups provided them
with more supplies, they will go back into the bush. Meanwhile,
eyewitnesses in Nzako report that Seleka troops have forced community
members to procure food and deliver it to the LRA, effectively putting
civilian lives at risk to feed a dangerous rebel group.
Moussa and Madeira, the leading UN and AU diplomats on LRA issues,
were in Bangui in late October to meet with authorities in CAR,
including Djotodia. One of the key issues on the agenda was discussing
how to respond to the LRA group’s contact with CAR authorities, with
Moussa and Madeira cautioning Djotodia against providing further
material support to the LRA. It was based on these meetings that they
briefed the UN Security Council and inadvertently set off a media
firestorm.
A genuine defection opportunity, or a ruse?
Djotodia and CAR authorities would be well served to be more skeptical
of the LRA group’s expressed desire to defect. The LRA has exploited
negotiations processes for their own benefit in the past, most
recently during the Juba peace talks from 2006-2008, which has many
parallels in the current situation in Nzako. As they did in Juba, the
LRA is greatly exaggerating the size of their group, telling CAR
authorities it ranges between 1,000-2,000 (and even more) when Cakaj’s
most recent estimate of the LRA’s size places it between 500- 600.
This exaggeration could be a tactic to acquire additional food
supplies that can be sent to other groups or used once the LRA
abandons the negotiations, a ruse the LRA utilized effectively during
the Juba talks.
The timing of the LRA’s outreach is also reminiscent of the Juba
talks. The LRA’s agreement to start peace talks in 2006 occurred after
they had fled to DR Congo as a result of increasing military pressure
and a hostile political environment in their former strongholds in
South Sudan. Similarly, the LRA has faced a surge of military pressure
so far this year. A March raid on LRA camps in Kafia Kingi by Ugandan
troops operating under the AU Regional Task Force (RTF) disrupted one
of Kony’s favorite safe havens, and in recent months Uganda troops
have resumed operations in CAR that had been suspended following the
March coup in Bangui. In September, AU RTF troops from South Sudan and
DR Congo destroyed two major LRA camps in Congolese territory that had
served as rear supply bases for senior LRA commanders operating in
CAR.
Research released for Resolve this summer by Cakaj highlights some of
Ladeere’s history and provides some additional insight into the LRA’s
possible motivations. Ladeere was once one of Kony’s trusted
bodyguards, and later promoted to command the Independent Battalion,
one of Kony’s security units. In early 2013, Ladeere was reportedly
given command of one of Kony’s satellite groups operating in either
the Sudanese-controlled Kafia Kingi enclave or across the border in
northeastern CAR.
Though it’s unclear exactly when Ladeere’s group traveled southwest
from there towards Nzako, Kony’s group left Kafia Kingi in March 2013
just before a Ugandan military raid on his camp. Ladeere’s group may
have fled towards Nzako immediately after that, and may have been
responsible for a series of a brutal attacks on Central African
communities that lie between Kafia Kingi and Nzako in May and June
2013.
Unfortunate blow-up
Though the intentions of Ladeere’s group remain unclear, what is clear
is that reports of Kony surrendering, or even participating in
negotiations to surrender, are dramatically exaggerated. It’s possible
that Ladeere is acting independently and is simply using Kony’s name
to legitimize his actions. Even if he is acting on Kony’s orders,
history should warn Djotodia and the CAR authorities against taking
the group’s stated intention of defecting at face value.
*General Demane served with Djotodia in the Union des Forces
Démocratiques pour le Rassemblement (UFDR), one of the groups that
comprised the Seleka force that overthrew the CAR government in March
2013. He reportedly commands Seleka troops operating in Nzako and
nearby towns such as Bria, which dot a sparsely populated landscape
rich in diamonds, gold, and uranium. As a former field commander with
the UFDR, Demane is likely very familiar with the LRA, which clashed
with UFDR forces in 2010 and 2011.
http://www.theresolve.org/2013/11/the-backstory-on-konys-surrender-talks/
END3
4. Uganda welcomes Kony surrender but will not protect him from the ICC
November 21, 2013 (KAMPALA) - Uganda’s military on Thursday welcomed
reports of negotiations on possible surrender of the leader of the
rebel Lords Resistance Army (LRA) but cautioned it will not be able to
protect the rebel leader from prosecution by the International
Criminal court (ICC).
Media reports have quoted officials from Central Africa Republic (CAR)
as saying they are in contact with the rebel leaders who they say is
in bad health and wants assurance over his security after
surrendering.
The AFP news agency quoted CAR President, Michel Djotodia saying that
his government was in negotiations with Kony. "Joseph Kony wants to
come out of the bush. We are negotiating with him."
Kony and his senior commanders were indicted by The Hague based ICC in
2005. He is accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity.
In an interview with Sudan Tribune on Thursday, the deputy
spokesperson of the Uganda’s military, Robert Ngabirona said they
welcome reports of the notorious rebel leaders’ surrender.
"We welcome him back home. We have an open amnesty for the LRA and
indeed some LRA fighters who abandoned rebellion have been educated,
rehabilitated and integrated in the Uganda Peoples Defence
Forces(UPDF)", said Ngabirano.
The army spokesman, however, added that if the LRA leader surrenders
he will not be protected from prosecution by the ICC.
"Kony is wanted by the ICC. If he surrenders, well and good. We
welcome him but the ICC will have to pick on from there."
The military spokesman however said Uganda had not yet received any
official communication from CAR on the negotiations it is having with
the LRA.
LOCALS, AMERICANS SKEPTICAL
In northern Uganda where for 20 years, the LRA wrecked havoc
displacing nearly two million people from their homes at the peak of
the conflict, news of Kony’s reported plan to surrender has been
received with scepticism
"Kony will not surrender,’’ said Sam Lawino, a journalist who
extensively covered the conflict in northern Uganda before the LRA was
flushed out of the country in 2006.
"Kony fears the ICC. I don’t think he will surrender with the ICC
there. It could just be a new tactic by the LRA", said Lawino.
"I will be surprised if Kony surrenders. I doubt he will,’’ said a
resident of Gulu town who did not want to be named. Gulu was at the
epicentre of the conflict in the region.
Talks between the LRA and the Ugandan government ended inconclusively
in the South Sudan capital of Juba, with the key sticking point being
the ICC indictments which the LRA leadership wanted dropped. The
Ugandan government said, as it is saying now, that it does not have
the powers to drop the ICC charges.
News of LRA surrender has also been received with scepticism in
Washington. An American official stated that some LRA rebels had been
in contact with the government in CAR but Kony was not among them.
"At this time, we have little reason to believe that Joseph Kony is
part of this group,” the State Department official said.
The US has a USD 5 million dollar bounty on Kony’s head.
INVISIBLE CHILDREN CAUTION
The American advocacy group, Invisible Children, which has been at the
forefront of the highlighting the atrocities of the LRA in northern
Uganda and in the Great Lakes region cautioned on Thursday that Kony
could be playing an old trick.
"Any report that Kony may want to negotiate a surrender should
automatically be met with caution. None of our local sources have
substantiated the claims that there is a direct communication with
Kony", said the Chief Executive of the charity, Been Keesey, in a blog
post adding ‘‘Additionally, Kony has used and abused the call for
peace talks many times… usually at moments when his power is the
weakest.’’
On Wednesday this week Invisible Children presented a petition to the
Ugandan parliament signed by over 3,500 community members affected by
the LRA conflict in four countries in the Great Lakes while calling on
the international community and regional governments to do more in
ending the conflict.
UGANDA ARMY WAITING FOR INSTRUCTIONS
The fight against the LRA rebels by armies in the Great Lakes region
stalled after Seleka rebels who took over power in CAR in March this
year ordered foreign troops to leave its territory.
But Uganda’s deputy army spokesman, Robert Ngabirano said the Ugandan
army is still in CAR but only at designated assembly points and with
instructions not to hunt for the LRA.
"We have soldiers at assembly points but not fighting. We are waiting
for orders from our Commander –in- Chief and the African Union (AU)",
said Ngabirano.
About AU 3,000 troops with assistance of 100 military advisers sent by
US President Barrack Obama was fighting the LRA until they were
ordered to leave the country by the new government in CAR.
(ST) http://www.sudantribune.com/spip.php?article48887
END4
______________________
John Ashworth
Sudan, South Sudan Advisor
ashwor...@gmail.com
+254 725 926 297 (Kenya mobile)
+211 919 695 362 (South Sudan mobile)
+27 79 832 8834 (South Africa mobile)
+44 750 304 1790 (UK/international)
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PO Box 52662 - 00100, Nairobi, Kenya
This is a personal e-mail address and the contents do not necessarily
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