Wednesday 28 March 2012

I comment on the Kony 2012 campaign and AU military operation

Here is a translation of my comments on the Kony 2012 campaign and the challenges to the AU military operation.

AU-led Regional Cooperation Initiative against the Lord’ Resistance Army (RCI-LRA) officially launched

On Saturday 24 March the African Union (AU) initiative against LRA was launched during a ceremony in Juba, South Sudan. I have already posted about this military operation which has the following objectives: strengthen the response capacity of the countries affected by the atrocities of the LRA, in order to create inherent capabilities; create an environment conducive to the stabilisation of the region free of LRA atrocities and inclusive of a political process within the framework of the Juba Agreement, if and when duly signed; and facilitate the delivery of humanitarian assistance to the affected areas. 

The operation was authorised by the AU Peace and Security Council on the 22 November last year but it has taken some time for the Regional Task Force (RTF) to become operational. Even though the armies from the affected countries have been fighting the LRA for some time (Ugandan troops have been in the area since 2008) the AU RCI-LRA is meant to coordinate these efforts. Although the RCI-LRA is supported by the UN and the US there is no UN Security Council resolution. Last year, however, the UN Security Council requested the UN Secretary General Special Representative for Central Africa and Head of the United Nations Regional Office for Central Africa (UNOCA), Abou Moussa, to finalise a regional LRA strategy. A few days ago on March 23 representatives of the UN, African Union and the UN stabilisation mission to the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO) provided an update on the regional strategy. 

The RTF has its headquarters in Yambio, South Sudan and will be led by an Ugandan commander, Dick Prit Olum. Senior commanders from Uganda, South Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and the Central African Republic (CAR) will be in charge of a contingent of 5,000 soldiers but it is not yet clear whether force commanders will be in operational command of soldiers from other nations. The initiative allows for cross border operations and is meant to improve cooperation and intelligence sharing between the state security forces active in the region as well as between those and the UN missions in South Sudan and DRC. 

The European Union (EU) has pledged 9 million euros in humanitarian aid for the affected populations. EU also financially supports the AU Special Envoy for LRA affected areas, Francisco Madeira, but has so far been reluctant to provide any support to the military operation as there are no mechanisms for accountability, no clear plan for civilian protection and there is no UN mandate for the operation. Apparently unspecified international partners have promised to support the AU military operation although the four countries, CAR, DRC, South Sudan and Uganda remain responsible for covering their costs for the operations.  

I really don’t know what the chances are to find LRA and Joseph Kony in this area the size of Sweden covered in dense forest with very few roads. There is always a risk with military operations and given the past atrocities committed by the security forces that now will participate in the operation, the prospect for civilian protection is rather dim.

Thursday 22 March 2012

Coup d'état in Mali

CAR is a country that has experienced several coup d'état over the decades, In Mali this is apparently happening now. This blog updates from the capital Bamako.

The mutineers are according to Jeune Afrique unhappy with the lack of equipment and supplies which has hindered the military to defeat the Touareg rebellion in the north. The mutineers, who call themselves le Comité National pour le Redressement de la Démocratie et la Restauration de l'Etat (CNRDRE) have suspended the constitution, the governement and the state institutions have been dissolved. The second part of the mutineers' declaration can be found here. The president Amadou Toumani Touré, who was meant to step down in the upcoming elections and probably would have done so, is nowhere to be found and several ministers in the government have been arrested


Wednesday 14 March 2012

Kony 2012 and the Ambassador - CAR is finally on the map

Eventually the Central African Republic (CAR), a blank spot on the map, gets some attention or at least people now know that it is a country. When I was going there in August people would ask me things like “But what’s the name of the COUNTRY?” That’s the name I said whereas the person would ask “Ohh, but what was the name of it before?” Well, before independence the French used to call it Oubangui-Chari and the person would look puzzled. It is a blank spot, even for many Africans. Its geographic location is quite obvious from the name but for those who still don’t know where it is click here.

The Kony 2012 campaign put CAR on the map and now the Danish documentary the Ambassador, which I mentioned in an earlier post in September last year, is getting some attention. The film is discussed in an article in Foreign Policy and can now be streamed on Swedish National TV  until 12 of April. The film was released in the beginning of October last year and was shown at the Sundance film festival earlier this year and has been on the cinemas in Denmark and Norway (and elsewhere). 

The Danish journalist Mads Brügger goes to CAR with a diplomatic passport (Liberian) and a hidden camera to uncover the endemic corruption that allows some people to profit on Africa’s resources. The film shows how diplomats are involved in shady business, including diamond smuggling.  Brügger is a witty man with tons of sense of humour, which provokes many since the film is not one where Africans are victimised and needs to be saved by the “white man”. Rather it shows the dirty reality of how many white men contribute to CAR’s continuing dysfunction (as in many other countries). 

It is definitely worth to watch. When I was in Bangui I often was disgusted by the behaviour of some people, which I have mentioned in earlier posts. Comments like “We just keep them floating”, “We are just helping them from falling into complete anarchy” and “They need someone from the outside, like the UN or France (!), to get this country back in its feet”, were common place. CAR is to a large extent still France’s playground where anything is possible, for those with diplomatic status and money that is…

So, the documentary the Ambassador can be streamed here (I hope it works outside Europe, I am not sure about that though.) Have a look, have a laugh because somehow what to do about it? When all is crap you need to laugh at the misery, very much in line with  the Central African sense of humour I learned to love when I was there..

Thursday 8 March 2012

Erin in Juba

I have this blog on my blog list but this post is a must read...

Kony 2012 - how to make complex issues simple

I am sure most of you by now have heard about the campaign and film  that the US lobby organisation InvisibleChildren launched. It has, as often in the case of conflict, led to a highly polarised debate. The problem with the campaign is not that Invisible Children is an organisation with a murky agenda. They surely have good intentions and have done some respectable work (for example by extending the Early Warning Radio Network, launching Mobile Response Teams, and creating the LRA Crisis Tracker, which allows communities in the region the ability to receive warnings of LRA activity and alert local security forces to LRA violence) BUT good intentions can have unintended consequences.  

In this case, with the Kony 2012 campaign, the main problem is that Invisible Children reproduce a stereotype of Joseph Kony and LRA that has very little to do with reality. I think seven points are important to make:


  • LRA has not been active in Uganda since 2006, hence the group is not a security threat to the population in that country today 
  • LRA is not an army of children, although LRA abducts children the bulk of the combatants consists of adolescents or adults and numbers a few hundreds although it is hard to know
  • LRA is one of many other security threats to civilians and children in the region, these threats include other rebel groups, criminal gangs and state security forces
  • The state security forces in the region are notorious for committing crimes against civilians, so what is the likelihood they will be able or willing to protect the population?
  • To train and equip these security forces will most likely lead to further militarisation of the affected countries, hence it will increase the insecurity in the region
  • Invisible Children’s board is comprised of Americans, not Ugandans or any other Africans
  • Invisible Children does not represent people affected by LRA violence, hence Africans are once again deprived of agency and portrayed as helpless victims who needs to be saved 

Since there are so many good, informative, critical and interesting comments out there by now I will not further elaborate on this but refer you to those articles, comments and blogs. You are just one click away. 

One last comment; the solution to (armed) conflicts is never to demonise the enemy, on the contrary, this is often what starts and keeps a conflict going on for years, decades or even centuries. To launch a campaign film without any nuance whatsoever, in which one man is portrayed as bad simplifies the reality and takes the whole problem out of its context. I don’t think that will help anyone. However, if we look at the campaign with critical eyes perhaps this “blank spot” on the map will get some attention. The question is if this will bring something good? 

I guess time will tell, good intentions may have unintended consequences …

Thursday 1 March 2012

My report on LRA published and printed

Finally the report I have written on LRA in Central Africa is published and printed. Unfortunately it is in Swedish but for those who understand this exotic language the report can be downloaded free of charge from the FOI website