COIN case: LRA Lords Resistance Army

[M-A Lagrange]

A report evaluating the US military effort to end LRA.

I did not read the entire report but what I read was interresting, even if I do not agree with all what is said. (Political context might sometimes be too lightly understood or analysed for me)
Out of the electoral advocacy game, it is good that someone follows that up closely.

MOMENT OF TRUTH
The potential and limits of the US
military’s counter-LRA deployment
https://salsa.democracyinaction.org/...une%202012.pdf

[davidbfpo]

Skimming through the cited report I noted on pg.10:

The 391st battalion of the Congolese military, which received extensive training by the US military and is now deployed to northern Congo, continues to face logistical constraints and has engaged little with LRA forces. MONUSCO, despite instability in eastern Congo, has opened up new bases in northern Congo’s Bas Uele region and utilized the Guatemalan Special Forces unit (GUASFOR) and other units to set up temporary bases in towns hit hardest by LRA activity

On pg.14 and one wonders which lawyers did imposed this condition:

US advisers are also helping to streamline US logistical support to Uganda’s counterLRA operations, which amounts to approximately $1.5 million a month for supplies and helicopter support provided through third-party contractors. The contracts for this support stipulate that the helicopters (US-contracted MI-8 helicopters) overnight at the Ugandan military base in Nzara, South Sudan, even though they are most needed at the Ugandan military’s current forward operating bases in Obo and Djemah, CAR. Consquently, the helicopters must fly hundreds of extra miles each day from Nzara to Djemah and Obo, wasting fuel and flight hours and reducing the effectiveness of Ugandan military tracking teams operating there.....US officials have restricted the advisers’ travel radius to within several miles of the towns where they are deployed.

...a $35 million authorization in the FY2012 defense authorizations act for US
support to military forces operating against the LRA. However, six months after the authorization bill was passed, bureaucratic hurdles within the Department of Defense have prevented any of the authorized funds from being put to use.

[M-A Lagrange]

Joseph Kony's LRA blamed for uranium plant attack
Rebel leader Joseph Kony's Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) was responsible for an attack last weekend...

Rebel leader Joseph Kony's Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) was responsible for an attack last weekend on a uranium plant in the Central African Republic, a military source said Tuesday.
"The Ugandan rebels of the LRA... were recognised by residents, many of whom fled to hide in the Catholic church or in the bush" during Sunday's attack on a plant operated by French nuclear giant Areva near a uranium mine in the country's south-east, the source said on condition of anonymity.
"After occupying the site, the rebels then looted the premises, carrying off portable computers, food -- notably bags of flour, boxes of sugar, etc.
"They also destroyed office computers before retreating Monday afternoon."
Areva has said the attack's sole objective appeared to be looting. There were no reports of injuries or stolen uranium -- though a villager was killed shortly before the attack began, according to a military source.

http://www.starafrica.com/fr/actuali...la-239777.html

Let say we are lucky Kony is an idiot.

[J Wolfsberger]

Let say we are lucky Kony is an idiot.

I think you're underestimating the damage idiots can cause.

[M-A Lagrange]

According to news released by DRC press, Dominique Ongwen has been killed on 27 august 2012 in a firefight with UPDF in CAR.

Let's hope this is true.


Traque contre les hommes de Joseph Kony, le n°3 de la LRA tué sur le territoire centrafricain http://www.lobservateur.cd/index.php...ites&Itemid=78
(A link, unfortunately in french, on Dominique Ongwen death.)

[Dayuhan]

http://www.starafrica.com/fr/actuali...la-239777.html

Let say we are lucky Kony is an idiot.

Is that a uranium mining operation, or processing? Not much Kony's guys could do with raw uranium ore, and I don't think any refinement to a degree that would produce a dangerous product would be going on in CAR...

[M-A Lagrange]

Hello Dayuhan,

Thats right, Kony can do nothing with uranium ore. And anyways, he is too dum to do anything with refined uranium.

LRA hunt is quite well engaged. And it just demonstrates that what is problematic in this part of the world are not the armed group but rather the absence of political will to effectively fight against them.
After 20 years of terror, LRA is going to be wipped out just because someone committed ressources and and sticked to the objective...

[davidbfpo]

Hat tip to CFC for this unexpected update:

AU force to co-ordinate soldiers from regional armies hunting Lord's Resistance Army, but troops still lack resources....AU's special envoy on the LRA, Francisco Madeira, said the DRC had still not contributed troops but some commitments had been made and said the force required assistance to help it function properly.

"We need more support, I don't have to elaborate on these because my predecessor has done this so well. We need support in terms of means of transport, communication, medicine, combat rations and uniforms for the troops tracking the LRA. This is particularly important and critical and most urgent for the central African troops who handed over their contingent despite the challenges facing them.....

Link:http://www.aljazeera.com/news/africa...754887151.html

[davidbfpo]

A harsh review on FP:

The African Union Regional Task force -- envisioned as a 5,000-strong regional expeditionary force tasked with hunting down Kony's Lord's Resistance Army over a 115,000 square mile area -- has never mustered all the troops needed for the mission, nor formed into a real mobile force capable of mounting a cross border chase.

"The [task force] is not close to realizing the vision of a multinational force conducting effective offensive operations against the LRA and protecting civilians....It exists only on paper and cannot be considered operational."

Link to article:http://turtlebay.foreignpolicy.com/p...h_kony_stalled

Link to cited report:http://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb...nce%20Army.pdf

One wonders if the social media campaign on the LRA will pick this up and re-start their campaign. As it is Africa and the UN even if they did I have m' doubts anyone would do anything beyond "grandstanding".