Uganda Efforts to Capture Warlord ‘Destined to Fail’

By Julius Odeke

An advocacy group says the Ugandan Army’s quest to apprehend Joseph Kony and other senior leaders of the Lord’s Resistance Army is destined to fail unless the number of troops deployed increases and they are provided with better logistical and intelligence information.

According to Voice of America, the U.S.-based Enough Project says in a report released Friday the Ugandan Army’s trekking teams can “roam around” in the jungle for weeks “without any clear trace of the LRA.”  It says direct encounters with the LRA are “rare.”

The group says U.S. aerial reconnaissance has not given an anticipated “intelligence breakthrough” because it could not see through the triple canopy forest where the LRA rebels hide.

The report, which is based on information gathered by an Enough researcher embedded with Ugandan troops, says the LRA continues to be a “very real threat” to civilians across the region.

The Enough Project says it works to address human rights crimes in Sudan, South Sudan, Congo, Somalia, and areas of Africa affected by the Lord’s Resistance Army.

The LRA is notorious for kidnappings, killings, and forcing children to join its ranks and fight against the government.

In October 2011, President Barack Obama announced he had authorized deployment of about 100 combat troops to central Africa to help with the fight against the LRA.