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OBO, Central African Republic It has got to be one of the oddest matchups in United States military history.
One hundred of Americas elite Special Operations troops, aided by night vision scopes and satellite imagery, are helping African forces find a wig-wearing, gibberish-speaking fugitive rebel commander named Joseph Kony who has been hiding out in the jungle for years with a band of child soldiers and a harem of dozens of child brides.
No one knows exactly where Mr. Kony is, but here in Obo, at a remote forward operating post in the Central African Republic, Green Berets pore over maps and interview villagers, hopeful for a clue.
Their biggest challenge, they say, is Mr. Konys turf, a vast expanse the size of California in the middle of Africa that is so rugged it renders much of the American gadgetry useless. Picture towering trees that blot out the sun, endless miles of elephant grass, and swirling brown rivers that coil like intestines and are infested with crocodiles; one of them recently ate a Ugandan member of the force.
This is not going to be an easy slog, said Ken Wright, a Navy SEAL captain and the commander of the joint American detachment assisting in the Kony hunt.
Still, in the past several months since they arrived, the Americans say Mr. Konys army of around 300 fighters is showing cracks. No longer is Mr. Kony able to direct the massacres he directed just a few years ago when his fighters waylaid entire towns and hacked hundreds of people to death. His armed acolytes are breaking up into small, desperate groups, American officials say, and for the first time they are abandoning many of the women and children they had abducted who cannot keep up as they flee deeper into the bush.
The Americans emphasize that they have no interest in participating in actual combat This is strictly an advise and assist role, Captain Wright said, meant to strengthen the capabilities of African troops. Their deployment is emblematic of the Pentagons new military strategy for Africa, unfurled earlier this year, in which Pentagon officials say they will develop innovative, low-cost, and small-footprint approaches to achieve our security objectives on the African continent.
Already, American-paid contractors and intelligence agents are working quietly in Somalia. And small groups of American advisers have been training African armies for years, though it is not always clear how well this turns out. Just a few weeks ago, Malis democratic government was ousted in a coup led by none other than an American-trained army captain.
KAMPALA, Uganda -- Ugandan forces captured a senior commander of Joseph Kony's Lord's Resistance Army after a brief fight with rebels near the Congo-Central African Republic border, an army official said Sunday, in what an analyst said was an "intelligence coup" for forces hunting for Kony.
Lt. Col. Abdul Rugumayo, intelligence chief for Uganda's military operation against the LRA, said Caesar Acellam was captured Saturday with two other rebel fighters as they tried to cross a river called Mbomu.
Although Acellam is not one of the LRA commanders indicted along with Kony in 2005 by the International Criminal Court, Ugandan officials say he was one of Kony's top military strategists and a reliable fighter.
"He is in good condition," Rugumayo said of Acellam. "He was captured with two other rebels. They were in a group of 30 rebels."
He said the others escaped.
Details of precisely how Acellam was captured were not available, but some analysts said it was possible he had just walked into the hands of Ugandan army officials.
"He's been on the defection shelf for a long time," said Angelo Izama, a political analyst with the Kampala-based security think tank Fanaka Kwawote. "This is a big intelligence coup for the Ugandan army."
A Ugandan army official, speaking on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the press, said losing Acellam was a big blow to Kony, whose forces have become increasingly degraded by a lack of food and having to constantly move to elude capture.
Anything which is done to stop Kony is a good thing, and I'm delighted if US troops are taking a more active role.
Removing him from the face of the map would be a real boost for morale in several countries.
Kony's been dead for about 5 years.
Again, Ugandans have been saying it and are saying it:Mad Scientist -
Not 'Ugandans', but a 'Ugandan' are saying it.
So ONE person says this - and you present it as a solid fact. You KNOW it.
See, if Americans were smart, they'd see that this is just a relaunch of the "Saddam Hussein harbors Terrorists" scam that they fell for after 9/11."There has not been a single soul from the LRA (KONY) here since 2006. Now we have peace, people are back in their homes, they are planting their fields, and they are starting their businesses. That is what people should help us with."
You lookin' for an autopsy report? A Death Certificate?Mad Scientist -
Of course there are American troops in Africa - what on earth are you talking about?
Will you be presenting any real evidence of Kony's death, btw?
Most? So Ugandan FoxNews says he's dead, Ugandan MSNBC says he's still alive? You mean like that?Mad S -
Most Ugandan media don't claim he is dead. We know he isn't in Uganda, and media in CAR still think he is probably alive.
Certainly, he could be dead - I just see no evidence to suggest that he is.
It's great US troops are there, and even if he is dead, any pressure placed on the remaining LRA is worthwhile.
Interesting Fact: Uganda is just south of Sudan (which was recently split into Oil Sudan and Non-Oil Sudan). Would make the perfect staging base for US operations into Oil Sudan right?
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I for one think we need to be operating on the African continent. We and the Russians abandoned them after the Cold War and now China is extracting African assets for pennies on the yuan. There are plenty of ops that provide good training and a base from which to deploy. I don't know if Kony is dead but there are sources that state he has not been seen in 5 or 6 years. If alive though, his death or capture makes for a worthwhile project.
I for one think we need to be operating on the African continent. We and the Russians abandoned them after the Cold War and now China is extracting African assets for pennies on the yuan. There are plenty of ops that provide good training and a base from which to deploy. I don't know if Kony is dead but there are sources that state he has not been seen in 5 or 6 years. If alive though, his death or capture makes for a worthwhile project.
The US Military has been making moves to go into Africa for years, its not talked about but we have bases in Africa that our Military use, don't want to go into too much detail though.
"Ad hoc global 'counter-terrorism' efforts that began under President George W. Bush, and were encouraged by Obama, have now become institutionalized -- and the bureaucracy that wages U.S. 'secret wars' will continue to expand for the next couple of years, particularly in Africa," Oxford Analytica observed in a recent assessment. "Reliance on Special Forces and the CIA will increase in Afghanistan for the foreseeable future as conventional force numbers decline and move into a supporting role." This marks a significant shift in the U.S.-led strategy in Afghanistan from conventional military power, as the Americans and their allies scale down forces in Afghanistan after an inconclusive 11-year-old war. As al-Qaida's organization has broken into regional networks because of heavy losses suffered by al-Qaida Central from drone strikes in Pakistan, these groups have become independent operationally and have had some successes in North and West Africa.
The Americans' ability to wage Special Operations wars on a global scale has been strengthened by the creation of relatively small, often unobtrusive, military bases. "Washington is in the process of a massive expansion of what are referred to internally as 'lily pads' that allow it a global strike capability," Oxford Analytica noted. These include facilities in Kenya, Uganda, the Central African Republic, Ethiopia, Djibouti, Mauritania, Burkina Faso and the Seychelles islands in the Indian Ocean off East Africa. Western military sources say the Americans are seeking to establish a base in newly independent South Sudan as well. It's not hard to see why the Americans are suddenly so interested in Africa after virtually ignoring it for decades.
West Africa is emerging as a vital oil-producing zone, that's attracting China and India because of its mineral resources, including arable farmland, which they need to sustain their burgeoning economies. East Africa is on the cusp of a major oil and natural gas bonanza, which makes it of particular interest to Beijing and New Delhi because its energy and mineral wealth can be shipped directly eastward across the Indian Ocean. Some analysts view the Indian Ocean as a future conflict zone between China and India because of its sea lanes. In 2007, the United States inaugurated the Africa Command to coordinate U.S. military affairs with governments across a continent wracked for decades by war and famine.
Read more: U.S. expands its secret war in Africa - UPI.com
Clinton said the international community must stand up against extremists who she said are exploiting popular frustrations in the Middle East and North Africa. "Unity on this throughout the international community is crucial because extremists around the world are working hard to drive us apart. All of us need to stand together to resist these forces and to support democratic transitions underway in North Africa and the Middle East," she said.
Clinton said the Obama administration is trying to help societies leave behind old animosities, and look ahead to new opportunities, by backing reformers who build accountable institutions and combat the corruption that stifles innovation, initiative, and hope. "Countries that are focused more on fostering growth than fomenting grievance are racing ahead. Building schools instead of burning them. Investing in their people’s creativity, not inciting their rage." she said. "Opening their economies and societies to have more connections with the wider world, not shutting off the Internet or attacking embassies."
U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans were killed in the Libyan city of Benghazi earlier this month following protests against an Internet video mocking the Prophet Muhammad that was produced by an anti-Muslim group in California. Civilians in Benghazi demonstrated against that violence Friday, showing what Clinton called their forceful rejection of extremists in their midst, reclaiming the honor and dignity of a courageous city.
"The democracy movements that have sprung up worldwide create exciting possibilities for countries that have been ruled for years by dictators. But they also pose, as we have dramatically seen, great challenges as people grapple with how to turn their democratic ideals into functioning governments and prosperous economies," she said. Clinton spoke at a development forum organized by her husband, former U.S. President Bill Clinton, in conjunction with this week's meeting of the United Nations General Assembly.
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