Lightning Thunder a great milestone
Mar 17, 2009
The Uganda Peoples Defence Forces has started a week-long withdrawal from the Garamba forest in the Democratic Republic of Congo after a three-month onslaught that has sent the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) rebels in disarray.
The Uganda Peoples Defence Forces has started a week-long withdrawal from the Garamba forest in the Democratic Republic of Congo after a three-month onslaught that has sent the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) rebels in disarray.
The operation code-named Lightning Thunder has to a large extent been a big success although some critics will no doubt try to discredit it as a failure since LRA leader Joseph Kony managed to escape.
The greatest achievement of the operation was the dismantling of the LRA camps and its command structure. With their food and supply lines cut off, assortment of arms and communication equipment seized, the LRA’s capacity to fight has been drastically curtailed.
The challenge now is for the Congolese and MONUC forces to maintain pressure to ensure the rag-tag rebels do not regroup. The rescuing of hundreds of abductees, including the last of the Aboke girls is no mean achievement.
The cooperation between Uganda, the DRC and the Southern Sudan during the operation that started December 14, 2008 is in itself a very big success. This has sent a strong message to Kony that the space is becoming smaller for him by the day. He now knows that he may run but can no longer hide.
The greatest challenge now is not only how to keep Kony away from Uganda’s borders, but also how to ensure that he does not have the capacity to wreck havoc on the civilian population wherever he is.
While the LRA has been weakened, we should remember that Kony and his most notorious commanders — Okot Odhiambo and Dominic Ongwen — are still around.
It is still fresh in our minds that, although Operation North of the 1990s and Operation Iron Fist scattered the LRA, they managed to regroup and cause havoc because their commanders survived.
Therefore, while the UPDF is withdrawing, they should closely work with Congolese and MONUC forces to ensure the LRA?top commanders are brought to book.
The operation code-named Lightning Thunder has to a large extent been a big success although some critics will no doubt try to discredit it as a failure since LRA leader Joseph Kony managed to escape.
The greatest achievement of the operation was the dismantling of the LRA camps and its command structure. With their food and supply lines cut off, assortment of arms and communication equipment seized, the LRA’s capacity to fight has been drastically curtailed.
The challenge now is for the Congolese and MONUC forces to maintain pressure to ensure the rag-tag rebels do not regroup. The rescuing of hundreds of abductees, including the last of the Aboke girls is no mean achievement.
The cooperation between Uganda, the DRC and the Southern Sudan during the operation that started December 14, 2008 is in itself a very big success. This has sent a strong message to Kony that the space is becoming smaller for him by the day. He now knows that he may run but can no longer hide.
The greatest challenge now is not only how to keep Kony away from Uganda’s borders, but also how to ensure that he does not have the capacity to wreck havoc on the civilian population wherever he is.
While the LRA has been weakened, we should remember that Kony and his most notorious commanders — Okot Odhiambo and Dominic Ongwen — are still around.
It is still fresh in our minds that, although Operation North of the 1990s and Operation Iron Fist scattered the LRA, they managed to regroup and cause havoc because their commanders survived.
Therefore, while the UPDF is withdrawing, they should closely work with Congolese and MONUC forces to ensure the LRA?top commanders are brought to book.