LRA war a terrorism ploy to decampaign govt
<b>By Ofwono Opondo</b><br><br>Uganda is finally recovering from two decades of rural terror by the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) of Joseph Kony, and the Allied Democratic Front (ADF), a shadowy Islamic front led by Jamil Mukulu-both men are fugitives. Both groups were sponsored by the Sudan gov
By Ofwono Opondo
Uganda is finally recovering from two decades of rural terror by the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) of Joseph Kony, and the Allied Democratic Front (ADF), a shadowy Islamic front led by Jamil Mukulu-both men are fugitives. Both groups were sponsored by the Sudan government to fight its proxy war with Uganda. As Dr. Ruhakana Rugunda, the leader of the Government peace team, tries to reach a negotiated settlement, we need to know the historical origins, traces and linkages of these terror machines.
The US is Uganda’s ally on many fronts; international trade, aid, diplomacy and the war on terror, and it would be wrong to link ADF and LRA terrorism to previous US policies towards third world countries. Nevertheless, it is necessary to state that the US was the indisputable founder, architect, sponsor, funder and sometimes direct executioner of previous terror systems worldwide, and most present-day terrorist organisations either have links to or learnt from the US.
In the 1970s, the US coined the doctrine of Low Intensity Conflict (LIC) under which it sponsored Renamo in Mozambique, apartheid-white supremacists in South Africa, Unita in Angola, embracing mercenaries in Zaire (Katanga rebellion), the Contras in Nicaragua, Society of Muslim Brothers in Egypt, Sarekat-i-Islam in Indonesia, Jamaat-i-Islami against Zulfiqar Bhutto in Pakistan, Hamas during the first intifada in Palestin and Mujahideen (Taliban) in Afghanistan. It has sought for years to assassinate Cuban president Fidel Castro. Under the pretext of fighting the Soviet Union during the Cold War, the US was not ashamed to build alliances, which have now returned to haunt the US and world peace and interests.
It was with Renamo, Unita and Contras that the US (CIA) embraced and combined covert and overt activities into a strategy joining terrorism with electoral politics for the pursuit of victory for its chosen allies. In Central America, the US used the drug trade to partly finance its proxy wars.
Through its policy of “constructive engagement,†with South Africa, the US permitted support to terrorist Renamo and Unita go unchallenged for 50 years contained in the Vaz Diaries captured from the Renamo leadership after the 1984 Nkomati Agreement, while they pillaged and planted mines in villages and towns. The US taught Renamo and Unita political terror which was copied by the LRA targeting civilian life, mining village paths used by peasants, destroying health and education facilities, crops, and killing or abducting civilians into combat recruits.
“Psychological Operation in Guerrilla Warfare,†a CIA training manual published in 1985 at the height of these engagements, called for combining a range of tactics-neutralisation of civilian officials, armed propaganda, abduction of civilians, selected use of violence, and involving civilians in mass murders. This was meant to demonstrate government inability to offer protection to citizens and their property from terrorism and simultaneously invite its repression against the very population it claims to represent.
Like those US proxies, no one expected the LRA or ADF to take over government in Kampala although were sure it would bleed the Uganda government into a negotiated compromise or electoral defeat. This is why Sudan has supported armed rebels and opposition groups during the last elections. If war has failed, then get involved in our electoral contest with IPFC, Jeema, Reform Agenda or FDC.
It was the CIA that built a doctrine of harnessing terror as part of an electoral campaign to blackmail. The big support opposition political groups have been enjoying and getting in northern Uganda where rebels intimidate local people not to vote for President Yoweri Museveni is proof to the success of CIA doctrine in other parts of the world. It is no surprise that opposition groups here never publicly condemn LRA or ADF.
In Mozambique, Angola, Nicaragua, Afghanistan and Iraq, the US has spent billions of dollars on its military, humanitarian, and democracy projects to tilt the balance. The hope and sometimes results show that a combination of terrorism and political organisation can deliver victory for counter-revolutionary coalitions when voters choose terrorists as the price for peace.
The writer is the NRM deputy spokesperson
Uganda is finally recovering from two decades of rural terror by the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) of Joseph Kony, and the Allied Democratic Front (ADF), a shadowy Islamic front led by Jamil Mukulu-both men are fugitives. Both groups were sponsored by the Sudan government to fight its proxy war with Uganda. As Dr. Ruhakana Rugunda, the leader of the Government peace team, tries to reach a negotiated settlement, we need to know the historical origins, traces and linkages of these terror machines.
The US is Uganda’s ally on many fronts; international trade, aid, diplomacy and the war on terror, and it would be wrong to link ADF and LRA terrorism to previous US policies towards third world countries. Nevertheless, it is necessary to state that the US was the indisputable founder, architect, sponsor, funder and sometimes direct executioner of previous terror systems worldwide, and most present-day terrorist organisations either have links to or learnt from the US.
In the 1970s, the US coined the doctrine of Low Intensity Conflict (LIC) under which it sponsored Renamo in Mozambique, apartheid-white supremacists in South Africa, Unita in Angola, embracing mercenaries in Zaire (Katanga rebellion), the Contras in Nicaragua, Society of Muslim Brothers in Egypt, Sarekat-i-Islam in Indonesia, Jamaat-i-Islami against Zulfiqar Bhutto in Pakistan, Hamas during the first intifada in Palestin and Mujahideen (Taliban) in Afghanistan. It has sought for years to assassinate Cuban president Fidel Castro. Under the pretext of fighting the Soviet Union during the Cold War, the US was not ashamed to build alliances, which have now returned to haunt the US and world peace and interests.
It was with Renamo, Unita and Contras that the US (CIA) embraced and combined covert and overt activities into a strategy joining terrorism with electoral politics for the pursuit of victory for its chosen allies. In Central America, the US used the drug trade to partly finance its proxy wars.
Through its policy of “constructive engagement,†with South Africa, the US permitted support to terrorist Renamo and Unita go unchallenged for 50 years contained in the Vaz Diaries captured from the Renamo leadership after the 1984 Nkomati Agreement, while they pillaged and planted mines in villages and towns. The US taught Renamo and Unita political terror which was copied by the LRA targeting civilian life, mining village paths used by peasants, destroying health and education facilities, crops, and killing or abducting civilians into combat recruits.
“Psychological Operation in Guerrilla Warfare,†a CIA training manual published in 1985 at the height of these engagements, called for combining a range of tactics-neutralisation of civilian officials, armed propaganda, abduction of civilians, selected use of violence, and involving civilians in mass murders. This was meant to demonstrate government inability to offer protection to citizens and their property from terrorism and simultaneously invite its repression against the very population it claims to represent.
Like those US proxies, no one expected the LRA or ADF to take over government in Kampala although were sure it would bleed the Uganda government into a negotiated compromise or electoral defeat. This is why Sudan has supported armed rebels and opposition groups during the last elections. If war has failed, then get involved in our electoral contest with IPFC, Jeema, Reform Agenda or FDC.
It was the CIA that built a doctrine of harnessing terror as part of an electoral campaign to blackmail. The big support opposition political groups have been enjoying and getting in northern Uganda where rebels intimidate local people not to vote for President Yoweri Museveni is proof to the success of CIA doctrine in other parts of the world. It is no surprise that opposition groups here never publicly condemn LRA or ADF.
In Mozambique, Angola, Nicaragua, Afghanistan and Iraq, the US has spent billions of dollars on its military, humanitarian, and democracy projects to tilt the balance. The hope and sometimes results show that a combination of terrorism and political organisation can deliver victory for counter-revolutionary coalitions when voters choose terrorists as the price for peace.
The writer is the NRM deputy spokesperson