WHY TRUMP SHOULD REMOVE THE LRA FROM THE LIST OF TERRORIST ORGANIZATIONS

Kony

LRA leader, Joseph Kony, is a haunted man who is wanted by the ICC for war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Ugandans are yearning for smooth transition and change in the office of the president, no matter who replaces Museveni. This can either be his wife or his son in 2021.

With a huge number of his party (NRM) members in parliament necessary to effect changes in the Constitution, there are fears that he is preparing to amend the law to remove age limits.

God forbid. I only see chaos in Uganda unless President Trump acts and cut off some of the life-saving money to the 21st Century dictator.

 

GULU-UGANDA: The time is now for the US government under the administration of Donald Trump, to remove the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) from the list of terrorist organizations. Its leader, Joseph Kony and the about 200 remaining fighters, should be given asylum in a third country or employed as guards in foreign countries until after Museveni leaves power .

In 2001, the US Department of State listed Uganda’s Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), which was fighting Museveni’s government, as a terrorist organization under the PATRIOT USA Act. This was possible after president George Bush signed Executive Order 13224 of September 23, 2001 blocking the assets of the LRA and some other terrorist organizations and individuals linked to terrorism.

Recent intelligence report says that rag-tag LRA rebel outfit which has been resisting President Yoweri Museveni’s rule for over two decades, now has less than two hundred fighters.

The LRA took over the mantle to fight the Museveni regime from the Uganda People’s Democratic Army (UPDA), which was composed mainly by former soldiers of the defeated Uganda army when Museveni took over power in 1986, and the Holy Spirit Movement (HSM) led by priestess Alice Auma Lakwena.

The UPDA was formed as a protest army which was resisting attacks on their refugee camps which was located in Magwi inside South Sudan by the new National Resistance Army(NRA) and their allay, Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA).

 On August 26, 2006, the LRA and the Ugandan government signed a cessation of hostility agreement which made it possible for the LRA to vacate northern Uganda for the jungles of Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). For the first time since 1986, peace dawned in northern Uganda.

The agreement was meant to find “comprehensive and durable solutions to the conflict in northern Uganda by peaceful means and through dialogue, bring back peace and reconciliation and to end the effect of the conflict on the people”, among other reasons

The LRA has since relocated to Central African Republic (CAR) from where they are operating for survival after “Operation Lightening Thunder” flushed them out by force, after the failed Juba Peace Talks. They are no longer a threat to peace in Uganda.

The first reason why Trump should remove the LRA from the list of terrorist organizations is that the problem in Uganda is more “Political” than “Military”; where you must fight your enemy until you kill the last man as Museveni would like the world to believe.

The “North-South divide”, which brought problems and coups to all past presidents from northern Uganda, is a reality today just as it had been under Milton Obote (1962-1971 and 1980-1985).

In today’s politic of Uganda, while people from northern Uganda are fighting for survival after two decades of conflict, the people from western Uganda, where President Museveni comes from, are consolidating their positions in government and are trying their level best not to lose power.

If the LRA is removed from the list of terrorist organizations, Museveni would find difficulties in maintaining a large and redundant army. By deploying a large section of his army in foreign peace keeping missions, where soldiers earn more than they would earn from the country, Museveni is keeping the army busy and diverting their attention away from the real hardship in Uganda economy.

Another reason why Trump should remove the LRA from the list of terrorist organization, just as the African National Congress (ANC) of South Africa was in 2008, is because it is cost effective to give 200 men asylum than to keep on investing $5.55 million annually, trying to destroy the LRA militarily. Throughout his entire life as President, Museveni has spent his entire presidency fighting both real and imaginary enemies. That is the legacy he will leave behind.

The cessation of hostility agreement signed between the LRA and the regime in Kampala from Juba in South Sudan in 2006 recognized the need for “finding durable solutions to the conflicts in Uganda and national reconciliation”.

Ugandans are yearning for smooth transition and change in the office of the president, no matter who replaces Museveni. This can either be his wife or son in 2021.

With the numbers of his party members in parliament enough to effect changes in the Constitution, there are fears that he is preparing to amend the law to remove age limits.

God forbid. I only see chaos in Uganda unless President Trump acts and cuts off some of the life-saving money to the 21st Century dictator.

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