The horror of child abductions Story highlights The number of fighters in Kony's forces have dropped from nearly 2, to under Outside groups warn that with Kony free, the risk to the region remains. Kony is wanted by the International Criminal Court for war crimes and he and his militia have been accused of killing thousands of civilians and abducting thousands of children during his decades-long insurgency in Uganda and neighboring countries.
A team of elite US troops recently pulled out of Camp Dungu, a remote outpost in the Northwestern part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo that was also once an area of operations for Kony's insurgency.
Militant leader Joseph Kony, seen here in a photo, is accused of killing thousands of people and abducting children to use as soldiers in his army. According to Africa Command, which oversees American military operations on the continent, the US forces involved in the counter operation against the Lord's Resistance Army will now "transition to broader-scope security and stability activities that continue the success of our African partners.
Read More. Reasons for withdrawal. As we move forward, we remain inspired by the courage and resilience of the central Africa community leaders who guide our work. We learn from them daily, and we continue to see each challenge as an invitation to think creatively and get our hands dirty. As always, we will stop at nothing until the most vulnerable among us have the protection from violence that they deserve and the opportunity to thrive; because our liberty is bound together.
Yesterday, Charles went home to stay. World Vision will continue to follow up […]. Email Address. Follow invisible. Think people should hear about this? Read More. World Vision will continue to follow up […] Read This.
Email Address submit. Some former fighters have said they complied with the leader's orders out of fear.
Ex-commander Kenneth Banya told the BBC in that he had sex with a minor because he was threatened with death if he left her alone. Mr Kony has described himself as a "freedom fighter" but has been accused of being responsible for the deaths of thousands of people in the north of Uganda. He has used biblical references to explain why it was necessary to kill his own people, since they had, in his view, failed to support his cause. In his first interview in , filmed at his jungle base at the time in DR Congo , he insisted he was not the monster he was portrayed to be.
I cannot cut the ear of my brother; I cannot kill the eye of my brother. Mr Kony's fighters continued to spread terror targeting and killing local people for provisions. They later moved to CAR where they acted more like a criminal outfit engaging in poaching and illegal mining.
There have been attempts to make peace, but talks fell apart in because the LRA leader wanted assurances that he and his allies would not be prosecuted. But some LRA fighters are being prosecuted. Other key figures have either been killed, captured, or have given themselves up.
Mr Kony's global notoriety increased in because of the social media campaign that used the hashtag Kony A video posted online by the US advocacy group Invisible Children was watched tens of millions of times. It inspired a public outcry, which included celebrities such as Oprah Winfrey, to boost the hunt for Mr Kony. About US troops had already been deployed to central Africa in to support an African Union-led mission against the LRA, but Kony increased the pressure to get results.
The film proved controversial, especially in Uganda, where critics said it oversimplified a complex subject, but Invisible Children said it succeeded in extending the US mission. However, Mr Kony has not been found and in the US and Ugandan armies ended their efforts to track him down. He seemed an appropriate bearer of the bad news.
When we arrived, the landlord told us we were too late. The man had left for Bangadi that morning, as scheduled. He was on the back of a motorcycle, bouncing home. The road was bad. It would be five or six more hours before he learned that his daughter-in-law and grandchild were dead. Isolated communities in Congo and the Central African Republic are desperate for more radios, which are often the only lifelines to the outside world.
Villages use them to exchange news about commodity prices, request medical help, and keep in touch with family. In the fall of , the mayor of a remote Central African village biked 70 miles over two days to reach the town of Sam Ouandja to request that Invisible Children install a radio in his community.
Some villages also earn money by charging roving traders a few Congolese francs to make calls. While he grumbled about the lack of pay from Invisible Children, Ambroise likes that the job broadens his horizons. Whatever their complaints, volunteer operators — and, indeed, many Congolese in this neglected region — are grateful to Invisible Children for providing connectivity in a corner of the country almost devoid of social services. But I sensed that operators were only partially aware of the risk they were running by becoming veritable intelligence operatives.
Invisible Children clothes its operators in T-shirts with a logo — a handset surrounded by emanating radio waves — emblazoned on the chest. On my last full day in Dungu, I drove with two operators to check on a malfunctioning radio in Duru, a town some 50 miles away, near the South Sudanese border. On the way back, we stopped in a flyspeck village with a high-frequency radio operated by Catholic Relief Services.
A Congolese army officer was inside using the radio, which would be against Invisible Children protocol. I asked the operator if the army listens to his daily calls. Absolutely not, he replied. They do not have our frequency.
A few kilometers down the road, I stopped at several Congolese army checkpoints, which are usually just two or three soldiers living in thatched huts and farming small plots to feed themselves. The checkpoints appear every few miles or so marked by dummies dressed in helmet and fatigues, both to alert drivers and sometimes draw LRA fire as soldiers beat a retreat.
At the second checkpoint, I introduced myself, handed out cigarettes to lighten the mood, and asked the Congolese soldiers if they ever listened in to the CRS radio network. He puffed on his cigarette and then recited the two daily call times. A Congolese army officer uses a Catholic Relief Services radio, a practice that Invisible Children says it does not allow. Kony himself may be dialing into the twice-daily rondes for all Invisible Children knows: He uses high-frequency radios to direct his scattered fighters from the safety of Sudan, where he is believed to have taken refuge some miles away.
There is no way to know who is on the line. American and Ugandan troops responded within a few hours; when they left, the rebels running the village beat the operator, believing that he was collaborating with the LRA he was not and the U. Gunmen asked if anyone had a phone, and residents immediately led them to the home of an Invisible Children operator with a Thuraya satellite phone, which the group distributes in some areas of the Central African Republic where installing a high-frequency radio is too difficult — or where it might attract the wrong attention.
LRA gunmen stole the phone and held the operator captive for a week. Sean Poole said he had no record of such an attack, although he did point to a December attack on Kpabou that was reported by satellite phone in which the LRA abducted 10 civilians and stole a high-frequency radio battery for its own use.
I first asked Zerla about her relationship with the U. A week later, I pressed her again on this point.
0コメント