Uganda Pursues Rebels Across Africa, Racks up Frequent Flier Miles

Uganda's Lord's Resistance Army rebel group has been clocking in the miles. In fact, it has not only drawn fire for seeking refuge from Uganda in neighboring Southern Sudan, Congo DR, and the Central African Republic. It has also encouraged the Ugandan government special forces to pursue and fight them in those neighboring regions. What could be next?

The LRA led by Joseph Kony is an incredibly complex insurgency, so it's not always helpful to simply lay them at the doorstep of the International Criminal Court nor to encourage Uganda's special forces to track them down all over the world. Feeding on very real and popular criticisms of the Ugandan government of President Yoweri Museveni, perverting those accusations, and them in a number of cases kidnapping kids and adults to force them into the fight, the extremist LRA leadership has persisted longer and in more theatres of war than most other rebel groups. This is not your average mom and pop insurgency outfit. The leaders are criminally insane, while the ranks are filled with people who have very few choices.

Uganda's Museveni government consolidated power amid an improving economy for the south in the 1990s. However, people in the north and west felt that they were being discriminated against. As the Museveni government indirectly supported Ugandan and Rwandan Tutsis in re-taking Rwanda from the Hutu Interhamwe after the genocide there, Acholis and others in the north felt they were neglected or left unprotected amid a growing rebellion. When the Museveni government decided to conquer the LRA once and for all, the LRA moved into Southern Sudan and Congo DR. When the Southern Sudanese pushed the LRA out, the group then moved into the eastern part of the Central African Republic. With enough troubles of their own, the CAR and Congo DR governments consented for Uganda to pursue and fight the rebels on their territory. Adding to the confusion, many debate whether it is best for Uganda to "defeat" the rebels, for the ICC to arrest and prosecute the leaders abroad, or for some hybrid solution...

An interesting offshoot of this story is that of the rise in Uganda's global security footprint. Not only are the Ugandan security forces logging in millions of miles with their own operations, but they are also participating in security contracting. Triple Canopy and other groups have actually sought out Ugandan veterans to hire for work in Baghdad and elsewhere. Here's a story on it.

For more on the debate about the ICC, Museveni, and justice in Uganda, take a look at the writings of a colleague I met recently, Professor Adam Branch of San Diego State University. While acknowledging the horrendous crimes by the LRA leadership, he asks readers not to jump too quickly to easy conclusions.

[Photo: LRA Displaces Civilians in Southern Sudan, UN Photo]