Invisible Children (IC) the popular and wildy misleading activist organization is at it again, with the help of the Huffington Post, which is running an editorial by one of the IC founders, Laren Poole, who is asking for votes for the Chase Community Giving challenge on Facebook.

As usual, American media promotes blindly, without investigation, and Poole’s persuasive message legitimizing the work of IC to “end Africa’s longest war” with a push for Haitian relief has been featured prominently by the site.

Laren Poole, Invisible Children Founder with Uganda's current president, General Yoweri Museveni, who has been in power since 1986. Museveni led one of the first guerilla movements which used child soldiers in Uganda.

Never mind the fact that IC is highly compromised in its work — nor that the $23 million raised by school-children for Invisible Children could go a looong way in Uganda but isn’t at all visible, nor the fact that IC has received bribes from Ugandan government officials. Or the fact that IC has received a contract from USAID and the Office of Transitional Initiatives (OTI). How ironic for starving Ugandans to watch films of suffering they’ve lived.

Never mind the truth?

• The Huffington Post is moderating comments; any less than supportive comments about IC are being blocked and deleted. One post very briefly showed up highlighting the fact that IC spends $3 million a year in marketing expenses alone, but was deleted after a few minutes.
• The same type of heavy moderation was seen with comments on the ABC News Blotter on a story highlighting the true story of displacement camps in northern Uganda. Many comments were censored or deleted outright.

• Change.org has also reported on controversy which emerged with IC during the Chase Community Giving Challenge, with extensive discussion in the comments.

Comment by Change.org Blogger Nathaniel Whittemore: Invisible Children has a complicated history to say the least. Their first movie, while popular with young people, bordered for many on exploitation. More troubling, they spent their first few years after that movie behaving on the ground in ways that alienated partners and generally treated the NGOs who had years of experience and more importantly, Ugandans on the ground as though the conflict was something that they had discovered for the first time, and thus should be the ring leader of the party.

No organization should be raked over the coals for things that happened years ago, but the point is that critique matters. Social change deserves the very best.

Whittemore’s blog posting on the contest began with a description of a non-profit executive who had been erroneously tagged as an IC supporter by an IC employee:

I’ve been following the Chase Community Giving challenge closely here, including documenting their extremely questionable behavior during the first round of the competition in this Open Letter. As the higher-stakes second round gets increasingly competitive, it is now one of the competing organizations — Invisible Children – who is behaving badly.

This morning, FORGE founder Kjerstin Erickson woke up and signed into Facebook to discover that she had been tagged in a picture that said “I Voted For Invisible Children” with a link to Invisible Children’s Chase Giving page. Just like any photo tagged on Facebook, the photo appeared in all of Kjerstin’s 1000+ friends wall feeds, leading them quite rationally to believe that she was supporting Invisible Children, and maybe they should, too.

The problem was that Kjerstin was NOT, in fact supporting IC, and was none to happy to see that they had made all of her contacts think she was.

This is an extremely clever – and extremely deceptive — strategy to help Invisible Children win this contest. They are not breaking any rules — of the contest or of Facebook — to do this. What’s more, if this strategy gets them in front of a lot more eyeballs, with the sole cost being that a bunch of people who weren’t going to vote for them anyway get angry, whatever — right?

More interesting responses to the Huffington Post article were posted on Yahoo News. One commenter pointed out that Poole’s article was geared more towards winning the prize, than helping Haitians:

“the article seems more directed to their winning the $1,000,000 prize than a real desire to help in Haiti.”

“It is because of this commitment that, if we win, we’ll be funding $100,000 from our general fund towards our very own relief effort in Haiti”

Does anyone else see “the if we win” as – if you help us win the million we will care enough to give 10% to Haiti – This does not pass the taste test to me.

I would have felt more comfortable if this article were a report on all the charities in the running to win the million bucks, the percentage going to overhead and to the needy. Or a report how each of those in the running are helping in Haiti.

I think I will continue to give to our local charities (that raised over $100,000 from other locals). We know that all the money went to the cause with only transportation costs going to the overhead.

Sierra Leonean journalist Sorious Samura takes us to the heart of the blood diamonds industry in Sierra Leone, secretly filming sales of donated medicines and mosquito nets provided by UNICEF.

In Uganda, Samura highlights the plight of Mulago hospital in Kampala, Uganda’s bustling capital city. There, Samura and his camera crew encounter a wounded patient slowly bleeding to death in the hospital lobby. His pleas for help are ignored by what he describes as “overworked” hospital staff.

In the maternal ward, women and newborns lounge on the blood-spattered floors of overcrowded rooms, despite the millions of aid dollars that have poured into the Ugandan health care system.

Samura also tours a few Ugandan schools and reveals the myth of the success of Universal Primary Education (UPE).

Andrew Mwenda, a popular Ugandan journalist featured in the film, says donor aid instead of going to help the poorest Ugandans, “lines the pockets of civil servants, high end health workers and politicians.”

>>WATCH ADDICTED TO AID IN FULL

Segments to Note on Uganda:

• The state of Mulago hospital in Uganda’s capital city Kampala: 12:35
• Universal Primary Education (UPE) in Uganda: 09:30
• Andrew Mwenda, Ugandan journalist on health care and corruption: 10:49
• Mike Mikula, Ugandan Health Minister accused of embezzling funds: 08:40

*Addicted to Aid was first shown on the BBC November, 2008

The 8-part show is available on youtube, or directly from WBAI FM NY’s archives.

Download the full interview (Otunnu is interviewed in the second hour.)

Jeff Sharlet’s new book “The Family” details the relationship between top U.S. Congressmen and General Yoweri K. Museveni, who has been Uganda’s President since coming to power in a military coup in 1986.

U.S. Supported Museveni Early On

The U.S. government to date continues to provide support to Museveni primarily to maintain it’s interests in the region. Maintaining access to Uganda’s resources (Exxon is reportedly interested in buying a share in Uganda’s bountiful oil fields) and its strategic location in the region is the primary focus for the U.S.

In promoting its own interests, the U.S. government routinely puts the interests of Ugandans last. Sharlet explains that:

“The actual fate of Ugandan citizens was never their concern… with Ethiopia limping along following decades of civil war and dictatorship and Somalia veering toward a Taliban state, tiny, Anglophone Uganda has become an American wedge into Islamic Africa. But the American uses and abuses of Uganda are still more cynical: Christian Africa has been appropriated for a story with which American fundamentalists argue for domestic policy, a parable detached from African realities, preached for the benefit of Americans.”

LRA Bill (S1067, HR2478) and AFRICOM

A current bill in the U.S. Senate would essentially mandate U.S. involvement in apprehending the notorious Ugandan rebel group the Lord’s Resistance Army, and turn over top leaders to the International Criminal Court, but the bill is essentially a war bill and could have disastrous results.

The long history of the Ugandan government’s human rights violations have been ignored by the U.S. Senate, and even as activists globally protest the Ugandan anti-gay legislation, S.1067, a bill which essentially and unwisely, calls for the use of AFRICOM in apprehending the LRA, is being pushed through the Senate by Congressmen Russ Feingold (D), Jim McGovern (R), Sam Brownback (D) and Ed Royce (R) .

Popular and well-financed advocacy organizations Resolve Uganda, the Enough Project (led by John Prendergast through the Center for American Progress) and Invisible Children Inc. have been instrumental in pushing the war bill and providing support to Museveni’s notoriously corrupt National Resistance Movement government in Uganda.

Involvement of US Senators and Anti-Gay Legislation in  Uganda

Rachel Maddow has recently reported that Senator James Inhofe, also a co-sponsor of the LRA bill, may have been present when the ‘kill the gays’ legislation was introduced. Inhofe has visited Uganda on many occasions and is a member of “The Family.”

Bob Hunter Brings Museveni Into “The Family”

Sharlet writes that “The Family” initially created an alliance with Uganda’s president Yoweri Museveni during the ’80s, when a key member of “The Family” -  Doug Coe  - describes how Bob Hunter  invited Museveni to Washington for “prayer”:

Hunter reportedly said to Museveni: “Why don’t you come and pray with me in America? I have a good group of friends – senators, congressmen – who I like to pray with, and they’d like to pray with you.’

According to Coe, Museveni accepted the invitation: “And that president came to the Cedars, and he met Jesus. And his name is Yoweri Museveni, and he is now the president of all the presidents in Africa. And he is a good friend of the Family.”

And thus began a long, continuing relationship with Uganda’s Museveni, who effectively became Uganda’s President for Life in 2005, after bribing Parliament to change the constitution and abolish presidential term limits.

According to Sharlet, Members of “The Family” In the U.S. Congress Include:

U.S. SENATORS

Sam Brownback (D-Kansas)

James Inhofe (R-Oklahoma)

Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa)

Tom Coburn (R-Oklahoma)

James De Mint (R-South Carolina)

John Thune (R-South Dakota)

Mike Enzi (R-Wyoming)

John Ensign (R-Nevada)

U.S. REPRESENTATIVES

Zach Wamp (R-Tennessee)

Mike McIntyre (D-North Carolina)

Bill Nelson (D-Florida)

Mark Pryor (D-Arkansas)

Congolese student activist and spokesperson for Friends of the Congo Kambale Musavuli offers real solutions to Congo’s crisis and explains why the “conflict minerals” approach  misses the mark and why Western nations like the United States must change course in order to effectively resolve Congo’s long-running conflicts.

Congo’s Agony: Western And African Proxies Rape Mineral Riches

By Kambale Musavuli [Reprinted from Blackstarnews.com]

As global awareness grows around the Congo and the silence is finally being broken on the current and historic exploitation of Black people in Central Africa, a myriad of Western based “prescriptions” are being offered.

Most of these prescriptions are devoid of social, political, economic and historical context and are marked by remarkable omissions.

The “conflict mineral” approach or efforts emanating from the United States and Europe are no exception to this symptomatic approach which serves more to perpetuate the root causes of Congo’s challenges than to resolve them.

The “conflict mineral” approach has an obsessive focus on the FDLR and other rebel groups while scant attention is paid to Uganda, which has an International Court of Justice ruling against it for looting in Congo and crimes against humanity: 
http://www.globalpolicy.org/component/content/article/163/28685.html

Rwanda’s role in the perpetuation of the conflict and looting of Congo is also clear:  http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/africa/article6047744.ece

Rwanda is the main transit point for illicit minerals coming from the Congo irrespective of the rebel group -FDLR, CNDP or others-transporting the minerals. According to Dow Jones, Rwanda’s mining sector output grew 20% in 2008 from the year earlier due to increased export volumes of tungsten, cassiterite and coltan, even though Rwanda is not well endowed with these minerals. [ http://www.ipisresearch.be/dbpdfs/IPIS_Briefing_31December2008_6January2009.pdf ]

In fact, should Rwanda continue to pilfer Congo’s minerals, its annual mineral export revenues are expected to reach $200 million by 2010. Former Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Herman Cohen summed it best when he notes, “having controlled the Kivu provinces for 12 years, Rwanda will not relinquish access to resources that constitute a significant percentage of its gross national product.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/16/opinion/16cohen.html

As long as Washington, Paris and London continue to give the Kagame regime carte blanche, the conflict, bloodshed and instability will endure.

According to Global Witness’s 2009 report “Faced With A Gun What Can you Do,” Congolese government statistics and reports by the Group of Experts and NGOs, Rwanda is one of the main conduits for illicit minerals leaving the Congo. The “conflict mineral” prevention advocates shout loudly about making sure that the trade in minerals does not benefit armed groups while ignoring the biggest armed beneficiary of Congo’s minerals—the Rwandan regime headed by Paul Kagame.
http://www.globalwitness.org/fwag/

Nonetheless, the “conflict mineral” prevention people are remarkably silent about Rwanda’s complicity in the fueling of the conflict in the Congo and the fleecing of Congo’s riches.

Advocates of the “conflict mineral” approach would be far more credible if they had ever called for any kind of pressure whatsoever on mining companies that are directly involved in either fueling the conflict or exploiting the Congolese people.

The United Nations, The Congolese Parliament, Carter Center, Southern Africa Resource Watch and several other NGOs have documented corporations that have pilfered Congo’s wealth and contributed to the perpetuation of the conflict. Some of these companies include but are not limited to: Traxys, OM Group, Blattner Elwyn Group, Freeport McMoran, Eagle Wings/Trinitech, Lundin, Kemet, Banro, AngloGold Ashanti, Anvil Mining, and First Quantum.
http://www.friendsofthecongo.org/reports/index.php

The “conflict minerals” approach, like the “Blood Diamonds” campaign from which it draws its inspiration, is silent on the question of resource sovereignty which has been a central question in the geo-strategic battle for Congo’s mineral wealth.

It was over this question of resource sovereignty that Western countries, including the U.S. and Belgium, promoted the assassination of Congo’s first democratically elected Prime Minister, Patrice Lumumba and stifled the democratic aspirations of the Congolese people for over three decades by installing and backing the dictator Joseph Mobutu. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/1805546.stm

In addition, the United States also backed the 1996 and 1998 invasions of Congo by Rwanda and Uganda instead of supporting the non-violent, pro-democracy forces inside the Congo. Unfortunately and to the chagrin of the Congolese people, some of the strongest advocates of the conflict mineral approach are former Clinton administration officials who supported the invasions of Congo by Rwanda and Uganda. This may in part explain the militaristic underbelly of the conflict minerals approach, which has as its so-called second step a comprehensive counterinsurgency.

http://commdocs.house.gov/committees/intlrel/hfa72638.000/hfa72638_0f.htm

The focus on the east of Congo falls in line with the long-held obsession by some advocates in Washington who incessantly push for the balkanization of the Congo. Their focus on “Eastern Congo” is inadequate and does not fully take into account the nature and scope of the dynamics in the entire country. Political decisions in Kinshasa, the capital in the West, have a direct impact on the events that unfold in the East of Congo and are central to any durable solutions.

The central claim of the “conflict mineral” approach is to bring an end to the conflict; however, the conflict can plausibly be brought to an end much quicker through diplomatic and political means.

The so-called blood mineral route is not the quickest way to end the conflict. We have already seen how quickly world pressure can work with the sidelining of rebel leader Laurent Nkunda and the demobilization and rearranging of his CNDP rebel group in January 2009, as a result of global pressure placed on the CNDP’s sponsor, Kagame of Rwanda.

More pressure needs to be placed on leaders such as Kagame and Uganda’s Yoweri Museveni, who have been at the root of the conflict since 1996.

The FDLR can readily be pressured as well, especially with most of their political leadership residing in the West; however this should be done within a political framework, which brings all the players to the table as opposed to the current militaristic, dichotomous, “good-guy” versus “bad-guy” approach where the West sees Kagame and Museveni as the “good-guys” and everyone else as bad. The picture is far grayer than Black and White.

A robust political approach by the global community would entail the following prescriptions:

Join Sweden and the Netherlands in pressuring Rwanda to be a partner for peace and a stabilizing presence in the region.
http://www.afrol.com/articles/32047

http://www.rnanews.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=713&Itemid=27

1. The United States and Great Britain in particular should apply more pressure on their allies Rwanda and Uganda to the point of withholding foreign aid if necessary.

http://bistandsaktuelt.typepad.com/files/gerard-prunier-about-drc.mp3

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/hardtalk/7948535.stm

2. Hold to account companies and individuals through sanctions trafficking in minerals whether with rebel groups or neighboring countries, particularly Rwanda and Uganda. Canada has chimed in as well but has been deadly silent on the exploitative practices of its mining companies in the Congo. Canada must do more to hold its mining companies accountable as is called for in Bill C-300 http://www.vueweekly.com/article.php?id=12063

3. Encourage world leaders to be more engaged diplomatically and place a higher priority on what is the deadliest conflict in the world since World War II.

4. Reject the militarization of the Great Lakes region represented by AFRICOM, which has already resulted in the suffering of civilian population; the strengthening of authoritarian figures such as Uganda’s Museveni who has been in power since 1986 and Rwanda’s Kagame; and, the restriction of political space in their respective countries.

5. Demand of the Obama Administration to be engaged differently from its current military-laden approach and to take the lead in pursuing an aggressive diplomatic path with an emphasis on pursuing a regional political framework that can lead to lasting peace and stability.

To learn more about the current crisis in the Congo, visitwww.friendsofthecongo.org and join the global movement in support of the people of the Congo at www.congoweek.org

Musavuli is spokesperson and student coordinator for Friends of the Congo. He can be reached at kambale@friendsofthecongo.org

Bodia Macharia, President of Friends of the Congo/Canada can be reached at bodia@friendsofthecongo.org

Please post your comments directly online or submit them to milton@blackstarnews.com

Editor’s Note: Feel free to forward this column to every elected official, especially in the U.S. Congress, and to your friends.

“Speaking Truth To Empower.”

If I Don’t Walk, Who Will?

BY Lucy Larom

Another perfect day greeted several hundred walkers for the 5th annual GuluWalk in San Diego’s historic Balboa Park. This year’s walk was sponsored by Alliance for African Assistance, Aztecs for Africa, and CEGUN, (The Campaign to End Genocide in Uganda … Now!)

As participants arrived at 6th and Laurel they were greeted by lively music and the premiere performance of a new band, “Norman and the Next Door Neighbors”.

Banners for GuluWalk and The Campaign to End Genocide in Uganda … Now! festooned the sidewalk and hung from the mammoth spreading branches of a one hundred year old tree. Under the tree were set up several dedicated tables.

The first table was for sign in where people could add their signatures to large colorful postcards created by CEGUN in the Uganda colors with beautiful graphics and text, and signature lines on the other side. These will be sent to Pres. Obama. challenging him to live up to the ideals expressed in his Ghana speech and implied by the award of the Nobel Peace prize.

Another table was for the sale of CEGUN t-shirts with the plea to “End Genocide in Uganda …Now! emblazoned on the front. A new design shows a beautiful Acholi woman with a tear streaming from her eye. The people of CEGUN agreed they would like a design that expressed the beauty of northern Uganda, as well as the sadness.

Several large van loads of refugees mainly from Northern Uganda, soon arrived at GuluWalk as well as many who came by car. There was the delightful presence of many refugee children as well.

The attendees included people from Los Angeles and Orange County and as far away as Las Vegas, Nevada. Prominent were student groups from a number of schools and Universities from San Diego and adjoining counties, CEGUN members and residents of San Diego, all sympathetic with the cause of Northern Uganda. SDSU’s Aztecs for Africa were active in the set-up and organization.

Gerald Womaniala a former resident and teacher at Kakuma refugee camp in Kenya very beautifully served as master of ceremonies and also read a moving poem at the end. Speeches by the sponsoring organizations spoke of the government-enforced genocide within the “IDP” camps of northern Uganda and the continued suffering of the people as money for northern Uganda was syphoned off by corrupt officials and military scemes.

It was also pointed out that there were many large well-funded lobbying groups for northern Uganda but none fully addressed the responsibility of the Museveni government of Uganda responsible for the forced incarceration and victimization of 2 million people and the subsequent loss of 1 million lives and attempted destruction of the Lwo speaking people and their culture. Concealment of genocide has taken the form of targetting the cruelties of the rebel LRA (who are no longer in Uganda)while ignoring the much greater responsibility of the Uganda Government responsible for more then 90% of the 1 million lives lost.

The government continues its neglect and abuse as witnessed by starvation in Teso and its lack of aid to those returning from the camps. People left in the camps continue to struggle with squalor and disease and those returning must rebuild homes and lives with no wells, no medical and psychological support provided by the government, no schools, roads, protection or judicial system and frequently find their lands have been taken by government officials and tracts of would be forest burned off for the production of charcoal.

The government’s pitiful promise of a resettlement package (a hoe, a packet of seeds and a tin roof for each family) has not even been fulfilled.

It was pointed out the loss of more than 30 civilian lives in the recent demonstrations in Uganda and the growing unrest throughout the country. Recent demonstration in several cities in the United states have included Boston and New York as well as in London. All demonstrations demanding an end to the human rights abuse of the Museveni government.

After music and speeches the walk commenced in a circular path through Balboa Park, Marchers carried signs proclaiming “Museveni is a dictator”, “Fair Elections for Northern Uganda”, “End Human Rights Abuse in Uganda”, “Resist Africom” and such. The procession was greeted by interested spectators, passers-by and cars honking in appreciation.

For all the hard talk this was a joyous occasian in San Diego. Walkers returned to soon be entertained by Acholi dancers. The celebration ended with Acholi music and spectators joining the dance. After the official ending of GuluWalk people remained talking in groups, connecting with each other and the refugees. Others of us continued conversations into dinner and beyond.

We were asked the questions “Why do you walk?” and “If the war in northern Uganda is over, what is the purpose of GuluWalk?

I will respond to the first question. I walk for the people whose voices have been silenced. I walk because I love Africa and its people. I walk because we all share the same ancient DNA and Africa is the homeland for all mankind. I walk because my government has supported the injustice there. I walk because I do not want a world dominated by “US interests” and subsequent militarization. I walk because our government and our media and our lobbying organizations and the international community will not take a stand about “the worst neglected humanitarian crisis of our times”, and the “hidden genocide” as expressed by 2 former UN Undersecretary Generals, (Jan England and Olara Otunnu)

When you make a mess, clean it up!

We have neglected the environment and neglected human rights abuse around the world. The problems are so huge and so systemic at this point it will be a miracle if we can solve them. It will take alot of education and a huge change of consciense to tackle these problems. I walk because the world can no longer afford the indugence of rich dictators and an elite that operates for self interest.

I walk because if I don’t, then who will?

Second question:

The LRA has been and still is a scapegoat for the Uganda government and its allies. Kony is still conveniently at large somewhere in Congo or elsewhere in the Great Lakes Region. The US military continues to train and support UPDF troops who have consistently failed in their objective to do anything to the LRA.

Whatever “The War” was it was two forces victimizing mainly Acholi people. The government continues to do so in its continued failure to provide and protect. It is further victimizing the Teso, the Karamojong (lots of good minerals there) and more recently the Baganda and lots and lots of other folks. I think it will always produce some kind of war against some “terrorist” group. It keeps the bucks coming in and it allows people to focus their attention elsewhere.

Ugandans are fed up and it will take the support of the international community to bring about the needed changes. With the discontent spreading around the country it can be easy to put the continued and profound travails of the north way further back on the back burner.

Should GuluWalk continue? I think it’s a good deal. It not only funds direct aid to northern Uganda (this year a community center) but also provides a vehicle to continue the search for justice in the area. The message is not controlled as it is in the main three lobbying groups but allows an open forum for the truth to be told.

Uganda military police arrest a man during riots in Kampala, Uganda

Marc Hofer / AP

The Riots

Starting on September 11, rioting and peaceful demonstrations in Uganda’s capital city Kampala, were brutally shutdown by military police and army troops. Internationally Ugandans protested the excessive violence and have continued to speak out about the detentions and deaths of at least 25 civilians.

The Oil

MONEYWEB: Ugandan Oil Reserves, a Blessing or a Curse?

With an estimated reserve of 2bn, the United States and other countries have expressed interest in helping Uganda exploit the resource with Norway already training Ugandans in the oil industry. But according to analysts, the government is not bowing to international pressure and wants to exploit the resource once it is sure the country will benefit.

CC: If Uganda Has Oil It Must Need The Pentagon’s Democracy

If there is oil in Uganda, there must be bad people there who need the Pentagon to bring them democracy, a colleague observed. And indeed this is in part correct, there are some very bad people there.

DRC map, coltan, minerals, with areas of Ugandan and Rwandan military activity marked

There is also the possibility of major oil finds in northwestern Kenya, bordering on northern Uganda and southeastern Sudan. So the LRA is very much in the way, wherever it is holed up or active. This more than any humanitarian concern is making it more urgent and important to get rid of them. Source: Crossed Crocodiles

MONITOR: Uganda’s endowment allures French investors

Mr Jack-Gregor Tcherniavsky, the managing director of Tencate Geosynthetics Africa region, said his company would be interested in exploiting the opportunities that the production of oil will bring to the nation.

“In about one or two years, the oil production business will start and I am quite sure this will improve the country’s economic growth. There will be a need to build more roads and more infrastructure, which my company can do,” Mr, Tcherniavsky said.

HONESTY, TYRANNY AND UGANDA’S CALAMITY

Presentation made on September 4, 2009 by The Black Star News publisher at the Uganda North American Association (UNAA) meeting in Chicago, Illinois.

In attendance were also from Uganda: Dr. Ruhakana Rugunda, Ugandan minister and permanent representative to the United Nations; David Wakikona, Minister of State for Northern Uganda Reconstruction; Member of Parliament and leader of opposition in parliament, Ogenga Latigo;  a former Uganda minister of state for defense; Walter Ochora, the Gulu District Commissioner, in Uganda; and other officials. CEGUN co-chair Lucy Larom’s presentation focused on genocide in Acholi and the spread of Hiv/AIDS through targeted rape.

Bothers and sisters, fellow Ugandans, thank you all for coming to this very important Uganda forum.

It’s not the northern Uganda forum. I have never heard of any country in the world called northern Uganda. I don’t know where that is.

I wish someone could tell me. Anybody who knows of a country called northern Uganda please raise your hand and let me know.

So it’s very important to lay the groundwork from the get go. There is no such thing as northern Uganda.

We have a Ugandan problem. Part of the reason why it’s lasted for such a long time is because we allowed it to be cast in our minds as a northern Ugandan problem.

Just by agreeing to that terminology alone it means that we have also contributed to the prolongation of this tragedy.

I come from a media background so obviously words are very important to me.

When you hear terms like IDP; IDP could be a place where you go to spend the night if you’ve missed your bus. ‘Internally Displaced.’ As if those individuals had a choice; as if they displaced themselves intentionally to live in those camps for 23 years.

How do you willingly go to live in a facility where you know that the assured outcome is death? From lack of sustenance; lack of food; lack of hydration; lack of medical facilities. So let’s stop the nonsense. You know sometimes honesty is good. Let’s be honest. We travelled from allover the world to come here.

So why are we still pretending? Let’s abandon these terminologies of nonsense and let’s deal with the issue head on and recognize it for what it is. The tragedy is not only because of the vicious and brutal Lord’s Resistance Army. If we accept that; it means we are not being honest. We all know that. Even the government officials that are here today. They know that not to be true.

They know that the Uganda government and military are also a problem. So why don’t we recognize that. Why don’t we accept that and be honest about that. [Audience clapping]

Honesty is good sometimes. It allows us to deal with issues head-one and move forward. Let’s be honest. This video we just saw right now [Propaganda by Invisible Children promoting the Feingold/Brownback Bill which contains a section that would authorize the U.S. to militarily support the Ugandan Army in pursuing the LRA]. It would be difficult to recognize who made that video. An outside organization or the Ugandan government.

Let’s be honest. How can you show us a video that is celebrating the Ugandan military as if it’s not a part and parcel of the tragedy? That’s not being honest. Does somebody agree with me or not? Let’s be honest. When you have a tragedy such as the Ugandan situation let’s recognize that the LRA has contributed massively to this calamity; as has the Ugandan government by  maintaining those camps for such a long time when everybody knew what the outcome of maintaining people in those kind of living conditions–what the outcome would be.

Who can deny that? So, that’s why people like Olara Otunnu have a good point when he says that you know the outcome of those kinds of living conditions, and you allow it to persist for 23 years; can you blame somebody then for believing that that was a calculated policy? Of course not. I would not blame somebody for believing that.

Let’s be honest. The Ugandan problem is not very peculiar to Uganda after all. In fact, it’s not even a Ugandan problem. Forget about northern Uganda. It’s a problem of lack of accountable leadership in Africa. It’s not unique to Uganda only. Where, rather than building institutions of governance and leadership, we substitute this with one-man or one-party rule.

So, let’s start with presidential term limits. Let’s be honest. It’s a question of illegitimacy of government. And when a government feels that it is not legitimate, it survives by any means necessary.

There is no question of ‘is there rule of law?’ when government itself is in essence unlawful.

We talked about issues of transparency. Very good. I like the honorable minister’s honesty [David Wakikona Minister responsible for reconstruction in northern Uganda had spoken about transparency regarding the spending of the proposed $600 million for recovery]. By bringing up issues of transparency the honorable minister recognizes that there has been a problem in terms of embezzlement and corruption.

We all know this. We read the Ugandan papers. Even the government newspaper talks about corruption and embezzlement. So it’s good that the honorable minister talked about transparency.

And I hope that this transparency results in concrete measures such as for example having a website like the Federal government does in this country to show how stimulus money is being spent. So that we can see how the $600 million is going to be spent. So that one day no government official is going to come forward and tell us that the money is finished while nothing has been accomplished.

So by having a website that clearly marks how this money is being spent, where it’s going, we can monitor it in real time; just like it’s done in this country. There is nothing special about this country; there are things that we can adapt that can help us.

All of us here; we’re educated, we’re learned. And that’s why it’s disappointing when we come here — I’m saying this in an American City; and I recognize that; I realize that; and I take advantage of doing that. But that does not mean that others within Uganda cannot make similar demands in their own ways.

I can just tell by the reaction of the audience that it’s something that we all appreciate. We all believe that while one individual may indeed have a grand vision, nobody exists on this earth forever. He’s not shy about talking about his vision. So then what do we do the day after? That’s why it’s important for us to agitate to build institutions that endure and outlast individuals. Not only in Uganda but in Africa. As I started from the beginning, I said this is not a problem peculiar or unique to Uganda.

I also appreciate what the minister said in terms of let’s take advantage of this opportunity and not just come here and start listing a laundry list; pointing fingers, who did this, who did that, who’s bad. That’s why I haven’t done that. I have just recognized the truth of the matter. Which is that we cannot be honest without appreciating that the LRA bears blame for the calamity; and the Ugandan government and military also shares blame.

Let’s start from that premise and then we’ll be able to move forward with some honesty.

Sometimes as people outside Uganda you feel a bit helpless that you are not able to influence events or conditions in Uganda. In fact, that’s completely wrong. You can. In this new media era and environment, with the Internet, you can influence a lot of things. And I will give you an example.

The Bill. The Feingold/Brownback Bill. The so-called Northern Uganda Bill. That Bill, once it came out and it listed all the items that it included, we started agitating. Particularly we appreciated the part that calls for reconstruction and devotes money for that; but we completely rejected the part of that Bill that gives the United States the opportunity to team up with the Uganda military to go after the LRA. Can that be a solution? What would the US add to that dimension that the Ugandan military was not able to do in 23 years?

So we reject that segment of this Bill completely and absolutely. And if anybody is willing to sign that petition [which Invisible Children was circulating at the Unaa Convention] make sure you note that on the petition as well; otherwise don’t sign that petition until that segment which refers to military collaboration is removed. [Audience clapping].

My final example. In terms of, we’re reading a lot of stories about land issues and land grabs in the Acholi part of Uganda; not northern Uganda. What is the solution? Do we feel completely impotent and helpless when faced with these powerful multinational companies?

No! Have we forgotten the ruling in a recent case in a New York Court when Shell settled with Nigerian activists for $15 million for their collusion and collaboration with the oppression in the Delta region of Nigeria? The law is called the Alien Torts Statute and it’s being applied very effectively in the United States right now.

I have an article here from the Wall Street Journal ["Arcane Law Brings Conflicts From Overseas to U.S. Courts." Wall Street Journal August 27, 2009] that explains exactly how people in countries such as Uganda can apply the same law to make sure that corporations that collude with any government, including in Uganda, regarding the oppression of indigenous people, can come to a United States Court and make legitimate claims.

Thank You.

Please post your comments directly online or submit them to Milton@blackstarnews.com

“Speaking Truth To Empower.”

Dr. Jendayi E. Frazer, former US Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs is now working as a lobbyist on behalf of the Ugandan government.

Frazer,  also a professor at Carnegie Mellon University, has joined The Whitaker Group (TWG) as a strategic advisor. The Washington D.C.-based  firm has a long-standing relationship with Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni and is currently under contract with the Ugandan government.

TWG has been instrumental in improving Uganda’s tattered image in the United States, and has been a key architect and promoter of the failed African trade initiative AGOA – the African Growth and Opportunity Act.

[Photo: Yoweri Museveni (in red tie) with members of the Congressional Black Caucus and Rosa Whitaker (in pink, right side)]

Meet with African presidents, Frazer recommends

In her Wall Street Journal article “Four Things to Help Africa: How the Obama Administration Can Help Sub-Saharan Africa and Advance U.S. Strategic Interests” Frazer recommends the Obama Administration organize “a summit at the White House with the presidents of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Rwanda and Uganda” in order to address the continent’s challenges.

Frazer’s call for President Obama to meet with Uganda’s President may be  a strategic move to change the Obama Administration’s cold relationship with Museveni.

The Ugandan daily Monitor reports:

“President Museveni was expected in Washington in early October but the visit has been canceled. The President has had a busy travel schedule and has recently visited Russia and Iran. However it is traditionally with Washington that he has been associated with. That visit has not happened so far with the Obama administration which it has been reported holds a very dim view of the way Kampala has been running things.

Frazer supports use of AFRICOM

Despite reports that U.S. involvement has worsened the Congo crisis, Frazer also urges President Obama to “galvanize U.S. efforts to end the militia violence of Rwandan and Ugandan rebel groups still operating in the Congo.”

Frazer also has called for AFRICOM to be moved from its temporary headquarters in Germany to Liberia in order to “promote U.S. strategic interests in the region, which include maritime security in the Gulf of Guinea, countering terrorism and drug trafficking, and promoting regional development and stability.”

The Liberian government has offered to host AFRICOM, Frazer says, because “the U.S. presence will create jobs and help stabilize the country and region.”

Establishing a presence in Africa is necessary according to Frazer, who says AFRICOM “needs to be in the region its operations are charged with shaping.”

AFRICOM’s first mission in Congo ended in disaster, failing to corral the Lord’s Resistance Army, despite the participation of 17 AFRICOM advisors and the use of satellite and GPS technology.

Can AFRICOM help Congo? Retired Army Colonel highlights rape, sexual assault in U.S. Army

Many believe it is unlikely AFRICOM’s involvement in Congo will improve matters, but former U.S. Army Colonel Ann Wright goes even further, strongly warning against the deployment of US soldiers in a Congo riddled with sexual violence; citing the high number of rape and violent sexual assault cases in the US army. (Wrights piece on army coverups of rape and violent sexual assaults by US military personnel is extremely disturbing.)

Wright says AFRICOM is looking for a mission to justify its existence, and rape prevention fits the bill:

“AFRICOM is the U.S. military’s newest command and is looking for missions to justify its existence–in this case with new funding available–in rape prevention.”

But she cautions that the US military itself has a tragically high incidence of rape:

“If the women of the Congo should Google, “U.S. military – sexual assault and rape,” I suspect they will decline the offer of assistance from the African Command. 1 in 3 women in the U.S. military are sexually assaulted or raped. Women and girls in countries with U.S. military bases are raped by U.S. military. 8,000 U.S. Marines are being “re-located” from Okinawa in great measure because of citizen activist pressure following the numerous rapes of women and girls there. Prosecution rates in rape cases in the military are abysmal- 8% versus 40% in civilian cases.”

US strategy against LRA may feature AFRICOM if passed

AFRICOM will likely assume an even greater role in Central African conflicts if a bill currently in the U.S. Congress which calls for the Obama Administration to create a strategy to capture, kill or otherwise apprehend the notorious LRA rebels is passed.  Senators Russ Feingold (D-WI), Sam Brownback (R-KS) and U.S. Representatives Jim McGovern (D-MA), Brad Miller (D-NC) and Ed Royce (R-CA) are the bill’s chief authors, along with advocacy organization Resolve Uganda.

Jendayi Frazer’s role in the buildup to the failed mission in Congo against the LRA last December goes back to 2001.

Newsweek reported May 25, 2009 that the Bush Administration responded to President Museveni’s early appeals for help in solving the LRA issue:

“In a 2001 meeting with Bush, Museveni appealed for help. “Can you give us some helicopters?” Frazer recalls the Ugandan leader asking. “We’ve got this terrorist.” Bush lobbied hard for the military aid and got Kony placed on a “terror exclusion list” that gave the United States much broader powers to intervene. “Museveni was happy,” says Frazer. “We did it partly because we felt it was appropriate, but also to give ourselves some leverage on how to deal with [Kony].”

In 2007, Frazer expressed her preference to a military solution in resolving the conflict, and eventually the Bush Administration assisted in a disastrous attack on LRA bases in Congo.

Frazer said UN Security Council resolutions gave the U.S. grounds for involvement in apprehending the LRA and promised US support: “We feel that we have the basis, especially under the U.N. Security Council resolutions, to assist an effort to mop up the LRA.”

But for Congolese civilians, “mopping up the LRA” has resulted in hundreds of unnecessary deaths and new abductions.

MORE READING…

• Four Ways to Help Africa by Dr. Jendayi Frazer (Wall Street Journal)
  
• Bush Envoy lobbies Obama for Museveni (Daily Monitor)
  
• AFRICOM ‘Should Have Prevented’ LRA Slaughters
• With Its Record of Rape, Don’t Send the U.S. Military to the Congo (Huffington Post)
  
• Hillary Clinton seeks to strengthen US imperialism’s position in Africa (Global Research)

While US officials claim to be prioritizing strategies that emphasize “protection of civilians,” the Washington Post reports that the aftermath of a US-backed Congolese military operation has resulted in a dramatic increase of rapes and atrocities.

Senator Russ Feingold’s recent Huffington Post editorial attempted to downplay “Operation Lightning Thunder,” the failed military operation launched in Congo last December with direct assistance from the Bush Administration.

U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) at sea with Nigerian soldiers

But despite acknowledging the dismal failure of the operation, Feingold has argued that use of the US military command in Africa – AFRICOM – is the right vehicle to deliver peace to  Congo.  A bill currently in Congress targeting the Lord’s Resistance Army would most likely use AFRICOM’s resources and lead to military action.

Several US-based advocacy groups have cautioned Congress against the increased militarization of the African continent, but the Obama Administration, the State Department and the Department of Defense seem to be placing all bets on AFRICOM.

Congo’s Rape Epidemic Worsens During U.S.-Backed Military Operation

By Stephanie McCrummen | Washington Post Foreign Service | Monday, August 10, 2009 4:09 PM

LUGUNGU, Congo — For the women of eastern Congo, a U.S.-backed Congolese military operation meant to save them from abusive rebels has turned into a nightmare of its own.

An already staggering epidemic of rape has become markedly worse since the January deployment of tens of thousands of poorly trained, poorly paid Congolese soldiers, with people in front-line villages such as this one saying the soldiers are not so much hunting rebels as hunting women.

And so as the sun dropped behind the soaring jungle here one recent day, little girls, mothers and grandmothers began heading home, some closing curtains and padlocking wooden doors. It was time, they explained, to lock themselves indoors.

“To avoid getting raped, after 6 p.m., women are not allowed to go out of the house,” said Maria Bitondo, who said she was among three women attacked by a soldier last month. “With the soldiers here, no woman is safe to go out and walk. We do not even go to the bathroom at night.”

On Monday, a coalition of 88 aid groups called the operation, which is supported by the United Nations, “a human tragedy” and urged Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, who is to visit eastern Congo on Tuesday, to push for better civilian protection. Clinton has vowed to make the prevention of sexual violence a priority in Congo, where the United States pays about a quarter of the cost of U.N. peacekeeping efforts.

“We have to speak out against the impunity of those in positions of authority who either commit these crimes or condone them,” Clinton said at a town hall meeting in the capital of Kinshasa on Monday. She added, “There are even some cases of these terrible crimes committed by members of the Congolese military.”

But U.S officials have also applauded the operation, calling it an important diplomatic step in mending a destructive relationship between Congo and Rwanda. The operation, which is being supported with helicopters, trucks and other logistics by U.N. peacekeepers here, is targeting Rwandan rebels including some who fled here after participating in the 1994 Rwandan genocide.

Although all sides in Congo’s messy 15-year conflict have used rape as a weapon of war — particularly the Rwandan rebels — the spike since January is being widely blamed mostly on the army. The number of soldiers roaming these eastern hills has almost tripled to 60,000, and rapes have doubled or tripled in the areas they are deployed. Aid groups said the number of rapes so far this year is probably in the thousands.

Though Congolese President Joseph Kabila recently declared a policy of “zero tolerance” for sexual violence, fewer than a dozen soldiers have been convicted of rape this year. In May, the U.N. Security Council handed Kabila a list of five senior army officials, including a general, accused of rape, but so far none have been prosecuted.

“After reaching an area, the soldiers are taking everything there as the spoils of war, including the women,” said Honore Bisimwa, who works with a nonprofit group, Olame Center, trying to educate soldiers about rape laws. “They take them like property.”

In this jungle-matted territory, about 5,000 soldiers are on the move, including a portion of 12,000 ex-rebels and militiamen folded into the army after a recent peace deal. In February, they set up a base in the territorial capital of Shabunda, where U.N. peacekeepers also have a base, then marched by foot into smaller front-line villages along narrow dirt roads traversed daily by women heading to farms and stooped over hauling jugs of water and stacks of wood. Soon after, villagers began complaining of looting, and women began making their way to health clinics.

In less than three months, more than 100 rapes were reported in the area, said Adele Sikanabo, a local activist, adding that “there are so many we don’t know about.”

“I’d say 99 percent are by soldiers,” she said. “And every week, it continues I hear them say, ‘You think we’ll stay here without women?! We need women!’”

The attacks in Lugungu began last month.

As women here do most mornings, Madelena Ngalya left the village around 9 a.m. one recent day and walked alone along a path through the jungle to her farm. The 56-year-old widow had been planting there for about an hour when she saw a soldier at the edge of the field. He walked toward her.

“I started trembling when I saw him,” she said. “I felt unable to cry, even to scream. I said, ‘My son, how are you?’”

The soldier asked whether she was by herself.

“I said, ‘I’m alone here,’ she said. “He said, ‘If you cry, we have many soldiers in the jungle, and when others hear you cry, they will come to you, too.’ My body was like dead. Then he did what he wanted to do.”

On the same day Ngalya was raped, in the same area, around the same hour, soldiers raped four more women — the youngest 18 and pregnant, and one older than 70. Three other women, including Bitondo, narrowly escaped the assault of another soldier while they were out cutting firewood.

“He started saying, ‘We are suffering. We left our wives very far, we are going to die, and you are here like this,’” Bitondo said. “We started running.”

The soldier chased after her friend, 20-year-old Rosa Musombwa, who took off so fast she left her flip-flops behind. When the soldier caught her skirt, she twisted out of it and kept on running through the jungle. When he caught her again by her underwear, she ripped them off and kept running, finally jumping into a sandy river. The soldier jumped in after her, but finally gave up.

Not one soldier from the 52nd brigade, which is in charge of the area, has been arrested, military officials said.

After the spate of attacks, women imposed the curfew, and they now go to their farms only in groups of five or six and accompanied by men.

“If [soldiers] meet you, they will rape you,” Ngalya said. “They don’t fear anything.”

She and other women wonder whether their own fiercely patriarchal society is encouraging soldiers to rape. Girls here are often forced to marry as young as 13. In some traditions, a kind of ritualized rape is part of a boy’s coming of age. Prostitution is common. And in general, Bitondo said with a sense of exhausted humor, women are expected not so much to enjoy their husbands as service them.

“According to our custom, even though he’s your husband, when he needs sex, he doesn’t have to ask your permission,” she said. “In this territory, men take women like an instrument that doesn’t have any value.”

The current operation is underway at a moment of limited fighting. At the moment, soldiers around here are mostly waiting, traipsing up and down roads on “missions.” Occasionally, they attend workshops on rape such as one Bisimwa gave recently in a hot schoolroom in Shabunda.

“Why do people rape?” he began, and passed out little blue booklets explaining Congo’s rape laws. An officer grumbled.

“Today in Shabunda, there are young girls 13 years old getting married,” said Narcisse Muteba, 40, a colonel. “But when the soldiers come, then they cry, they cry!”

Later, Bisimwa, who is often heckled during workshops, traveled to the village where the 52nd brigade is based.

Around noon, dozens of soldiers were sitting in front of houses, fixing old broken rifles, napping on patches of grass. Bisimwa went to the hospital to visit a sick soldier, whom he asked about accusations against the brigade.

“We’ll pass some women, and someone will say, ‘Oh, I have to take her,’” the soldier said. “It’s not just one soldier. It’s many. I can’t stay when they do that.”

He and other soldiers interviewed expressed a deep frustration at their pay, which is usually late and only $50 a month; their rations, which were recently a single can of sardines for three soldiers for 15 days; and especially their long deployments, which often keep them away from their families for years.

“The truth is like this,” said one officer, sitting under a shed and sipping a powerful local brew. “What is making soldiers to do these bad things is their treatment by the army. Imagine, one can of sardines?! And you send a soldier away for 10 years?! So, I’m hungry, I’m in need of a wife and I have no money” to pay for a prostitute, he said. “If I see a woman walking on the road, and I love her, I will take her. I will help myself.”

The lieutenant, who did not give his name, is in charge of teaching his soldiers about human rights. “Now,” he said, “buy me a beer so I don’t have to rob you.”

Sitting outside a house on a hill, the deputy commander of the 52nd brigade, Lt. Col. Padiri Dieu Donne, denied that any of his soldiers had raped women in Lugungu.

“We can’t say all of us are saints,” Donne said. “But the problem of rape doesn’t exist in the place where we are.”

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/08/10/AR2009081000492_pf.html