The Ugandan Civil War- a different outlook

Many of you saw the "Kony 2012" youtube video made by Invisible Children, after talking to a man who lived there during the conflict, he had some interesting points on the Ugandan Civil War and I thought I would share with you some of what he told me.

By Conor Philpott

I was at a talk lst Thursday for an Irish NGO called Trocaire. This year, Uganda is the focus of their Lenten campaign. Among other things he talked about, the Knoy video eventually came up. He had some reservations about it, he said that the Uganda of today is a lot different to the one depicted, a lot of families are returning to their land or have returned to their land. He said the problem is that these people had been on their land in 20 odd years due to the civil war and that land was infertile and disputes over land often occurred.


On Kony, he had an interesting view, he said that the American involvement last year was a waste of time, the LRA left Uganda in 2005 after the ceasefire and had moved out of the North of Uganda and moved into Sudan and other surrounding countries like the Democratic Republic of Congo. He said searching for Kony in Uganda would have been like look for Bin Laden in Israel. As some of you may know, there have been majo oil discoveries in the parts of Western and Northern Uganda over the last few years. Some US companies have tried to purchase the oil and our Ugandan speaker told us his belief that the US troops were sent to try and gain a foothold when full time production started in Uganda. While we were told that the US were looking for Kony, it could be said that they were protecting their oil interestes overseas.

When people hear about this civil war, they often wonder, why was the government not involved? Why did the governement not try to stop the Lord's Resistance Army and their child soldiers? I think the idea is pretty simple. If you look at the history of Uganda since they acquired independence from the United Kingdom in 1962, the majority of leaders of the country from Obote to Amin came from areas in Northern Uganda. Places like Koboko(home to Amin), Lira and Gulu, were areas with strong tribes, were areas where coup d'etats often took place. Museveni was born in western Uganda but he was involved in overthrowing Amin and Obote.


Around a year or so into Museveni's term, the LRA began to attack various territories in the North capturing Gulu in the process. According to the man I was talking to, the Ugandan Army spent around 2/3rds of their budget on the army. Some people believe that the LRA never had more than 5000 soldiers at their peak. So surely the Ugandan Army could have taken them out? The question is, did they want to? With most uprisings beginning in Northern Uganda, Museveni must have known that if they had limited involvement in the conflict, and essentially left the Northern part of Uganda govern itself, then he would remain in power for longer.


The discussion was very interesting. The speaker was very engaging and he made people realise that while the civil war there may be over, people can still help and rebuilding after it is essential for the development of this nation. Some government initiatives based around education are also helping Uganda develop. NGOs like Trocaire, Oxfam and Concern are doing their part and I would hope everyone can help out in their own little way.
These people are extremely grateful for our help and any sort of contribution makes a difference.

Thomond - sorry I dint get back to you via PM. I was at the darts and have just started a new job so have been ultra busy.

Good news on the job Adam, no bother sure if people are interested in it, it can be put up.