Africom ‘should have prevented LRA slaughters’

Africa experts in Washing ton are saying the US Africa Command (Africom) should have foreseen — and acted to prevent — the civilian slaughters in eastern Congo that have followed an offensive led by Uganda and materially supported by the United States.

Over 900 villagers have died at the hands of Lord’s Resistance Army members fleeing attacks jointly carried out by Ugandan, Rwandan and Congolese forces.

The LRA marauders are committing acts of “appalling brutality” as they rampage through remote areas, John Holmes, the United Nations’ chief humanitarian official, said recently.
Africom is providing logistical and financial support to the ongoing campaign intended to deal a death blow to the LRA.

The New York Times disclosed in a page-one report recently that a team of 17 US military advisors based in Uganda is helping co-ordinate the assault on the LRA.

In addition to intelligence information, Africom is providing the African armies with satellite telephones and $1 million worth of fuel, according to the Times account, which has not been challenged by US officials.

This appears to be Africom’s first combat-related initiative.

The year-old military command has been criticised within and outside Africa on a variety of issues.

The carnage occurring now in Congo will be seen by critics as confirmation of their view that Africom is unlikely to play a positive role in Africa.

The move to destroy the LRA and kill or capture its leader, Joseph Kony, got underway in mid-December.

Ugandan leaders had earlier asked the US embassy in Kampala to help arrange military assistance for the operation, the Times reported.

The Ugandan request was personally approved by President George W Bush.

The United States had signalled in 2007 that it could assist a military offensive against the LRA. Jendayi Frazer, then the top State Department official for Africa, told reporters in Kampala that the US could support an effort to “mop up the LRA.”

American advisors were present on the Uganda-Congo border as the offensive began on December 14, the Times said.

Heavy fog delayed its start, however, and the element of surprise was lost, the report continued.

By the time Ugandan helicopters bombed a hut believed to have been occupied by Kony, the LRA leader had fled into the bush along with most of his estimated 700 fighters.