Western Equatoria becoming a breading ground for LRA

By Dr Justin Ambago Ramba , MD.

May 24, 2008 — The Lost Ruthless Animals (LRA) of Joseph Kony formerly known in Uganda as the Lord’s Resistance Army has for the last few years undergone successions of changes which at the present makes it a real regional threat to the neighbouring countries of South Sudan, The Democratic Republic of Congo( DRC) and the Central African Republic (CAR). But who cares about insecurities in these areas of the world as long as whatsoever happens here do not affect the core interests of the USA, Britain and France plus their tribalistic puppets in the leaderships of these former colonies.

The LRA is no longer for any peace deal with the Ugandan government , at least not when Joseph Kony is in the leadership. Kony is not a fool to give up his current position for what everybody clearly knows is awaiting him. His fate has already been decided in the International Criminal Tribune and no country has the power to revert that without risking being labelled as an enemy of the international community. Kony is now fighting a war of survival and hence the former vision of ruling by the ten commandments has been for practical purposes scrubbed from the movements ideology. The devil is now in full command of Kony and his men and as far as their daily sustainability is concerned , heaven can wait. As an international fugitive , this Lord of Ri – Kiwabanga has been awarded a safe haven in Western Equatoria State by the very authorities of the south Sudan government in Juba under the pretext of negotiating a peace deal . Unfortunately , the conditions under which Juba’s Riek Machar, the deputy president of south Sudan got himself in association with the Ugandan peace deal and subsequently the relocation of these lunatics to Western Equatoria State remains for him one day to answer . And the developments on the ground in Western Equatoria State is real worrying as many scenarios begin to unfold. While the people in these areas now find themselves facing yet another insecurity after just coming out of the longest Africa‘s civil war , they are bound to ask questions which unfortunately neither Riek Machar nor the entire newly whitewashed good for nothing SPLM leadership in Juba have the political will to stand up to. Why did the SPLM approve and allow this ruthless known, foreign, internationally wanted criminals into the once peace Western Equatoria State ? Is this SPLM/A ‘s reward to the people of this State for hosting the revolution which other people are now enjoin its fruits in Juba and cities of South Sudan?

The local people in Western Equatoria State have had their loved ones killed, mutilated, dismembered , abducted, raped by the members of these Looters ,Rappers , Animals (LRA), brought down to this once peaceful region by the shellfish decision of Riek Macher and his myopic cabinet in Juba. I know very well that our deputy president found himself idol in the uni -ethnically dominated power game in Juba, and to make himself busy , he picked up this time killing engagement of trying to broker peace between the Ugandan government and the LRA rebels. But if there were other sensible people in the Juba cabinet , they should have realized that peace between warring political factions in Africa has not been solved by Africans themselves not because we do not know how to talk but rather because we do not know how to do. The wars in Africa though fought by Africans but in fact they are wars created for Africans by non Africans, as such until those whose interests are being served by these wars are satisfied and fully convinced to inject in a strong political will, no local leader will be able to stand up to the challenges of these proxy wars. A living example is the Comprehensive Peace Agreement ( CPA) signed between the National Islamic Front government of Khartoum and the Sudan Liberation Army/ Movement ( SPLA /M) – former rebels. Who doesn’t know how much African efforts were put in to trying and solve the longest African civil war between the North and South of the Sudan.? . But yet when the American interest became at stake after the 9/11, US came in and pressurised the warring sides into the present deal which brought about some peace and stability though only in some parts of the Sudan. And the CPA is staggering like a drunken man to use the words President Salva Kiir one of the key negotiators to the deal. But naively Government Of South Sudan (GOSS) got itself involved into this game which needs a lot of military and economic might to handle it leave alone to sustain it. Reik Machar can talk with Kony for years and he can keep paying Kony’s salaries from wherever he is getting that big money, yet the truth is that there will be no peace deal in Kony’s life time as long as the man knows very well that GOSS has no powers to protect him from the International criminal court.

One thing Kony and his men will always thank the GOSS of Riek Machar and Salva Kiir for, is the invaluable safe haven of Western Equatoria which these two friends and war crime colleagues have given them to roam and rule without the least restrictions or respect of sovereignty. It is obvious given the geographical location and ecological factors of this region that, as time goes the LRA shall be the official government in Western Equatoria State as was the case with SPLM/A during the south/north war. The complex part which many psuedo-politicians are avoiding to realize is the multinational background of the current LRA recruits. Now in the ranks of this monstrous half gang, half army lunatics are people from Uganda, Sudan, DRC, and the Central African Republic. What do they have in common ? If someone in the ranks comes up with an answer to this though a simple question and charismatically adopts it as an ideology , even in Kony,s life time the outcome would shake governments from Kampala down to N’djamena. Who will stop the proliferation of LRA in the Region of the Water Divide of the Central Africa is now the question for any true peace loving individual or organisation to find an answer.

As for the citizens of Western Equatoria State the choices are limited and with the time ticking one choice or the other eventually becomes the only realistic option. If you want peace in your region, you must be in the fore front to engage in how to bring this peace to your state. Now that you know clearly who are the people who brought the LRA to your once peaceful State on the assumption that you are mere cowards and would not put up any resistance to such unpatriotic policies by the unpopular weak leadership of the old fashioned SPLM oil-money vampires of Juba. You know that the decision to destabilize western Equatoria State was taken in Juba, and now it is time to have it reverted starting from Jambo to Nabanga. The international community must come to the help of the people the Western Equatoria State. The NGO’s currently in the State have moral obligations to high-light the miseries and the insecurities which every citizen in this State has been made to pass through for all this time while every one in power including the good for nothing GOSS in Juba, pretends not to hear or see. The citizens need arms and training so that they can protect themselves. Thanks in advance to the so-called commanders in Juba, do not even think of bringing your occupation forces to this area again, everybody is fed up of them (SPLA) and the memories of those bitter days are still fresh in the people’s minds which partly explains your reluctance in confronting these foreign forces and rather you preferred to collaborated with them in order to continue by proxy to torture the citizens here . The traditional leaders, the chiefs and the youth should be willing to stand up and face the challenge of the time. And unless you take as equals neither the LRA nor the SPLA/M will take you serious. This is time particularly for the people and government of Uganda to come to the help of the citizens of Western Equatoria State. Western Equatoria State’s youth need arms and training so that they can deal with the LRA threats on equal footing and possibly bring an end this notorious bandits. But if the cries of the poor citizens of Western Equatoria State falls into deaf ears , I am afraid that as human beings they are entitled to their own destiny. The people of Western Equatorial State are not against anybody including the devilish LRA if they behaved themselves. And if the whole world has abandoned the people of Western Equatorial to the LRA, then in order to survive if the people can not beat the LRA, they may have to reach a deal with them, after all what the people here want is a peaceful co- existence as equals . What shall come out of the peaceful co -existence with these internationally wanted people shall never be blamed on the people of Western Equatorial State and any geo -political repercussion based on that must be understood in the context of a survival mechanism of an abandoned and disadvantaged people of this once peaceful State. But the virtue of the current situation on the ground demands that all the citizens of the Western Equatoria State are expected to brutally confront the LRA intruders and when they are reduced to their normal size of being nothing but a mere bunch of foreign bandits, recognisable only by Riek Machar and his boss Salva Kiir in Juba, then and only then should negotiations be considered as at that level you can negotiate as equal powers . Again in this chaotic continent of Africa , who knows whether LRA may even be a blessing in disguise, but yet they need to taste the fierceness and wretch of the Western Equatoria State people prior to redefinition of their whatsoever strategic position in local and regional politics may come to mean.

The author is a South Sudanese doctor living in the UK and can be reached at: [email protected].