Two days ago 60 Minutes aired a segment about the ongoing manhunt for Joseph Kony. It was an informative piece about the decades-long reign of Kony and his Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), and provided detailed accounts of the atrocities that have been committed under his command. Correspondent Lara Logan joined Ugandan soldiers and their U.S. military advisers as they searched the African jungle, which gave a very clear picture of the monumental odds that these troops are up against in trying to find him.
Logan narrates, “The elite tracking team from the Ugandan military is searching for Kony in some of the most remote jungle on Earth. You don’t have to spend much time here to understand why it’s so hard to find Joseph Kony. It’s as isolated and unforgiving as it gets. The undergrowth so thick, every step is a battle.”
The broadcast featured interviews with several different people, including Maj. General Casear Achellam, who was captured by Ugandan forces last May. The high-ranking LRA commander spent 20 years with Kony and for much of that time was his Chief of Intelligence.
Maj. General Caesar Achellam
Caesar Acellam: Kony is only struggling for survival.
Lara Logan: As Kony fights for his survival he’s still killing people. He’s still terrorizing villages.
Caesar Acellam: Yes, he’s doing it.
Among the other interviews was Col. Kurt Crytzer, a veteran Green Beret of 23 years, who took command of the U.S. Special Operations mission not long after President Obama decided to send in troops 18 months ago.
Kurt Crytzer: Some things you just can’t turn a blind eye to, and I believe this is one case of that.
Lara Logan: The U.S. turned a blind eye to Joseph Kony for more than 20 years.
Kurt Crytzer: I can’t account for why we did or why we didn’t come. What I can tell you is we are here now.
Notably absent was the mention of the hundreds of thousands of youth activists around the world that have rallied support for the counter-LRA mission and encouraged governments to proceed in their operations.
The 14-minute story did include the defection efforts that Achellam is supporting by his recorded messages that are broadcast over areas of the jungle where Kony’s soldiers are believed to be hiding, as well as the defection fliers that are distributed throughout the region.
Kurt Crytzer: You have a picture of Caesar Acellam on there. That’s pretty powerful.
Lara Logan: So the idea is if members of the LRA see someone who was as senior as Ceasar Acellam and he’s safe and well that that will convince people that there’s a safe way out of this?
Kurt Crytzer: That’s correct.
Col. Crytzer says he knows it’s working because Kony’s soldiers have been defecting in increasing numbers, and his army is down to just a few hundred men.
It is encouraging that a respected and widely viewed show such as 60 Minutes is covering the news of the mission to catch Kony (their last coverage of the conflict was in 1998.) With the recent suspension of the mission due to political unrest in Central African Republic, one can only hope that the mission will resume so that Kony can at last be apprehended
Lara Logan: How has one man been able to evade so many forces for so long?
Kurt Crytzer: He’s a survivor. He’s not an admirable human being, but he’s an admirable adversary.
Lara Logan: Do you think you and the Ugandans are getting closer to Kony?
Kurt Crytzer: I believe we are. I can now wake up in the morning honestly and say, “Is today the day?”
Here’s to hoping.
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