There is a barrage of misinformation swirling around the Internet about Joseph Kony and the LRA conflict. As an issue that appears more frequently on the headlines of sensational newspapers rather than major publications, it is worth reading the recent article published by The Washington Post entitled “Kony 2013: U.S. quietly intensifies effort to help African troops capture infamous warlord.” The article eloquently and extensively outlines exactly what the United States is doing to help counter-LRA efforts, but in case you want the cliff notes version of the article, we summarized the most important points.
Photo credit: The Washington Post
1) American forces have significantly expanded their involvement in the hunt for Joseph Kony
Until September 2013, the purpose of the 100 U.S. troops deployed in the region was to provide intelligence and advisory support. However, since September, U.S. forces have expanded their mission to include in-the-field support to African forces. Under strict rules, U.S. forces are not allowed to engage in combat (to ensure that the military victory belongs to African forces, not American), but despite this, the U.S. commitment to aid in every aspect of the mission — from mentoring and training regional militaries, to compiling intelligence reports, to accompanying African troops on foot and via helicopters — indicates a deep investment on behalf of the U.S. government to capture Kony.
2) Defection efforts are key to ending the conflict
At the urging of Invisible Children and U.S. activists, American forces at first scoffed at the idea that encouraging LRA fighters to escape would be a productive expenditure of money and energy. However, after realizing how difficult it was to locate and capture Kony, the American troops “now regard peeling away rebels as the most effective way to weaken Kony.” Locating Kony “isn’t searching for a needle in a haystack,” [Kevin] Leahy [Special Operations commander] said. “It’s like searching for a needle in 20 haystacks.” Because of this, defection strategies have become “our most destructive tool.”
A U.S. soldier instructs South Sudanese commandos on how to quickly exit a helicopter at a U.S.-run base in South Sudan. Photo credit: The Washington Post
3) It’s only a matter of time until Kony is caught
The LRA conflict has rallied a large number of unconventional groups to tackle the LRA crisis together. In perhaps one of the most unusual and unprecedented coalitions, non-governmental activists, NGOs, wealthy independents (like Howard G. Buffet and Shannon Sedgwick Davis), U.S. troops, and several different (and typically disconnected) forces in Uganda, South Sudan, and DR Congo are ALL banding together to track, locate, and capture Kony. With all of these groups working together as the hunt for Kony intensifies, it is only a matter of time before Kony is captured — especially as defections make Kony’s army weaker and weaker.
4) The U.S. military’s commitment to counter-LRA efforts is shifting the paradigm of U.S. foreign policy
As the article points out, Kony is not a direct threat to U.S. interests. “Kony is not an Islamist extremist or a narcotics smuggle”; his violent crimes do not jeopardize American lives, nor is he attacking African communities with the same deadly intensity that he was when the group formed 27 years ago. Yet the U.S. is more committed than ever to capturing Kony: U.S. advisors’ request for the use of Ospreys “is an unambiguous indication…that the military has bought into the mission.” So why is the U.S. so concerned with helping African forces? In the words of Scott DeLisi, U.S. Ambassador to Uganda, “If we are true to what we believe in as Americans . . . we need to get rid of Joseph Kony.” This U.S. approach to this conflict is evidence of a “changing model for addressing pockets of instability around the world — facilitating local forces to lead the fight instead of having Americans charge ahead as they did in Iraq and Afghanistan.”
We encourage you to read The Washington Post article in its entirety to get the best overview of the current situation with Kony and the LRA conflict.
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