Clinton calls to 'rid the world' of Kony as attacks rise

The notorious militia headed by Joseph Kony that has kidnapped hundreds of children and forced them to fight and serve as sex slaves must be stopped, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Friday in Uganda.

But refugee and activist groups say the Lord’s Resistance Army has only stepped up its attacks in recent months, underscoring the difficulties faced by the forces trying to capture Kony in central Africa. The U.S. sent military advisers to the region in October to assist regional armies in stopping the group.

“We have to put our heads together to find out what additional equipment and support you need to lead this effort to rid the world of this terrible man and his criminal behavior,” Clinton was quoted as saying Friday by the Associated Press while visiting a Ugandan military base.

Reported attacks have more than doubled from January to June compared to the previous six months, according to the advocacy groups Invisible Children, the San Diego-based nonprofit that created an explosively viral video about the militia earlier this year, and Resolve. In a new report, the two groups say 311 people were abducted and 38 were killed in 190 attacks.

Former Congo warlord sentenced to 14 years over child soldiers

Former Congolese warlord Thomas Lubanga was ordered to spend 14 years in prison Tuesday for enlisting children as soldiers, the first sentence handed down by the decade-old International Criminal Court.

The “vulnerability of children mean that they need to be afforded particular protection,” presiding judge Adrian Fulford said as Lubanga listened, grave-faced, to his fate.

Lubanga was convicted in March after a three-year trial that centered on enlisting children to fight during a civil war in the Democratic Republic of the Congo nearly a decade ago. Human rights groups have also said his forces committed rapes, torture and killings, accusations that were not put before the court.

Prosecutors had sought 30 years in prison for Lubanga. The court handed him a lesser sentence after weighing “the lack of any aggravating circumstances” and his cooperation with the court. Lubanga, who was seen in videos alongside child soldiers, did not mean to recruit children but “was aware that in the ordinary course of events this would occur,” Fulford said Tuesday.

Six years will be deducted from Lubanga's sentence to cover the time since he first surrendered to the court, aggravating critics who called the sentence too light.

"Lubanga will serve less time than the [court] has been open!" Northwestern University international law professor Eugene Kontorovich lamented on Twitter.

Kony video sequel tries to tackle some of the criticisms

 

The makers of an explosively popular video that spotlighted the brutality of a Ugandan guerrilla leader have released a second video that redoubles their calls to stop Joseph Kony and grapples with some of the criticisms aimed at their controversial campaign.

Last month the San Diego-based nonprofit Invisible Children released a viral video urging the world to stop Kony, whose militia has terrorized northern Uganda and surrounding countries, kidnapping children and forcing them to fight as soldiers and serve as sex slaves.

Its goal was to make Kony so infamous that the world would demand his capture, it said. While Kony was already reviled, the campaign immediately became a flashpoint of debate. Critics said the video dangerously oversimplified the dilemma and made Western activists the stars.

The half-hour film met with frustration from many Ugandans who felt it gave a dated and inaccurate picture of their country. A series of screenings in northern Uganda spurred outrage by viewers. But other Ugandans praised it for the attention it gave to the grotesque horrors inflicted by Kony and his militia.

The new video, titled "Kony 2012: Part II -- Beyond Famous," is focused more heavily on Africans telling their stories. It emphasizes that the warlord's Lord's Resistance Army is now in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Central African Republic and South Sudan -- not Uganda, a fact that was alluded to briefly in the first video.

Kony militia steps up attacks in Congo, Central African Republic

A militia that has terrorized Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo has stepped up its attacks this year, displacing more than 4,200 people, the United Nations' refugee agency said Friday.

The Lord’s Resistance Army and its infamous leader, Joseph Kony, gained new attention this year through a viral video urging Kony's capture. The militia has kidnapped children to be soldiers and sex slaves, and has grotesquely mutilated its victims.

Long a terrifying force in Uganda, the militia moved to neighboring countries years ago. In the Central African Republic, attacks have resumed after a nearly yearlong lull, with 11 this year, U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees spokeswoman Melissa Fleming told reporters in Geneva.

In Congo, 13 attacks have been carried out in just three weeks in March, she said, resulting in two deaths and 13 abductions. Over time, attacks by the Lord’s Resistance Army have displaced or made refugees of 440,000 people in Congo, Central African Republic and South Sudan, the U.N. agency said.

The three countries that have suffered recent attacks teamed up with Uganda to launch a joint military task force to pursue Kony and his militia. The effort has been backed by the U.N. and the African Union. The United States also has sent special forces to help stop the group.

Fleming said the refugee agency welcomed the "unprecedented" initiative to end the atrocities in the region and urged all involved to respect human rights and minimize any risk to civilians.

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Photo: Members of the Lord's Resistance Army wait during a meeting between their leader, Joseph Kony, and a delegation of Ugandan officials in the Democratic Republic of Congo near the Sudanese border in 2006. Credit: Associated Press

U.S. sends troops to Uganda to help fight Lord's Resistance Army

REPORTING FROM WASHINGTON AND JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA -- President Obama is deploying about 100 special operations troops to Africa to help target the leadership of the Lord’s Resistance Army, a notorious rebel group that has been entrenched in a stalemate with the government of Uganda for more than two decades.

In a letter notifying Congress on Friday, Obama said the first small team of U.S. “combat-equipped” advisors arrived in Uganda on Wednesday.

Over the next month, the remaining U.S. troops will be sent to surrounding countries, including South Sudan, the Central African Republic and Congo.

The goal of the U.S. mission is to assist regional African forces in removing Lord’s Resistance Army leader Joseph Kony and other commanders of the group “from the battlefield,” the letter says.

“Although the U.S. forces are combat-equipped, they will only be providing information, advice and  assistance to partner nation forces, and they will not themselves engage LRA forces unless necessary for self-defense,” the letter says