Friday, March 09, 2012

Uganda, the void of sanity. I thought there were big game hunters in Uganda, no?

In this July 2006 file photo, (click here) members of Uganda's Lord's Resistance Army are seen as their leader Joseph Kony meets with a delegation of Ugandan officials and lawmakers and representatives from non-governmental organizations, in the Democratic Republic of Congo near the Sudanese border. Invisible Children launched a viral campaign to 'Stop Kony' on Tuesday to mobilize the next generation of young Americans to help end the conflict in northern Uganda.


Sometimes bush drivers are necessary to find the game one is looking for.  Look, I thought drones had a purpose in Africa.  

...As with their previous campaigns  Displace Me and How it Ends, Invisible Children launched Stop Kony 2012 on Tuesday to mobilize the next generation of young Americans to help end the conflict in northern Uganda – except this time, they called on their mostly white, privileged, and educated youth followers to get involved through web-activism on their FacebookTwitter,Tumblr and YouTube accounts....


To be honest, killing Kony will result in the rise of another.  Uganda has only the experience of people like Idi Amin.  But, if the heinous murderers of children begin to understand they will be treated like the next al Qaeda field marshall, it might have an effect.  At least children can find windows of escape, but, there will have to be refugee camps for them to flee to and those camps need to be secure.  If it works in Pakistan, who is to argue.


Idi Amin, who has died at an age thought to be 78, (click here) was one of the most brutal military dictators to wield power in post-independence Africa.
While chief of staff of the Ugandan army, under Dr Milton Obote's civilian government, he seized power in 1971. He made himself president, with the rank of field marshal, and after eight years of power left Uganda a legacy of bloodthirsty killings and economic mismanagement. Parliament was dissolved; no elections were held; secret police - most of them in plain clothes - exercised absolute power of life and death; and the courts and the press were subjugated to the whims of the executive....


The moral men and women of Africa have raised nations of children from the ravages of HIV, I think they are up to returning innocence and hope to the children of Uganda, if given half a chance.  
Uganda in its current state is not a sovereign country and to that end there are huge impositions upon natural resources and we all know the score.  The more damage to the nation and its assets by rebel bands such as this the less wealth the leaders have to manage.  If Africa is to have a place in the global community, it has the capacity to find a way to transform nations so damaged by brutal dictators.


And, oh yeah, Uganda doesn't have nuclear weapons or PEACEFUL use of the technology, so let's keep it that way.