How Can it Be?

Posted by Susan

I usually use this blog as a way of sharing information about organizations, people and actions that OMB thinks are worth knowing about and supporting in the “big fight” against genocide and atrocities going on in the world.  Today though, I’m taking a break.  I have to put down some personal thoughts about Joseph Kony, The Lord’s Resistance Army, and what I consider to be one of the most irresponsible and callous responses to human suffering that I know. 

For 20 years, Joseph Kony has been murdering civilians, abducting and torturing children and terrorizing countries in Africa. I know there are groups, like the most remarkable Enough Project, Invisible Children, and Resolve who have made incredible progress in efforts on the ground to thwart his actions and in Washington to drive US policy towards more assertive action.  I’ve read reports about why it’s so difficult to stop him and I understand the complexities.  His tactics are so twisted and so evil that it’s hard to know how to fight against them, especially the fact that his army is made up of children that he abducted and whose families would wish to have back, and what army is willing to face off against children.

Despite all this, I have to ask, how is it that the forces of the government of Uganda, South Sudan, the Central African Republic, the UN, and the United States over 20 some odd years cannot figure out a way to stop this. 

This is an emotional lament, I know.  I’m not interested in national interest or sovereignty, cost or logistics.  I do not know how we can speak without emotion when we talk about a man who has perpetrated the kinds of crimes Joseph Kony is responsible for. I do not know how we can speak without emotion when we talk about the atrocities he has forced children to commit.  He is known to force abducted children to kill their families to prove their loyalty to himself and the LRA. Joseph Kony and two of his military leaders top the list of the International Criminal Court’s Most Wanted List and more than deservedly so. 

Joseph Kony must be stopped.  I’m personally late to the call for his arrest and trial, but every day he and his army are allowed to roam free thousands of people, thousands of children are in danger.  How can it be that we can make a computer that you can carry in one hand, that gives access to the entire wealth of human knowledge, that connects to satellites orbiting the Earth to reach that information and we can’t figure out how to stop this tragedy.

This is a link to the Enough Project’s webpage where you can find more information about what the Obama Administration is doing, and what it isn’t doing to address the LRA’s ongoing reign of terror.