Khartoum still aiding Kony?

The end may be near for Joseph Kony, the African terrorist who has wrought horrible carnage in Uganda and Sudan. Ten days ago, Uganda, South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo united in a military raid that destroyed the Congo hideout camp of Kony's "Lord's Resistance Army," which has terrorized the region for 20 years.

Experts on the LRA have long suspected that the Sudan government in Kharthoum had armed and supported Kony's killers in order to destabilize Uganda and undermine the efforts of South Sudan (predominantly Christian) to gain autonomy from the Muslim govenrment in Kharthoum.

In an interview with Uganda's New Vision newspaper, Ugandan Gen. Aronda Nyakairima discussed the LRA raid and suggested that Khartoum may still be aiding Kony:

Of course, it was Khartoum that continued supporting LRA, otherwise we would have defeated them long ago.
When they stopped because of Juba being under the South Sudan government, they were no more.

In other words, once South Sudan (with their capital in the key transportation center of Juba) gained autonomy in 2005, this cut off Kony's supply line to Khartoum. But when asked who is now arming Kony, Nyakairma says:

We don't have intelligence to point at a country X or Y. But one wonders whether the old friends washed their hands clean. I can't prove that. But studying what we captured will tell it all. It is also possible he was disarming people in the CAR. He also raided South Sudanese soldiers and there are hunters in Garamba. He could have picked guns here and there. But we can't rule out supplies from his old friends.

"His old friends" = Khartoum. Fortunately, after two years of fruitless peace negotiations with the LRA, the United Nations Security Council is now fully supporting the military effort to hunt down Kony, who is charged with crimes against humanity by the International Criminal Court.

Kony: Is the end near?

The latest news from Africa points toward a final end for mass-murderer Joseph Kony and his LRA terrorists:

The Sudanese People's Liberation Army (SPLA) is set to attack Joseph Kony and his Lord's Resistance Army rebels, Southern Sudan trade minister Anthony Makana has said.
He made the remarks on Saturday after the LRA attacked an SPLA detachment in Nabanga, killing 23 people, including 14 SPLA officers and a local chief in the nearby Yamba town. The attackers reportedly headed towards the Ugandan border after the incident.

Negotiations for the LRA's surrender broke down in March, because International Criminal Court officials refused to grant amnesty to Kony and other top LRA leaders accused of human rights violations. After the latest attack, South Sudan -- which had been brokering the negotiations -- said no more talk:

"It would be unreasonable for the Government of South Sudan to continue [with the mediation]," said Mr Gabriel Changson Cheng, the GoSS information minister.
Mr Cheng, who spoke to Radio France International (RFI), said the decision to withdraw his government's mediation was brought about by several other factors including the attack itself. "[The LRA] are the ones abrogating the peace process," he said, adding that the other party to the talks, the Uganda government, was equally disinterested.

Kony and his thugs have been hiding in a remote area of the Democratic Republic of Congo. Now they are reportedly roving about the borderlands again:

Suspected rebels of the Lords Resistance Army are moving towards the Ugandan border, after raids at the Congo-Sudan border towns on Wednesday and Thursday, an official has said.
The attacks in Nabanga and Yamba, about 20 kilometers apart left at least 21 people killed, including six children, southern Sudan Army Spokesman Major General Peter Parnyang said Saturday.
The rebels also killed a local chief in Yamba before disappearing. "They are moving along the border; they are moving towards Kajo-Keji," Maj.Gen Parnyang told this Correspondent Saturday.
Kajo-Keji, at the Sudan-Uganda border, lies about 400 kilometers south east of Nabanga, the area where the rebels were expected to converge during the stalled Uganda-rebel peace talks.

At last, Uganda's leaders appear to have had enough of negotiations:

Addressing the Ugandan parliament on 5 June, President Yoweri Museveni said his army was ready to flush the LRA out of its bases in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) if the Congolese government and the UN gave his country the go-ahead.
"I can assure all of you Ugandans that [LRA leader Joseph] Kony cannot disturb the peace in northern Uganda given the nature of professionalism of the Uganda Peoples Defence Forces (UPDF). We now have sophisticated equipment and are ready to respond," the president said.
"Since Kony is in Congo, it is now the responsibility of [DRC President Joseph] Kabila and the UN to call on us," he told the legislators. "In case Congo asks for our assistance, we are ready and prepared to go and destroy him."

Here's hoping they get the green light.

Return of The Muzungu

OK, I'm back from Africa and trying to decompress from the intensity of the experience. Some of the stuff that happened seems like a wild fever dream at this point.

Africa was great. Kampala, the capital of Uganda, is lovely in February, and any tourist will be assured a splendid time if, after landing at Entebbe International Airport, he catches the shuttle bus to the luxurious Kampala Serena Hotel, a five-start resort to compare with any in the world. (If you're down at the poolside lounge, your waiter might be my friend Robert. Tell Robert to bring you a cheeseburger and a Bell Lager, the preferred beverage of famous international correspondents.)

I didn't go to Uganda as a tourist, but as a professional journalist. My services had been contracted and half the fee had already been received. Getting the other half is contingent on the publisher getting 70,000 words by May 1. That should be no sweat, honestly, though when worried friends would warn me about the dangers of my intinerary, including a planned visit to Sudan, I'd play it off with a joke: "I'm not worried about the Sudan. It's the deadline that I'm worried about."

People don't always get my jokes, which is why I nearly didn't get out of Heathrow International in London ("random search," my foot!) and why Her Majesty's government provided security all the way to Dulles International, where I eluded their cordon to reach American soil, thus regaining my rights as a U.S. citizen including, thank God, my Fifth Amendment right to remain silent.

As bizarre as that may sound, the reality was even weirder. Perhaps an old Cockney joke summarizes it best:

Q. What's the difference between crazy and eccentric?
A. 'Bout 'alf a million a year, I'd say.

I'll try to update later to explain. For now, I'm just trying to decompress and recover my emotional equilibrium.

Thursday night, Feb. 21, I was present as veterans of the Sudanese People's Liberation Army (SPLA) held a send-off party for Sam in Kampala, prior to his return to the States. It was a warriors-only tribal celebration, and the two Dinka tribesmen present for the party asked Sam (whose father was half-Cherokee) to share his own tribal customs.

So next thing you know, I'm the civilian eyewitness as Sam is war-whooping and doing a Cherokee dance, while the Dinka are doing their thing, the Acholi are doing theirs ... it was a stone-cold gonzo moment.

If you want to learn more about Sam's work -- among other things, his ministry runs the largest orphanage in Sudan -- check out his Shekinah Fellowship World Missions site. If you want to help with Sam's work, I promise you'll be blessed if you write a check (even if it's only $10 or $20) payable to "World Missions" and mail it to:

World Missions
P.O. Box 131
Central City, PA 15926

Today, if I understand correctly, Sam is out in Los Angeles. He's about to be hugely famous. Like I told Sam at breakfast one day last week, "Dude, you're going to be an action figure by Christmas." That may sound like a joke. It's not. I can easily picture the boys and girls telling Santa to bring them a Sam Childers action figure (complete with a classic '47 Harley) for Christmas.

Trust me. In college, I majored in drama (shout-out to my Alpha Psi Omega brothers and sisters at JSU!) and when it comes to method acting, Sam could give Lee Strasberg some lessons, because Sam never has to ask himself, "What's my motivation?" He's 100% about the job, he's always focused on completing the mission, and he has a low tolerance for distractions.

UPDATE TUESDAY 6:20 AM:

I see my good friend Jimmie at The Sundries Shack has linked -- thanks Jimmie.

I got 7 hours sleep yesterday, which is the longest stretch of sleep I've had in weeks. Looking back over the past several weeks, I realize I have been running at full-throttle overdrive since at least mid-January. The valves were starting to rattle a bit, frankly.

Anyway, after sleeping from 3 until 10 p.m. yesterday, I got up and checked e-mail and Facebook for a while. Then at 2:30 p.m., I hopped in my car (the black KIA Optima I call my "Korean Jag" because its lines look vaguely like a Jaguar) and ran to Wal-Mart with a shopping list of supplies I'll need to organize this book project.

With the copious notes and recordings I got during the Uganda trip -- plus the first drafts of four or five chapters, totalling about 20,000 words, and piles of printed notes by Sam -- we should easily hit this deadline on time and under budget.

Seven hours sleep and a bit of time to unwind have restored my confidence. I have an appointment today at 9:45 a.m. with Dr. Cantone, who said he wanted to see me when I got back to find out if I had any problems with the medications he prescribe me for the Africa trip.

Short answer: Hell, yes.

I was taking the anti-malaria medicine once a day as prescribed, as well as the antibiotic (since I had a respiratory infection) and the pain pill (because the cough was painful). When I got off the plane at Entebbe, I felt stressed-out from a nicotine fit, but as Sam later said, he thought I must be on some serious drugs

The situation became weird beyond words on the return flight to London's Heathrow Airport, where we missed our connecting flight and were laid over until the next day. To say that the Brits are security-conscious about their aviation is to engage in a classic English understatement. But I'll say no more about that, except to say that when I finally made it through customs at Dulles and headed for the exit, I felt like what Jethro Bodine would call a "double-naught spy," having made a narrow escape.

(MUSIC CUE: Johnny Rivers, "Secret Agent Man")

Shaken, not stirred

Not only was my wife waiting for me at the international arrivals gate at Dulles, but she had with her our pastor, Vladimir Corea. Hugs were exchanged, and we headed to the pastor's car.

My checked baggage hadn't made it to Dulles with me (just a coincidence, I'm sure), but Sam had warned me about that possibility, so everything essential was packed into the large nylon flight bag I'd purchased in the duty-free shop at Entebbe. (Yeah, I kept the receipt.)

We rolled out of the airport, with my wife in back and me riding shotgun. I mentioned what Sam had said about the potential hallucinogenic side effects of the anti-malaria medication. Pastor Corea said, "Oh, yeah, that happens all the time. We've had missionaries completely trip out on that stuff. It can be bad, man."

Right. It was as if I'd been through what Tom Wolfe once called "The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test." And I'd passed the test.

So the storm was over and now I looked forward, like my buddy Scott said, to "Fair wind and God speed." But I'll keep praying.

'Fair wind and God speed'

My old friend Scotty, a master chief petty officer in the U.S. Navy, just wished me 'Fair wind and God speed,' as I prepare to depart today for The Very Dangerous Foreign Country.

There is a reason I have seldom been specific on the blog about The Very Dangerous Foreign Country. My host, missionary Pastor Sam Childers, has been targeted for death by Joseph Kony, the murderous madman who leads the terrorist cult known as the Lord's Resistance Army. (Here's a "Dateline NBC" story from 2006 about Sam's efforts to save children from Kony and the LRA guerrillas.)

Sam runs an orphanage in Nimule, Sudan:

Over 800 children have been rescued through the work and dedication of Sam Childers and his team. Upon completion of the rescues, great effort is made to reunite the children with surviving family members. If that is not possible, they join the growing family at the Children’s Village.

A screenplay based on Sam's amazing life and work is already on the desk of a major Hollywood film producer. The manuscript of his autobiography is supposed to be completed and delivered to the publisher by May 1. My assignment as a researcher and editor is to make sure Sam meets that deadline.

The situation in Uganda and Sudan is currently unstable. Peace talks with the LRA have been extended until Feb. 28, but Kony's killers are accused of new atrocities:

Officials at the Uganda peace talks in southern Sudan are investigating a report that Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) rebels killed dozens of people in recent attacks in the region, the Ugandan military said on Sunday.
Uganda's army spokesman, Captain Paddy Ankunda, said a senior official from south Sudan's Western Equatorial state, Joseph Ngere, complained to Uganda's government about the raids.
"The deputy governor has protested to Uganda that the LRA has killed dozens of people in his province," Ankunda said.
"We had earlier got the same information that the LRA has killed people. The Cessation of Hostilities team is investigating these claims and if true, that will be a
violation of the truce agreement," he told Reuters in Kampala. ...
A week ago, local government officials and a church group in southern Sudan said suspected LRA fighters had killed at least four people and abducted another 13 in a January 29 attack on Nyepo village, some 120 km (75 miles) from Juba.
A joint report following a visit to the area by the Danish Refugee Council, local government and the church group quoted survivors of the attack as saying it was carried out between 300 to 500 armed men and women carrying rifles and machine guns.

Frankly, I would have preferred to begin my career as a globetrotting foreign correspondent in the French Riviera or Monaco, but nobody's offered to pay me to go anyplace like that, and as I tried to explain to Rod Dreher a couple of years ago, I write for money.

Expect updates ....