Recent Appearances...

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Hello !
Recent Appearances...

Joseph Kony

Lords Resistance Army

Africa Subsaharan

20020330

Africa Subsaharan

Bangui announces temporary requisition of country's fuel distributor Tamoil

2024-06-07

[AFRICANEWS] The Central African Republic(CAR) authorities announced the temporary requisition of six out of eleven Tamoil service stations in Bangui.

These stations will be managed for 45 days to ensure regular fuel supply, salary payments, and tax contributions, as stated by the Minister of Energy Development and Hydraulic Resources, Arthur Bertrand Piri.

Previously, Piri fined Tamoil 200 million CFA francs (about 300,000 euros) for not maintaining fuel supplies.

In response, Tamoil defended itself, noting that Cameroon
...a long, narrow country that fills the space between Nigeria and Chad on the northeast, CAR to the southeast. Prior to incursions by Boko Haram nothing ever happened there...
ian company Neptune has had exclusive import rights since September.

Recently, gasoline shortages have affected both former Total stations and competitors, with private companies struggling to obtain sufficient fuel. The shortages are attributed to limited stocks and inadequate supplies transported by road from Douala.

Despite ongoing disputes since acquiring Total's operations, Tamoil's owner, Rochefort & Associates, remains committed, focusing on reopening provincial stations and resuming airport activities.

For more than a month, CAR has faced a a series of fuel shortage, with Bangui being the hardest hit. Long lines of cars and cycle of violences queue at service stations, hoping to get fuel. While most stations are closed, a few struggle to stay open, working tirelessly to serve customers until they run out of fuel by around 10 am local time. This effort is insufficient as the price per liter has skyrocketed from 2,000 to 3,000 francs.

Street vendors are forced to go to neighboring Congo to procure fuel, reselling it at high prices. The economic impact is already evident, and concerns are growing across the country.

Link

Home Front: Politix

Charlie Kirk threatens legal action over Florida Democrat Party 'white supremacist,' 'anti-semite' smears

2024-05-26

[THEPOSTMILLENNIAL] After the Florida Democratic Party labeled Turning Point USA CEO Charlie Kirk a "white supremacist, anti-semite" Kirk threatened legal action against the organization.

The Florida Democrats

...every time you hear the phrase white people, white supremacy, white anything but paint, you're listening to a Democrat. Ask him/her/it to reimagine something for you; they do that a lot, though not well. They can hear a dog whistle a mile or two away. They invented the spoils system and Tammany Hall, and inspired the addition of the word (Thomas) Nasty to the English language. They want to stop continental drift and repeal the law of unintended side effects...
made the accusation in a blurb labeled, "Breaking: Rick Scott accepts endorsement from white-supremacist, anti-semite Charlie Kirk."

After making the accusation against Kirk in reaction to his endorsement of the Florida senator for leader of the Senate GOP, Kirk shared it saying "Who thinks I should sue the Florida Democrat Party?"

Many reacted to the post in shock, saying that Kirk is very pro-Israel and suggesting the label was defamatory.

The blurb further added, "Just one day after formally launching his campaign for Senate Republican Leader, Rick Scott has proudly secured the endorsement of white supremacist and anti-Semite Charlie Kirk." They then said that TPUSA is a "far-right organization 'infested with anti-semitism.'" In contrast with the accusations, TPUSA hosts an annual Young Jewish Leadership Summit and Kirk has been vocal about his support for Israel.

"By courting Kirk and the far-right, Scott is demonstrating just how extreme he really is. Scott cares more about appeasing far-right extremists than serving Floridians," the blurb added.

The organization took a screen shot of Kirk posting the endorsement of Scott after the senator had been on Kirk's show.

"Sen. Rick Scott is a good man. He turned around many businesses. He turned around Florida as governor. He will turn around the US Senate, too," Kirk wrote.

To cite the accusations of antisemitism and white supremacy

...the pernicious doctrine that laws were intended to be obeyed, that society works better when people don't pour shreiking from their places of worship every Friday for a weekend of rioting over insults real or imagined; and that cannibalism, beastiality, incest, murder, theft, rape, and similar activities are bad. A Dead White European (which invalidates his opinion) philosopher once opined that societies thrive when a person's word can be relied upon, and that a society which puts individual happiness first will invariably fail. Strangely enough, other successful societies, such as China, Japan, Korea, and those kinds of places could also be lumped with white supremacist societies, since they push the same values...
, the Florida Democrats linked to a Rolling Stone article that claimed that Roseanne Barr denied the Holocaust. Barr had made a sarcastic comment in a viral clip that was deceptively edited, and taken out of context. She is Jewish herself and has spoken at TPUSA events. The article from the outlet also said TPUSA was antisemitic because Glenn Beck criticized George Soros
...either Ernst Stavro Blofeld or Auric Goldfinger come true...

Link

Africa North

All US military personnel have been ordered to leave Niger, media reports

2024-05-11

Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[Regnum] The Pentagon has ordered the full withdrawal of American troops from Niger over the next few months, Politico newspaper writes on May 10.

“The Department of Defense has ordered approximately 1,000 US troops in Niger to leave the country over the next few months,” a US official told the publication.

As Regnum reported, in March the Niger authorities terminated the military agreement with the United States, which allowed American military personnel to remain in the country. Niger's Interior Minister Mohamed Toumba said the country is interested in the Russian military training its troops.

On May 3, Reuters, citing a Pentagon representative, reported that Russian military personnel entered the air base in Niamey. On the same day, a source in the security forces of the African state clarified that the US military had declared increased combat readiness due to the deployment of Russian troops in Niger.

On May 8, US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said at a hearing in the Appropriations Committee of the US Senate that Washington would have to withdraw all its troops from Niger.

The United States tried to the last to maintain a military presence in Niger, and the authorities in Niamey had to begin deploying the Russian contingent before the Pentagon removed its personnel. At the same time, with the departure of the Americans, it is likely that Niger’s military cooperation with Russia will further deepen. Ivan Loshkarev, a researcher at the Center for the Study of Political Elites at the Institute of International Studies at MGIMO, shared this opinion with a Regnum correspondent.

Link

Africa North

Pentagon chief Austin says US will withdraw troops from Niger

2024-05-09

Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[Regnum] The United States of America will have to withdraw all its troops from Niger, US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said on May 8 at a hearing in the Appropriations Committee of the US Senate.

“You mentioned that we are forced to leave Niger. We will leave Niger,” he said.

As Regnum reported, in March the Niger authorities terminated the military agreement with the United States, which allowed American military personnel to remain in the country. Niger's Interior Minister Mohamed Toumba said the country is interested in the Russian military training its troops.

On May 3, Reuters, citing a Pentagon representative, reported that Russian military personnel entered the air base in Niamey. On the same day, a source in the security forces of the African state clarified that the US military had declared increased combat readiness due to the deployment of Russian troops in Niger.

Later, the head of the Pentagon said that the United States was closely monitoring the situation with the presence of Russian military personnel at the air base in Niger. According to him, the Russian military is located in a separate complex. He added that he does not yet see this as a significant problem in terms of protecting American forces.

The United States tried to the last to maintain a military presence in Niger, and the authorities in Niamey had to begin deploying the Russian contingent before the Pentagon removed its personnel. At the same time, with the departure of the Americans, it is likely that Niger’s military cooperation with Russia will further deepen. Ivan Loshkarev, a researcher at the Center for the Study of Political Elites at the Institute of International Studies at MGIMO, shared this opinion with a Regnum correspondent.

Link

Africa North

Tele Sahel: Russia delivered military equipment and humanitarian aid to Niger

2024-05-07

Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[Regnum] Russia delivered military equipment and humanitarian aid to Niger using two cargo planes. The state television and radio company of the West African country RTN reported this on May 5 on its page on the social network Facebook (owned by Meta Corporation, a banned and recognized extremist organization in Russia).

Russia is said to have sent three cargo flights to the Niger capital Niamey earlier this month to transport military equipment, as well as several trainers. In addition, the flight also delivered humanitarian aid for the residents of Niger.

In April, Bloomberg, citing RTN, reported that Russia, as part of cooperation with Niger, for the first time sent an air defense system and instructors to the West African country to train Niger military personnel.

As IA Regnum, on May 2, Reuters, citing a Pentagon representative, reported that Russian military personnel entered the air base in Niamey. This move followed the decision of the Niger authorities to expel almost a thousand US military personnel from the country. It was clarified that the American military had no contact with the Russians. Later, Pentagon chief Lloyd Austin said that the United States was closely monitoring the situation with the presence of Russian military personnel at the air base in Niger.

Press Secretary of the Russian President Dmitry Peskov, commenting on this situation, noted that Moscow is developing relations with African countries in all areas, including in the field of defense.

Link

Africa Subsaharan

Doing the Jobs Americans Won't - Wagner Group Pursuing Joseph Kony

2024-05-05

[SOFX] Russian Mercenaries Track Notorious Warlord Joseph Kony

... The Lords Resistance Army is a religious and military group formed in 1987. It is led by Joseph Kony, who proclaims himself the spokesperson of God and a spirit medium, and who is periodically possessed by demons, Beelzebub and Legion prominent among them. Kony advises his soldiers to draw crosses on their chests as a protection against bullets. This does't work, but nobody outside the LRA minds. The group is based on a hodge podge of apocalyptic Christianity, mysticism, and traditional Acholi religion, and claims to be establishing a theocratic state based on an odd interpretation of the Ten Commandments. The LRA is famous for systematic criminal conduct, including murder, abduction, mutilation, sexual enslavement of women and children, forcing children to participate in hostilities, and occasional cannibalism. The LRA operates mainly in northern Uganda and also in parts of Sudan, Central African Republic and DR Congo...
in the Central African Republic

Russian mercenaries associated with the Wagner Group have intensified efforts to capture one of the world’s most elusive fugitives, Joseph Kony, the notorious leader of the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA). According to multiple sources, including a Rolling Stone report, a recent operation in the Central African Republic nearly succeeded in apprehending Kony, who has evaded international efforts to capture him for over two decades.

In early April, in a remote area of the Central African Republic, Wagner mercenaries engaged in a significant gunfight near a village named Yemen, where Kony was believed to be hiding. The operation followed the surrender of 14 defectors from Kony’s LRA at the end of March to Wagner-affiliated Chadian fighters posing as Central African Republic government forces. This action led to a severe skirmish in Yemen, reportedly resulting in casualties among both the local population and Wagner’s forces.

Kony, indicted by the International Criminal Court for war crimes and crimes against humanity, has been a ghostly figure in the African bush, orchestrating a campaign of terror that includes abduction, mutilation, and forced recruitment of children into his militant group. Despite various international efforts, including a high-profile U.S. military operation named Observant Compass, Kony has remained at large, moving frequently across borders and evading capture.

Wagner’s pursuit represents a significant shift in the dynamics of international military operations in Africa. The Russian mercenary group, led until last year by Yevgeny Prigozhin, has been increasingly active on the continent, providing direct military support to several African regimes in exchange for access to natural resources and strategic footholds.

The implications of Wagner potentially capturing Kony are profound, challenging the efficacy of Western-led military interventions in Africa. This comes at a time when U.S. and European influence on the continent is perceived to be waning, as evidenced by recent coups in Mali and Niger that have disrupted long standing military partnerships.

Link

Africa Subsaharan

Uganda: Witch Doctor Defends Ongwen At ICC Court

2018-10-06

[All Africa] A witchdoctor on Tuesday walked into the International Criminal Court (ICC) courtroom to defend former Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), a perennial thorn in Africa's side rebel commander Dominic Ongwen, who is facing trial for war crimes and crimes against humanity. It was a first in history that the international crimes court is hosting a witness conversant with the underworld.

Camouflaged and with face and voice distorted, the ICC courtroom went mute as an unusual witness, a witchdoctor, walked the three judges of the court through the spiritual underworld.

Mr Ongwen, who sat in the middle of the public gallery and faced the prosecution team, uneasily smiled as he followed the proceedings.

He donned a black suit with a blue tie as he watered his throat from white disposable plastic cup.

"Back at home (in Acholiland) most people follow jok (spirits)," the protected witness told the court.

At this point, defence lawyer Krispus Ayena Odongo, who was questioning the witness, said: "It's quite revealing."

"I know it's also difficult for the court and other people from different parts of the world to believe that spirits actually exist," Mr Ayena said.

As the witchdoctor delved deeper into the magical workings of spirits, dozens of legal friends, including Ongwen's defence team, looked scared.

This prompted presiding judge Péter Kovács to guide away the witness from taking them farther the depths of the underworld.

"Leave out the general issue of the spirits, but you could mention what relates to Mr [Joseph] Kony," the judge ordered.

The witnesses, PW150, told court that Ongwen, the former commander of the alleged Sinia Brigade of the LRA, could have committed atrocities under the influence of spirits.

The witness said LRA leader Joseph Kony

Link

-Land of the Free

Bolton Vows to Not Cooperate with International Criminal Court, Threatens Sanctions

2018-09-10

[PJMedia] National Security Advisor John Bolton threatened sanctions against the International Criminal Court, which Bolton opposed long before joining the Trump administration, and hailed the State Department announcement that the D.C. office of the Palestine Liberation Organization would be shut down.

Speaking at a Federalist Society event at the Mayflower Hotel this morning, Bolton slammed the Hague-based ICC as an effort by "self-styled 'global governance' advocates" to override national sovereignty through its investigations of war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide.

Those indicted by the ICC, which was formed in 2002 by the Rome Statute, have included Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi and his son Saif Al-Islam for crimes against humanity, Sudan President Omar al-Bashir for war crimes in Darfur, and Ugandan guerrilla leader Joseph Kony for crimes against humanity and war crimes. The African Union has urged a mass withdrawal from the ICC over the court's focus on the continent.

"In theory, the ICC holds perpetrators of the most egregious atrocities accountable for their crimes, provides justice to the victims, and deters future abuses. In practice, however, the court has been ineffective, unaccountable, and indeed, outright dangerous," Bolton said. "Moreover, the largely unspoken, but always central, aim of its most vigorous supporters was to constrain the United States. The objective was not limited to targeting individual U.S. servicemembers, but rather America's senior political leadership, and its relentless determination to keep our country secure."

Bolton said the ICC "was created as a free-wheeling global organization claiming jurisdiction over individuals without their consent" and stressed longstanding concerns that American servicemembers could be indicted by the court.

Last November, the ICC prosecutor requested authorization to investigate war crimes and detainee abuse allegations against U.S. servicemembers and intelligence professionals in Afghanistan.

"Today, on the eve of Sept. 11, I want to deliver a clear and unambiguous message on behalf of the president of the United States. The United States will use any means necessary to protect our citizens and those of our allies from unjust prosecution by this illegitimate court," Bolton continued. "We will not cooperate with the ICC. We will provide no assistance to the ICC. We will not join the ICC. We will let the ICC die on its own. After all, for all intents and purposes, the ICC is already dead to us."

Bolton also criticized "a suggestion that the ICC will investigate Israeli construction of housing projects on the West Bank."

"The United States will always stand with our friend and ally, Israel. And, today, reflecting congressional concerns with Palestinian attempts to prompt an ICC investigation of Israel, the State Department will announce the closure of the Palestine Liberation Organization office here in Washington, D.C. As President Reagan recognized in this context, the executive has 'the right to decide the kind of foreign relations, if any, the United States will maintain,' and the Trump administration will not keep the office open when the Palestinians refuse to take steps to start direct and meaningful negotiations with Israel," he said. "The United States supports a direct and robust peace process, and we will not allow the ICC, or any other organization, to constrain Israel's right to self-defense."

The State Department said it had allowed the PLO to continue D.C. operations since their waiver expired last November in hope of furthering a Mideast peace process.

"PLO leadership has condemned a U.S. peace plan they have not yet seen and refused to engage with the U.S. government with respect to peace efforts and otherwise," press secretary Heather Nauert said in a statement. "As such, and reflecting congressional concerns, the administration has decided that the PLO office in Washington will close at this point."

Palestinian outlets branded the move retribution for Palestinian attempts to push the ICC to open an investigation into Israel.

Husam Zomlot, head of the PLO delegation to the U.S., said in a statement that Trump was "blindly executing Israel's 'wish list'" and said the administration aims to "protect Israel from unlawful acts, and provide it with full immunity to kill the two state-solution."

Steering back to the ICC, Bolton wrapped up his address by vowing that "if the court comes after us, Israel or other U.S. allies, we will not sit quietly."

"We will negotiate even more binding, bilateral agreements to prohibit nations from surrendering U.S. persons to the ICC. And we will ensure that those we have already entered are honored by our counterpart governments," he said. "We will respond against the ICC and its personnel to the extent permitted by U.S. law. We will ban its judges and prosecutors from entering the United States. We will sanction their funds in the U.S. financial system, and, we will prosecute them in the U.S. criminal system. We will do the same for any company or state that assists an ICC investigation of Americans."

"We will take note if any countries cooperate with ICC investigations of the United States and its allies, and we will remember that cooperation when setting U.S. foreign assistance, military assistance, and intelligence sharing levels," Bolton added. "We will consider taking steps in the UN Security Council to constrain the Court's sweeping powers, including ensuring that the ICC does not exercise jurisdiction over Americans and the nationals of our allies that have not ratified the Rome Statute."

Fucking Hoo-Fucking-Rah!

Link

Africa Subsaharan

Uganda: Another Kony Rebel Surrenders

2017-04-01

[All Africa] A former senior signaller in the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), a perennial thorn in Africa's side led by elusive rebel leader Joseph Kony
... The Lords Resistance Army is a religious and military group formed in 1987. It is led by Joseph Kony, who proclaims himself the spokesperson of God and a spirit medium, and who is periodically possessed by demons, Beelzebub and Legion prominent among them. Kony advises his soldiers to draw crosses on their chests as a protection against bullets. This does't work, but nobody outside the LRA minds. The group is based on a hodge podge of apocalyptic Christianity, mysticism, and traditional Acholi religion, and claims to be establishing a theocratic state based on an odd interpretation of the Ten Commandments. The LRA is famous for systematic criminal conduct, including murder, abduction, mutilation, sexual enslavement of women and children, forcing children to participate in hostilities, and occasional cannibalism. The LRA operates mainly in northern Uganda and also in parts of Sudan, Central African Republic and DR Congo...
has defected from the rebel outfit to the Uganda People's Defense Forces (UPDF).

Lt Michael Omona, 33, defected on January 20, from the jungles of Central African Republic (CAR) after spending 23 years in captivity.

He was airlifted to Gulu on Monday and welcomed by religious leaders led by Gulu Archbishop John Baptist Odama, security officials and cultural leaders amid ululation from relatives at Gulu Airfield.

Mr Omona joins two other former ex-LRA fighters; Sgt Peter Kidega, a former radio signaler and Julius Obira. They both surrendered to the UPDF in October last year and February last month respectively.

He was kidnapped by LRA rebels in 1994 at his ancestral home in Alero Sub-county in current day Nwoya District while still in Primary Five at Alero Primary School. According to Ugandan security officials, Mr Omona, a father of two, first surrendered to the Seleka
...a 'mainly' Moslem rebel force in the Central African Republic that overthrew the govt, imposed a regime of rapine and looting on the country's non-Moslem population, and was then tossed by France. They still exist, getting funding and weapons from somewhere or other, licking their wounds, complaining about the oppression of Moslems, and occasionally raping and looting someone...
rebels in Central African Republic before being handed over to the UPDF and American security agents in Obo. Speaking to Daily Monitor in an interview on Monday, Mr Omona said his plans of defection followed an order by Mr Kony, who summoned his group comprising 30 rebels, to meet him at an undisclosed venue in CAR.

"We had lost touch with other LRA commanders and Mr Kony himself for two months. We were being commanded by Maj Okot Owila but we later got reports that Kony wanted to meet us and I thought to myself I wasn't going to go back to him, so I escaped on my way from Lukoto river," Mr Omona said.

He added: "I wandered in the jungle for ten days before entering the Seleka rebels' held territory in Sam Ouandja. I surrendered to them and their commanders later took me to the UPDF who treated me well."

"I want to thank my parents, religious and cultural leaders for the prayers. I want to thank God that I escaped and reached home safely because it wouldn't have been possible without Him," Mr Omona said.

Archbishop Odama applauded the UPDF and the American government for their efforts in bringing home ex-LRA fighters and urged those still in captivity to take the opportunity and surrender.

Lt Hassan Kato, the 4th Division infantry spokesperson, said the continued pressure UPDF has put on LRA remnants in the jungles of CAR has made life unbearable for Kony and his men.

"Kony can no longer administer his men and they are left with no option but to defect to UPDF," Lt Kato said.

The LRA war that lasted for nearly two decades led to the displacement of more than 1.5 million people with tens of thousands losing their lives while women and kiddies were kidnapped and turned into child soldiers and sex slaves.

Link

Africa Subsaharan

Operation Observant Compass - The Hunt For Joseph Kony

2017-03-07

[NBC] HAUTE-KOTTO PREFECTURE, Central African Republic -- The helicopter settles in the elephant grass, rotor wash flattening the six-foot-tall fronds.

The first man on the ground is Travis, a brawny Green Beret with a solemn demeanor. He scans the treeline, carbine at the ready, and the rest of the soldiers follow.

Three Ugandan troops lead the way as a trio of Americans disperse through the column, weapons at the ready.

On its surface, this is a simple mission. U.S. Army Special Forces, or Green Berets, have been ordered to "apprehend or remove" one of the world's most notorious warlords from the battlefield, along with his top commanders.

Joseph Kony built an army of child soldiers indoctrinated in his personality cult, robbing central Africa of a generation.

The self-proclaimed Christian prophet is accused of crimes including murder, rape, kidnapping and torture by the International Criminal Court.

The U.S. considers the elusive Kony a "specially designated global terrorist" and has offered up to $5 million for information leading to his capture.

The area of operations is the size of California, with about 80 military personnel and several dozen support personnel tasked with finding around 150 fighters with Kony's Lord's Resistance Army, operating across portions of four countries in some of the world's most inaccessible terrain.

Link

Africa Subsaharan

Uganda: Tapped LRA Radio Calls Pin Ongwen On Killings, Crimes

2016-12-10

[All Africa] Secret communication intercepts by the Ugandan army and police have come in handy for prosecution at The Hague to build its case that former Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), a perennial thorn in Africa's side commander Dominic Ongwen co-planned and commanded attacks against civilians, church institutions and military targets in northern Uganda.

The trial of Ongwen, who surrendered in January 2015, began on Tuesday at the International Criminal Court (ICC) where he is charged with 70 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity.

In a lengthy evidence presented to the court over two days, the ICC chief prosecutor Fatou Bensouda and senior trial lawyer Benjamin Gumpert played what they said were intercepted radio call communications between Ongwen and other LRA commanders, including the leader Joseph Kony
... The Lords Resistance Army is a religious and military group formed in 1987. It is led by Joseph Kony, who proclaims himself the spokesperson of God and a spirit medium, and who is periodically possessed by demons, Beelzebub and Legion prominent among them. Kony advises his soldiers to draw crosses on their chests as a protection against bullets. This does't work, but nobody outside the LRA minds. The group is based on a hodge podge of apocalyptic Christianity, mysticism, and traditional Acholi religion, and claims to be establishing a theocratic state based on an odd interpretation of the Ten Commandments. The LRA is famous for systematic criminal conduct, including murder, abduction, mutilation, sexual enslavement of women and children, forcing children to participate in hostilities, and occasional cannibalism. The LRA operates mainly in northern Uganda and also in parts of Sudan, Central African Republic and DR Congo...
In one such audio, Ongwen is recorded as reporting to Kony: "We are beginning to kill civilians seriously right now. I have deployed squads for killings and people will hear [about it] on the radio."

In another audio recording, the former commander of LRA's powerful Sinia Brigade is presented as reporting to his boss and former LRA deputy commander Vincent Otti after an attack on Odek Internally Displaced People's (IDP) camp: "I have just come from shooting people, over. Let the people wait to hear about the waya (LRA slang for civilians), we have shot all of them."

The prosecution side states that the evidence showed Ongwen was a "murderer and rapist."

The audios, prosecution said, were obtained from the Internal Security Organisation (ISO), Uganda People's Defence Forces (UPDF) and Uganda Police Force that set different bases in northern Uganda to eavesdrop LRA communication at the height of the insurgency.

The LRA communicated using High Frequency Radio and had a "reliable" method of communicating by radio, prosecution said, adding that the intercepts were reliable, unaffected by the fallibility of the human memory.

"They provide a unique opportunity to step inside the mind of Ongwen," Mr Gumpert submitted to the court.

Ongwen, who was in court sandwiched between three guards, looked unfazed. One person in the public gallery walked out sobbing as prosecution presented graphic details of how babies were burnt in huts, women indiscriminately raped, civilians chopped with machetes or bludgeoned to death with clubs during LRA attacks on the four IDP camps.

Speaking about the May 19, 2004 attack on Lukodi IDP camp, senior trial lawyer Gumpert said the "damage done was so bad that the camp had to be closed...Dominic Ongwen conceived, planned and executed the attack."

The defence will begin making its submissions mid-January, next year.

The Prosecution said the radio message intercepts were corroborated with hand-written logs by the UPDF, ISO and police spies.

Senior Ugandan security officials will appear as prosecution witnesses, Mr Gumpert said.

Link

Africa Subsaharan

ICC Confirms 70 Charges against Ugandan LRA Rebel Leader

2016-03-24

[An Nahar] War crimes judges Wednesday confirmed 70 charges against notorious Lord's Resistance Army commander Dominic Ongwen for crimes committed in Uganda, including keeping sex slaves and recruiting child soldiers.

Judges at the

International Criminal Court
... where Milosevich died of old age before being convicted ...
"confirmed 70 charges brought by the prosecutor against Dominic Ongwen," the Hague-based court said, paving the way to a trial on the alleged crimes.

Known as the "White Ant" in his native Acholi language, Ongwen is charged with war crimes and crimes against humanity for his role from 2002 to 2005 in the rebel group's reign of terror in northern Uganda, led by its runaway chief Joseph Kony
... The Lords Resistance Army is a religious and military group formed in 1987. It is led by Joseph Kony, who proclaims himself the spokesperson of God and a spirit medium, and who is periodically possessed by demons, Beelzebub and Legion prominent among them. Kony advises his soldiers to draw crosses on their chests as a protection against bullets. This does't work, but nobody outside the LRA minds. The group is based on a hodge podge of apocalyptic Christianity, mysticism, and traditional Acholi religion, and claims to be establishing a theocratic state based on an odd interpretation of the Ten Commandments. The LRA is famous for systematic criminal conduct, including murder, abduction, mutilation, sexual enslavement of women and children, forcing children to participate in hostilities, and occasional cannibalism. The LRA operates mainly in northern Uganda and also in parts of Sudan, Central African Republic and DR Congo...
Ongwen will be the first LRA member to face trial at the ICC, set up in 2002 to try the world's worst crimes.

A former child-soldier-turned-warlord, Ongwen was Kony's one-time deputy and one of the most senior commanders of the LRA, which is accused of slaughtering more than 100,000 people and abducting 60,000 children in a bloody rebellion against Kampala that began in 1986.

Prosecutors in January told the ICC's judges that Ongwen was the "tip of the spear" of the group that has sown terror in several countries across central and eastern Africa.

Ongwen, who is about 40 years old, allegedly ordered the killings of civilians as well as the abduction and enslavement of children to be rebel soldiers as the LRA attacked helpless villages across the Ugandan countryside, prosecutors said.

Witnesses to the carnage said Ongwen ordered his hostages, at least on one occasion, to "kill, cook and eat civilians," prosecutors said.

The LRA first emerged in northern Uganda in 1986, where it claimed to fight in the name of the Acholi ethnic group against the government of Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni.

But over the years it has moved freely across porous regional borders, shifting from Uganda to sow terror in southern Sudan before heading into northeastern Democratic Republic of the Congo
...formerly the Congo Free State, Belgian Congo, Zaire, and who knows what else, not to be confused with the Brazzaville Congo aka Republic of Congo, which is much smaller and much more (for Africa) stable. DRC gave the world Patrice Lumumba and Joseph Mobutu, followed by years of tedious civil war. Its principle industry seems to be the production of corpses. With a population of about 74 million it has lots of raw material...
, and finally crossing into southeastern Central African Republic in March 2008.

Link

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