Quote:
Originally Posted by Allen Woody
Please explain
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Joseph Kony is no doubt a bad man, but the average Ugandan doesn't care about him now. He's a relic from the bush war of the 80's, who's not even in Uganda anymore, in fact was concentrating more in southern Sudan (in retaliation for what he thinks is Sudan betraying him). The problem to them is the other relic from the bush war of the 80's, the man who helped to overthrow both Idi Amin and Milton Obote, Yoweri Museveni. Kony and Museveni aren't that much different, one does his fighting with guns, the other with money, money freely given by the IMF and the World Bank, and yes, by us.
You see, Uganda is deeply divided in both tribal and ethnic groups as well as economic groups. The north of Uganda, populated by Nilotic people, including the Acholi, is vastly different from the Bantu in the south, mainly the Buganda. The north has always been the warrior people of the country, supplying the soldiers and generals for every conflict that the country has had. Idi Amin Dada, and Milton Obote were both northerners. Museveni is emphatically not, he's from the southwest.
As usual, we can blame the country's problems on the British and their damn colonial rule over Africa. In 1962, they appointed Obote as prime minister, and a year later, a Buganda king was made President when the British Governor-General left, placing Obote under him. From the start, northerners had been in control of the country, but back country rurals don't go over well with international governments, so the Buganda, occupying the south, and the capital Kampala, were placed in power instead, and the road to civil war, rebellion, and everything else was started.
The north has two types of people in it, those who hate Museveni for his rule of the country and those who hate Kony and the other groups like him that have been around since before 1986. People started out hating Museveni and liking Kony back in the 80's, after all, here was a northerner fighting to overthrow the upstart southerner. Then Kony started abducting children for his troops and the northern people started liking Museveni instead of Kony, simply because of the civilian casualties of the insurgency. Since the turn of the century, Kony has been relatively quiet, even participating in talks with the government about disarming, and amnesty for him will be granted if the LRA ever signs a cease fire agreement, and as such, the northerners have gone back to seeing Museveni as just another southerner who won't give up power, which they don't like. It's very similar to any insurgency, like Iraq. The people hate the US for taking over unjustly, then they hate the insurgency for what they do to fight back, then as the insurgency dies down, they go back to hating Americans again until the next flare-up.
Talking to former members of the UPDF is very strange. Based on their age, northerners still have very strong love/hate feelings about either Kony or Museveni. Younger men dislike Museveni much more than they dislike Kony, whereas older aged men think the same. It's the tweeners, the middle aged men, who grew up during the worst of the abuses that feel the opposite. There's no need to go into more Ugandan politics than I already have, or to talk about Museveni's abuses, both politically, monitarily, or physically, you can find those for yourself. At the end of the day, as time goes on, the average person in Uganda cares less for Kony and what he's done and more about Museveni and what he's doing, and that's a plain and simple fact.
A friend of mine I met in Iraq who lives in Uganda sent me a link to this document which was produced after the most recent elections (again, not going into the politics of the elections or what my friend believes). I've read it, it's factual, but what's funny is that if you read it and see how things have developed, it gives a full overview of how and why the LRA has done what it did, and even states that in spite of Kony's abuses, the Museveni government is now still held in despite by the northerners.
http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/row/RL33701.pdf
To sum up, the average Ugandan today doesn't care nearly as much about Kony as it does about Museveni...and for this to gain traction now, on social networks of all places, when the worst is over and the Ugandan government has negotiated amnesty for Kony in spite of ICC arrest warrants...is just comical...
One more example of the Twitter/Facebook/YouTube world not having a fucking clue...
