Author, Researcher and Conflict Expert
"The former Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) fighter is the first former child soldier to face charges at the ICC. He has been charged with 70 counts of crimes against humanity and war crimes, including attacks against civilians, torture, sexual and gender-based crimes and conscription and use of child soldiers - some of them the very crimes... Continue Reading →
Vice ran two small passages from the book. I thought the whole thing with photos and the book cover was nicely done. When researching the book, this particular quote from Kony stuck with me. I am glad Vice people thought it important also. "I have no choice but to do all these things to keep... Continue Reading →
The Guardian ran an excerpt from When the Walking Defeats You. The first two paragraphs: "Kony divided the 800 men, women and children bound for CAR into four groups. Sam’s group, which included George, travelled with Kony, often doubling as his security. George was happy to stay in Sam’s unit but the walk was as... Continue Reading →
I co-wrote an article for The Cipher Brief with Professor Ron Atkinson outlining the effects of the US strategy in dealing with the LRA. In short, the LRA remains a real threat to civilians in Central Africa. Here is an excerpt. This joint effort has succeeded in significantly weakening the LRA. According to our research, in... Continue Reading →
On 2 May 2016, Thomas Kwoyelo, will be tried in Gulu, Northern Uganda, a first case against former LRA fighters in Uganda. Much has been written about Kwoyelo's illegal stay in prison, the refusal by the Ugandan authorities to grant him amnesty and his legal battles (I am particularly partial to the writing of Alexis Okeowo here.)... Continue Reading →
Mark Kersten at Justice in Conflict has put together a symposium on the ICC case of Ongwen with some fantastic pieces, ranging from a description of the history of the conflict to a discussion of the legal implications of Ongwen's past as a child soldier, in his sentencing. I wrote one of the articles in... Continue Reading →
This picture, from almost exactly ten years ago, tells an important and sad story. Depicted are fighters who composed the core of Kony's personal security team in 2006, posing for British journalist Sam Farmar, who interviewed Kony in June 2006. At least two of the men here were killed on Kony's orders, and one escaped before he... Continue Reading →
Ten years ago, on 23 January 2006, at least eight peacekeepers from the United Nations mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), were killed by fighters of the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) in DRC's Garamba Park. The peacekeepers were part of a Guatemalan contingent called Kaibiles, reportedly some of the most able special forces in... Continue Reading →
Here is a list of most things I have written on Okot 'Odek' George, the former LRA combatant who surrendered last week in CAR. Similar to Dominic Ongwen, Okot was abducted at a very young age and taken under the wing of a senior LRA commander, in Okot's case, Kony. Both Kony and Okot come from... Continue Reading →
In short, no, certainly not in the late 1990s. He does not even figure in this organizational structure (below) of 1998, I compiled in 2011 based on info from former combatants. For sure things had changed by 2003 and 2004 when the International Criminal Court (ICC) investigators dispatched to Northern Uganda to investigate (and when Ongwen... Continue Reading →
Ledio Cakaj 