Justifying the Kony Wars: Targeted Manufacture and Use of Synthetic Evidence

[50] Ibid 21.

[51] See fn. 33.

[52] “Appalled Ugandans riot at Kony 2012 screening.” Mail & Guardian, News and Media, March 15, 2012. http://mg.co.za/article/2012-03-15-outrage-violence-greets-kony-2012-video-in-uganda/.

[53] Pretext for the attack was Kony’s delay of signing the negotiated peace agreement. Apparently, he was concerned with the effect of the ICC indictment on his and his commanders’ personal safety since the ICC required withdrawal of blanket amnesty for surrendering LRA fighters. Kony’s case had been referred to the ICC by the Museveni government on behalf of Uganda. Museveni’s regime is widely considered one of the least democratic and most corrupt in Africa and downright infamous for its own use of child soldiers. See Rabwoni, Okwir. “Africa’s Child Soldiers.” Daily Times, May 30, 2002, 3-4. http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=story_30-5-2002_pg3_4. His recognition in the West is based on compliance with IMF policies and his campaign against HIV/AIDS.

[54] Uganda, South Sudan, and the Democratic Republic of Congo were nominal participants. The US provided logistical but not military support along with $33 million in cash for the UPDF. Sterling, Joe. “Obama orders U.S. troops to help chase down African ‘army’ leader.” CNN, October 14, 2011. http://edition.cnn.com/2011/10/14/world/africa/africa-obama-troops.

[55] Capaccio, Tony. “Obama sends troops against Uganda rebels.” Bloomberg News, October 14, 2011.  http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-10-14/obama-sends-troops-against-uganda-rebels.html.

[56] Schomerus, Mareike; Allen, Tim; Vlassenroot, Koen. “Obama takes on the LRA: Why Washington sent troops to Central Africa.” Foreign Affairs, November 15, 2011. http://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/136673/mareike-schomerus-tim-allen-and-koen-vlassenroot/obama-takes-on-the-lra.

[57] U.S. Department of State. Statement on the designation on the USA PATRIOT ACT’s terrorist exclusion list. December 6, 2001. http://www.fas.org/irp/world/para/dos120601.html.

[58] Allen, Tim; Vlassenroot, Koen. “Introduction”. The Lord’s Resistance Army: Myth and Reality. Allen, Tim; Vlassenroot, Koen (eds). London, New York: Zed Books (2010), 1-21, at 3-19.  Not least, Congolese warlord Thomas Lubanga ended up the first person ever convicted alive on July 10, 2012 by the International Criminal Court in The Hague, to 14 years imprisonment. See http://www.lubangatrial.org/.

[59] The ICJ also specifically found the Ugandan military guilty of systematically plundering the rich mineral resources of the region it had invaded.  See Armed Activities on the Territory of the Congo (Democratic Republic of the Congo v. Uganda), Judgment 2005 I.C.J. Reports, 168 et seq. http://www.icj-cij.org/docket/files/116/10455.pdf and http://www.icj-cij.org/docket/files/116/10521.pdf.

[60] Astill, James. “Congo rebels are eating pygmies, UN says”. The Guardian, January 8, 2003. http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2003/jan/09/congo.jamesastill.

[61] Judah, Tim. “Child soldiers, sex slaves, and cannibalism at gunpoint: the horrors of Uganda’s north.” The Independent, October 23, 2004 http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/africa/child-soldiers-sex-slaves-and-cannibalism-at-gunpoint-the-horrors-of-ugandas-north-6159396.html?printService=print.

[62] Sensationalist instincts of news organizations often prevail at the cost of veracity. See Fry, Erika. “Looking beyond Kony.” Columbia Journalism Review. April 20, 2012.

[63] A recent legislative proposal even lobbies for including Joseph Kony in the Department of State Rewards Program, authorizing use of US taxpayers’ money for bounties offered to capture the warlord. See Miller, Sunlen. “Senators Trying to Keep up Pressure on Joseph Kony.” ABC News, April 20, 2012. http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2012/04/senators-trying-to-keep-up-pressure-on-joseph-kony/.

[64] Even that amount is spent mainly on its scholarship fund: http://www.invisiblechildren.com/critiques.html.

[65] Miller, Sunlen. “Senators trying to keep up pressure on Joseph Kony.” ABC News, April 20, 2012. http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2012/04/senators-trying-to-keep-up-pressure-on-joseph-kony/.

[66] Hebel, Christina. “Ohne Stiefel auf Kony-Jagd.” Der Spiegel, June 28, 2012. http://www.spiegel.de/politik/ausland/rumpf-truppe-jagt-ugandischen-rebellenchef-joseph-kony-a-841275.html.

[67] Whitlock, Craig. “Joseph Kony hunt is proving difficult for U.S. troops.” Washington Post, April 29, 2012, National Security http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/joseph-kony-hunt-is-proving-difficult-for-us-troops/2012/04/29/gIQAasM6pT_story.html.

[68] Kanani, Bazi. “Joseph Kony Top Commander Captured in Central Africa.” ABCnews World Magazine. http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/headlines/2012/05/joseph-kony-top-commander-captured-in-central-africa/.

[69] ”Capturado uno de los generales del señor de la guerra Joseph Kony.” El Pais, May 13, 2012. See also “Kony’s Armee entführt Hunderte Kinder in Afrikas Dschungel.” Der Spiegel, June 7, 2012. http://www.spiegel.de/politik/ausland/joseph-kony-rebellen-entfuehren-laut-uno-hunderte-kinder-in-afrika-a-837459.html.

[70] Raffaele, Paul. “Uganda: The horror.” Smithsonian, February 2005. http://www.smithsonianmag.com/people-places/uganda.html.

[71] Brammertz, Serge. “International Criminal Court: now for Kony and Bashir.” The Guardian, June 13, 2012  http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/jun/13/international-criminal-court-kony-bashir also Mukasa, Henry. “Omar Bashir renews support for Kony.” New Vision, April 30, 2012 http://www.newvision.co.ug/news/630703-omar-bashir-renews-support-for-kony.html and Gombya, Henry D. “Support Kony and we attack, Museveni warns Gen. Bashir.” London Evening Post, May 5, 2012 http://www.thelondoneveningpost.com/support-kony-and-we-attack-museveni-warns-gen-bashir/.

[72] The Prosecutor v. Omar Hassan Ahmad Al Bashir. ICC-02/05-01/09. Prosecution application for a warrant of arrest 14 July 2008; Warrant of arrest issued by Pre-Trial Chamber I: 4 March 2008; Second warrant of arrest issued by Pre-Trial Chamber I: 12 July 2010; At large. http://www.icc-cpi.int/menus/icc/situations%20and%20cases/situations/situation%20icc%200205/related%20cases/icc02050109/icc02050109?lan=en-GB.

[73] Mukasa, Henry. “Omar Bashir renews support for Kony.” New Vision, April 30, 2012 http://www.newvision.co.ug/news/630703-omar-bashir-renews-support-for-kony.html, citing Col. Felix Kulayige, spokesman of the Ugandan army, at a U.S. Embassy sponsored event at Entebbe, while U.S. special forces as well as Ugandan army units are “searching” for Kony in the jungle of the Central African Republic.

[74] Bashir has since visited Kenya, Djibouti, Libya and, more significantly, China with unrestricted privileges as a guest of state. “Peking empfängt al-Bashir wie einen Ehrengast.” Neue Zürcher Zeitung, June 29, 2011 http://www.nzz.ch/nachrichten/politik/international/china-sudan-baschir-1.11098843; Menya, Walter. „Bashir surprise guest in Kenya.“ Daily Nation, August 27, 2010. http://www.nation.co.ke/News/Bashir%20surprise%20guest%20in%20Kenya/-/1056/998008/-/w03i5sz/-/index.html see also “Sudan’s Bashir offers help to Libya during criticised visit.” BBC News, January 7, 2012.  http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-16454493.

[75] “Uganda: Kony calls for peace talks.” IRIN. http://www.irinnews.org/printreport.aspx?reportid=40370.

[76] “LRA Factsheet.” UN Integrated Task Force on the LRA. April 5, 2012. http://unic.un.org/downloads/socialmedia/lra_factsheet.pdf.

[77] Branch, Adam. “Exploring the roots of LRA violence: political crisis and ethnic politics in Acholiland”. The Lord’s Resistance Army: Myth and Reality. Allen, Tim; Vlassenroot, Koen (eds). London, New York: Zed Books (2010), 25-44, and Allen, Tim; Laker, Frederick; Porter, Holly; Schomerus, Mareike.“Postcript: a kind of peace and an exported war.” The Lord’s Resistance Army: Myth and Reality. Allen, Tim; Vlassenroot, Koen (eds). London, New York: Zed Books (2010), 279-288, at 280-81.

[78] Sterling, Joe. “Obama orders U.S. troops to help chase down African ‘army’ leader.” CNN, October 14, 2011. http://edition.cnn.com/2011/10/14/world/africa/africa-obama-troops.

[79] Kony’s operational radius was never global and has not been known to exceed Sudan, Uganda, Central African Republic and the Republic of the Congo.