Kony Evades Capture in Central Africa Amid Internet Campaign

March 14 (Bloomberg) — Joseph Kony, the Ugandan warlord who’s become the subject of a global social-network campaign, is evading capture amid tensions between Central African nations where his Lord’s Resistance Army operates.

Kony and his fighters fanned out across the Central African Republic, South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo after fleeing northern Uganda six years ago. The armies of the four nations disagree about the threat posed by the LRA, slowing the progress to apprehend Kony, said Ned Dalby, a regional analyst at the Brussels-based International Crisis Group, an independent advocacy group.

“A major problem facing the operation is the mutual mistrust between Congo and Uganda at both the political and military levels,” Dalby said from Accra, the Ghanaian capital. “What’s really needed is sustained institutional and multilateral pressure from western countries, the United Nations and the African Union on the governments of Uganda and Congo primarily, but also on the South Sudanese” and the Central African Republic.

Kony, whose official age isn’t known, has been on the run since being indicted by the International Criminal Court in 2005 on charges including murder, mutilation, rape and the abduction of 30,000 children for use as soldiers and sex slaves. In the two-decade rebellion in northern Uganda, the LRA rebels hacked villagers with machetes and burnt people to death in their huts at the instigation of Kony, who claims he is a prophet.

Invisible Children

The LRA and Kony were thrust into the public eye last week after a 30-minute video by San Diego-based Invisible Children went viral on the Internet through campaigns on social-media networks like Facebook and Twitter. The Kony2012 video, in which filmmaker Jason Russell attempts to explain Kony’s actions to his four-year-old son, was viewed 76 million times on YouTube since it was posted on March 5.

Invisible Children, which was created after the filmmakers visited Uganda in 2003, calls on supporters to lobby U.S. lawmakers and buy posters and bracelets to publicize Kony’s name so he can be captured by the end of the year. In October, the U.S. sent 100 combat-equipped forces, including special operations personnel, to Central Africa to assist Uganda’s army in capturing Kony.

Wizard of the Nile

The LRA rebellion began after Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni came to power in 1986 by overthrowing Tito Okello, an ethnic Acholi. The LRA blames Museveni’s forces for purging the army of Acholi people, the majority of whom make up the LRA.

According to abductees, Kony is inspired by the Ten Commandments and exhorts child soldiers to kill and maim in the name of the Bible, Matthew Green said in his 2008 book, The Wizard of the Nile, which chronicles the hunt for Kony. The rebel leader made abductees undergo “purification” rituals by his priests that would protect them against bullets from Museveni’s forces, according to Green.

Uganda’s government forced the rebels to flee into neighboring countries in 2006, ending the insurgency in the north. Museveni, who won re-election last year, has since focused on rebuilding the economy of Africa’s largest coffee exporter. Uganda is set to become Africa’s newest oil producer this year when Tullow Oil Plc begins pumping crude and gas from Lake Albert Basin.

Museveni sent forces into Central African Republic, South Sudan and Congo to help combat an estimated 300 LRA fighters. In December, Ugandan forces left Congo, where a small group of about 30 rebels remain, according to that country’s army.

Threat to Civilians

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2012/03/14/bloomberg_articlesM0U4J50YHQ0X01-M0VMS.DTL#ixzz1pA2hFU82

by Steven Clark Goad
“You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes” (James 4:14b).

“Man, whadya say when you get that kind of news? So I went sky divin’; I went Rocky Mountain climbin’; I went 2.7 seconds on a bull named Fu Man-chu.” So go the words of a popular country song.

Not that I would select those activities, mind you, if I’d just been told I was terminal (which I am), but there is something urgent about living when we’ve just been informed we haven’t much time left in this old world.

Terri Shaivo is gone. Karol Wojtyla (John Paul II) is gone. Oscar Osburn and Steve Ford and Aggie Bra-man and Bessie Beers and J. D. and Lester and Sibyl Leah and Emily are all on the other side now. And there is absolutely nothing we can do about it, except mourn perhaps, or rejoice. For, you see, church, we are all term-inal. Not one of us gets out of this alive. My step-mom Lucy was just given two weeks. Am I being unduly morbid? I think not. Realistic would be a better word.
Stay with me. Most of us have been urged to think of what we might do differently if we knew today was our last on planet earth. Granted, it’s a sobering thought. Bull-riding would not be at the top of my list, if only in deference to the blessed bull. Yet I do believe we might “talk a little sweeter” to those we know. Mom spent her last lucid days trying to share Jesus with as many as she could. What a neat example for a teenage son.

Hmmmm. If today were my last, would I do what I did yesterday? Would that much TV consume my time? Would the newspaper and Time and Newsweek and Read-er’s Digest redden my eyes? Would I mow the lawn one last time, wash the car, get my hair cut (chuckle), tell someone off, plan summer vacation, mop the floor, empty the trash, get set up for that giant yard sale? Or would I, just maybe, be more selective with my choices?

Oh, yes! I would definitely have a last supper with some of my dearest friends. I would be sure to remind them how much they mean to me and how I loved them so. I would speak to my sons and sister and dad and Jere and Carl and God. Yes! For sure!! I’d have a serious, focused, arduous talk with the “Holy Father.” I wonder why I didn’t do that yesterday. And instead of doing a crossword or reading the comics, I just might savor the Sermon on the Mount and Stephen’s bold farewell add-ress one more time.

Life is precious. Most of us cherish it-cling to it tenaciously. A few wish they had never been born. Life is a valuable gift from God. But it pales in comparison to salvation. “I came that you might have abundant life,” said the Master. Only in him can it possibly be lived abundantly. Yet life is temporary. Eternity is forever. So how shall the living secure their hearts? One day at a time. That’s how. One step at a time, dear Savior. I cannot take any more. Moment to moment. Thus, when you speak to another, do so kindly. When you are about to do something that belies your stewardship/discipleship, chose the higher road. Relish each day in the shadow of the cross. There may be no more tomorrows. So, “love a little deeper” as that smaltzy song says.

One more try. I suppose what I am struggling to say is, be sure to live like you were dying. Jesus did.

Julian, it has been three days and no press-release has been issued , formally explaining why your artist was a no show in New Jersey. The shows that he has been hooking up with promoters with to put on clearly has no formal contract so Mavado is doing as he pleases and its not pleasing to the fans.  Twitter gives no formal answers and if you were deluded into thinking that the fans are not worth more than a few twitter rants. You must be smoking buddy! Mavado has not been showing up to the venues on time. Every party ends in different cities at different times, New Jersey’s close off time happens to be 3 am, if you and your artist were not aware. The show over the weekend was stopped at three, so if Mavado was not at the venue before 3 am , clearly he would be unable to perform.

DI SENDER WAA KNOW WHERE DIS LADY IS..DEM SEH SHE WELL KNOWN YAWD AND ABROAD BUT MI DOE KNOW HAR…

DEM SEH NO HOMO..BUT TOMMY SEH HOMOSEXUALLY..A DEM DIS

Hi met it look like shoot don’t stop use all dem fool fool gal to mind him!! Shoot it gold now wit one of dem ugly rush gal she naw stop spend the money pon him.Wat u ppl think?