America Humanitarian Imperialism in Uganda

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America Humanitarian Imperialism in Uganda

There is a new global phenomenon called “KONY 2012” that has been circling the internet very recently. A 30-minute video about an African warlord and his army blasted its way onto the Internet this week, lighting up social networks like Facebook and Twitter and becoming a YouTube phenomenon.

The international campaign is an attempt to raise awareness of a man named Joseph Kony, the leader of the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) that has been fighting in Sub-Saharan Africa for over two decades.

This conflict needs to be presented in a much broader context and understand the situation better.

Kony is from north Uganda. He follows and preaches a blend of different traditional “African” Christian teachings. He is basically regarded within his own group as having “God’s” spirit within him. The whole issue with him is he has the largest child soldier army in Africa , Sudan\South Sudan has the 2nd highest, he’s also been involved in child slavery\human trafficking.
A Ugandan journalist named Rosebell Kagumire said this of the campaign to make Kony “famous”:
[The film seems to suggest that the power to change the situation lies in America and it doesn’t lie in the hands of the government of Uganda and local governments. It is a furthering of an image of Africans as being totally unable to help themselves. It continues a narrative of Africa as being a place of conflict and the people are “so hopeless” that America “can help.” Kagumire goes on to say that “the war is much more complex than just one man.” It is largely about “resources and the marginalization of people in Northern Uganda.”]

This whole Kony 2012 seems to be hogwash propaganda to encourage the public to increase “pressure” on congress and the president to militarily get involved; or just simply justify unilateral military intervention in this region.

There has been a lot of investigation into the non-profit organization that made this film, Invisible Children. The organization got its name when it created the video “Invisible Children” in 2006. It is running this whole KONY 2012 marketing sales \ donation rush.

Military intervention will come not because of the LRA but because of what the United State or more percisely because the Centralized banking system fears Chinese influence over the 3rd world. They will shower this fear in the mask of humanitarian needs. China over the last 10 years has been building their relationship with Africa increasingly.

Now the US Africa Command (AFRICOM) has got two bases in Uganda which claim to be promoting “regional stability.” But US military bases have been in place for one very specific reason – to protect US economic interests.   In Uganda and South Sudan there are significant oil and natural gas resources. Uganda’s recently-discovered oil reserves may produce between 2.5 billion to 6 billion barrels of oil.

U.S. Army Sets Base in Kitgum plus an air base in Entebbe. Also, U.S. Special Forces have set up a base in Obo in the Central African Republic as part of their regional hunt for fighters from the Ugandan-born Lord’s Resistance Army. The LRA is estimated to have only 200-300 fighters.

More important for the United States, the deployment offers an opportunity for U.S. Africa Command to further its goals in the region, including those in South Sudan and Somalia.

AFRICOM’s Objectives

Established in 2006 by the Bush administration and based in Stuttgart, Germany, AFRICOM is primarily intended to help African security forces build up their capabilities to handle regional security issues. To complete its mission, AFRICOM needs stable African partners with access to areas of instability. Having such a partner is especially important at a time when the international community and pan-African groups are calling for African-based initiatives to solve African problems. A committed political partner such as Uganda can legitimize and complement U.S. initiatives in Africa.