Nate Henn

Nate Henn, 25, was one of the victims in yesterday’s bombing in Kigali, Rwanda of a rugby field where the World Cup final was being televised on a giant screen. Nate listed himself as a 2007 graduate of the University of Delaware. When I was on the Inquirer’s editorial board writing about Northern Uganda from about 2005 through 2007, a group of students from UD was extremely passionate about and active in efforts to raise US awareness about the war in northern Uganda in which children were targeted and terrorized. A number of them walked in Philadelphia’s portion of the first, national Gulu Walk, in an effort to teach people around the world about that conflict. I suspect Nate was one of those participants, since he was in Uganda working with the NGO, Invisible Children, which seeks to help the kids of northern Uganda who still feel the aftereffects of a war in which they were kidnapped and forced to become soldiers and sex slaves.

A surge of activism beginning around 2005, helped propel the end of that war in northern Uganda, though the Lord’s Resistance Army, led by international war-crimes suspect Joseph Kony, continues to wreak bloody havoc on children and other bystanders throughout that region of Africa.  While the LRA’s continued existence is troubing, today let us simply herald the role individual activists who coalesce into a larger group, can play in an issue, no matter how big or small or how far away it may be.

One person can make a difference. Nate Henn made a difference. My condolences to his family.

Look, in 1993, I was one of the earliest journalists in this country to write — and write consistently — about the war in northern Uganda and how it was destroying children and childhood. I was firmly on the bandwagon of trying to end this war through negotiations, in no small part due to the possibility that trying to crush the LRA would mean killing rebels who were victims, too, of kidnapping and conscription. But there should come a point when reality dictates policy. Yes, Ugandan President Museveni has done wrong in this war as well, and has helped fuel it. Bu I believe he has been truly open to ending the wear through talks in the last couple of years. I don’t care about his motivation. It doesn’t matter to me that he may have done so only because allies were pressing their thumbs on him. If Kony had come in from the bush to sign the peace pact that had been painstakingly negotiated, Museveni, I think, would have signed it. But let us be honest: Kony will likely never surrender as long as the International Criminal Court indictment is hanging over his head. And at this point, considering his reluctance to come to the table, there is no reason to withdraw or postpone the indictment.

So what’s left to people of good conscience who want to see this bloody ordeal end? It’s chasing Kony and his top aides down militarily. Now, did the United States, Uganda, the DRC and Sudan have a smart military plan? No, not if they didn’t ring the area where they thought Kony might have been and, thus, allowed him  to escape. That bears a similar ring to how Osama bin Laden and the Taliban were able to flee Afghanistan and enter Pakistan because, in part, the border area in the White Mountains near Tora Bora was open.

Now, the LRA is moving in small groups and terrorizing civilians in the DRC. It is a dreadful development. But it is nothing new — the LRA generally has moved in small groups since its hey day.  We all want it to end, and that’s why this isn’t the time to stop pursuing Kony. Considering the ICC indictment is going to be dropped at this point, the best leverage to get him is chasing him and threatening his personal well-being. This pressure has likely prompted one of the cruelest LRA commanders also sought by the ICC, Okot Odhiambo, to say he will surrender. We must wait and see if that happens. In the meantime, the U.S., Britain and others could help close down the LRA by providing more intel and advice for the chase. The targets should be Kony and his commanders, not the rank-and-file. The timing is obvious: when the intel has pinpointed Kony’s location and a cordon with enough soldiers has surrounded him.

The LRA’s terrorizing of the region has to end. If Kony won’t come to the table after so many opportunities, it’s time to stop wishing and use other means so more children aren’t stolen, more girls raped, more childhoods lost.

Ugandan rebels attack Congo town, 50,000 flee -UN

But the time has come to put all the pressure possible on Kony and show him that surrendering and signing a peace agreement with Uganda is his only chance — or he will face a United States and Britain committed to catching Kony.

Some steps are necessary for trying to salvage these on-again, off-again peace talks.

The Bush administration has stepped up pressure on Kony by naming him to the most serious U.S. terrorist list.  But for that action to be used as leverage, next must come an unambiguous statement from Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice or Undersecretary for African Affairs Jendayi Frazier that, if Kony signs the peace agreement that already has been negotiated by his team and the government and follows through on its provisions, his name will come off that list. The U.S. and others must make clear they are prepared to use their technological expertise to help local governments in the East African region locate and capture Kony and his lieutenants. If the United States could find former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein in an underground spider hole, surely it can find Kony the compadres who no doubt surround him to protect him.

The Ugandan parliament, largely controlled by Museveni, must — with international assistance — establish the laws and mechanisms for charging Kony with crimes against humanity and war crimes, and fairly trying him in a special court within Uganda. The International Criminal Court is only supposed to intervene if a country does not have the ability to try a war crimes suspect fairly and according to basic international legal standards. Part of the peace deal is that Kony could be tried in Uganda, rather than before the ICC in the Hague. If Kony is to be held accountable for his actions during the 21-year war. If such a court could establish, it would give the U.N. Security Council reason to ask that the ICC indictments be delayed, allowing the peace plan to move forward. 

It is too late, in my opinion, to arrange a third-country safe haven for Kony even if what he wants most in order to come out of the bush is a guarantee of his personal safety. Let him have a temporary, guarded safe haven somewhere until a trial begins. He may think he can turn it into a permanent escape from justice. Let him think that — as long as his “hosts” agree to bring him to a court whose procedures and personnel meet international standards. Uganda should accept international expertise in establishing the special court and help throughout the proceedings.

All of these preparations and commitments need to be made clear to Kony. With it, should come a clear commitment from the US and Britain to aid local troops in catching Kony. The LRA leader should know that he will be brought before the full measure of the International Criminal Court if he and his soldiers do not turn themselves in, release abductees immediately, and turn in their weapons to a disarmament program under U.N. auspices. Kony also should know that he will face international punishments should he be found guilty, which are likely to be stricter than punishment meted out by a Ugandan court in a country where traditional customs may blunt the penalty.

If Kony continues to play games, then there should be no hesitation beyond what is necessary to track him down and for local troops to assemble and catch him. This game, so destructive to civilians in three countries now, must not be allowed to go on any longer.

And with either scenario — Kony turning himself in or the international community aiding in his capture, the United States and Britain must compel their ally, Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni, to address the inequities of the central government toward Acholis in the north, and follow through on a transparent, professionalized reconstruction program for the north. Museveni correcting discrimination of the past is the only way to ensure that another Kony does not arise if the man himself is at long last captured.