MISSION CONTINUES TO GET WAR CRIMINAL KONY

AFRICAN UNION BEEFS UP
FORCES TO HUNT JOSEPH KONY

www.heraldsun.com.au - The mission to catch the leader of the Lord’s Resistance Army was launched in South Sudan and will last until Kony is caught, UN and African Union officials said at a joint news conference in Uganda. The announcement comes the same month an internet campaign by the US-based advocacy group Invisible Children sought to make Kony “famous” so that policymakers would make it a priority to remove him. The YouTube video has been viewed more than 100 million times. Abou Moussa, head of the UN’s office in Central Africa, said international interest in Kony had spurred regional efforts to eliminate the LRA which is responsible for 2600 civilian deaths since 2008, according to the AU. Its stated aim is to turn Uganda into a theocracy.  The hunt for Kony has primarily been carried out by troops from Uganda, who received a boost last year when US President deployed 100 US troops to help in the mission.  American soldiers are now based in Uganda, the Central African Republic, South Sudan and Congo.

The LRA is thought to have only 200 to 300 soldiers. The group has forced many children to become child soldiers and porters, and women and girls to become sex slaves. The AU mission will comprise troops from Uganda, South Sudan, the Central African Republic and Congo - all countries where Kony’s reign of terror has been felt. The AU’s most prominent military mission is in Somalia, where 17,700 troops - primarily from Uganda, Kenya and Burundi - are fighting al-Shabab Islamic militants. The force has made strong gains over the last year, pushing insurgents out of the capital. The AU’s new focus on Kony dovetails with the Ugandan military’s stance that catching or killing Kony would mean the end of the LRA. His forces were ousted from Ugandan territory in 2005.  Kony is wanted by the International Criminal Court for war crimes and crimes against humanity. He is believed to be hiding in the Central African Republic.

The African Union plans to deploy 5,000 troops to hunt down Joseph Kony, the notorious leader of the Lord’s Resistance Army.  Kony and the LRA have been terrorizing Uganda and neighbouring nations, for more than two decades. He is accused of recruiting children to use them as soldiers and sex slaves and of slicing off ears, noses and limbs of his victims. A celebrity-backed video helped make Kony’s crimes more widely known. In this age of Kali, by decreasing the mercy, cruelty increases.

WHAT DO THE VEDIC TEACHINGS TELL US? 

In Kali-yuga, due to the increase of the modes of passion and ignorance, almost all men are asuric, or demoniac; therefore they are very much fond of eating flesh, and for this end they maintain various kinds of animal slaughterhouses. In this age of Kali the propensity for mercy is almost nil. Consequently there is always fighting and wars between men and nations. Men do not understand that because they unrestrictedly kill so many animals, they also must be slaughtered like animals in big wars. ... Sometimes during war, soldiers keep their enemies in concentration camps and kill them in very cruel ways. These are reactions brought about by unrestricted animal-killing in the slaughterhouse and by hunters in the forest. Proud, demoniac persons do not know the laws of nature, or the laws of God.

Śrīla A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda :
“Śrīmad Bhāgavatam” - Canto 4: “Creation of the Fourth Order”
Chapter 26: “King Purañjana Goes to the Forest to Hunt,
and His Queen Becomes Angry” - Verse 5
Bhaktivedanta Book Trust International