The roots of war: How Alice Lakwena gave way to Joseph Kony

Blurred lines of administration

But the character of the LRA command was unusual to ordinary military commands.

“It was a mixture or combination of spiritual and religious edifice engrained with components of militarism,” another source said.

Unlike the usual military commands where the chain of command starts with the commander-in-chief to the manageable departments, that was not the case with the LRA. What was known about the LRA’s command structure was born in the initial philosophy of the Movement that laid out a form of Christian purity that presented tacit or haste demands outlined in the Ten Commandments.

Kony’s military command is a closely-knit group, which had a supreme or military council that ordinarily operates like a quasi cabinet to discuss problems, solutions, policies, command and tactics. Kony, as the supreme leader, governed with the military council. But he was careful not to upset his field commanders. His trick was to portend that these were God’s orders.

“He could wake up in the middle of the night and say he was about to make a revelation. This message was carried across the battle-front through his couriers and scouts,” a source said.

Sometimes, the revelation would turn out to be an execution order. One of Kony’s tactics to avoid a palace coup was the field commanders never returned to serve in the Control Alter Brigade even if they had initially served there. Control Alter (sometimes referred to as Trinkle) is the equivalent of the UPDF’s Special Forces under the command of President Museveni’s son, Lt Col Muhoozi Kainerugaba.

Just like the Special Forces, Control Alter’s primary duty is to provide protection and fend off any palace coup attacks against the respective LRA leaders.

“He would appoint the field commanders or couriers to head echelons and you would never report directly to him,” said a source, confirming a military structure where the chain of command was blurred.

Commenting further about how Kony managed to stave off coups, a source said: “Whenever Kony needed to communicate particular information in the field, an adhoc command structure was created within which communication would be relayed.”

Kony stands at the apex of the LRA structure, politically, militarily and spiritually. He is central not only to the organization and actions, but to its very purpose. The LRA appears to be organised in five brigades, namely Control Alter, Sinia, Stockree, Gilva and Shila. Dominic Ogwen, now the third in command, is the head of the Sinia Brigade.

Each brigade is estimated to have between 300 and 500 fighters, but Kony’s fighters have recently been depleted to significantly low numbers.

LRA becomes proxy

The first formation of Kony’s command structure was in 1992. There was a massacre at Acholi Pi, which targeted Sudanese refugees. Before the attacks, the LRA had lived freely with the SPLA. After that attack, it became quite clear that Khartoum had finalized a plan for a proxy war and found Kony a compatriot. They started training him.

According to a former LRA fighter who preferred not to be identified, Kony’s structure of administration began to take shape for the first time after Khartoum intervened. Before then, what was arguably known to the public was a semblance of a political wing. But after he made contact with Khartoum, Kony’s structure of command became more pronounced.

“After the Sudan incident, there was formal support and training,” said the source.

Some formal structures began to take root and the LRA put in place its first High Command. Most of the LRA commanders were identified by Kony himself. The LRA, from 1994, had a stable base in the heart of Juba, where Kony lived with his wives.

There was clear communication between him and the supply lines in Khartoum. It had become clear by 1995 that Kony was the leader of the LRA, deputised by Otti Lagony. Before then, not much was known on the military front, and on the political landscape, there were many names that often appeared in the media.

The LRA political wing had visible faces in the 1990s, like Dr James Obita, its publicist who was operating from London; Komakech in Norway; and later Dominic Wanyama, another LRA propagandist based in Nairobi. Before 1992, LRA enjoyed relative support in the Acholi sub-region because the war then had political appeal.

During the 1996 parliamentary probe, many elders who took oath at the hearings revealed that the cause of the war was partly attributed to the economic and social inequalities. They also mentioned the immediate causes such as witch-hunt by NRA, open provocation towards UNLA soldiers, brutal methods of arrest [kandoya], rape and sodomy.

Most of these accusations were levelled at the 67th battalion, which consisted of FEDEMU (Federal Democratic Movement in Uganda) fighters that had been integrated in the NRA. It was later disbanded. But a peace accord was signed and the chairman of the talks, Charles Alai, had been appointed a deputy minister of Public Service in 1993.

Therefore, the relationship previously enjoyed by the LRA with the locals began to wane and the NRA started a hot pursuit campaign to rid the north of the rebels.
At the same time, the NRA, now Uganda People’s Defence Forces (UPDF), entered a strong pact with the Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA). From time to time, the SPLA sprung attacks on the LRA.

It was during this period that the rebel army started abducting people, and using brutal tactics of guerrilla war-fare.

“Initially, abductions were to help transport and carry supplies. Kony was even sympathetic to women, children and the elderly. And even in the extreme circumstances when they made off with children, they only took the energetic; but all this changed,” one source said.

The vicious policy of abduction and indoctrination was partly attributed to the inroads the NRA had made. The LRA had to find alternative routes to avoid SPLA ambushes and some abdcutees have revealed that they lived in Khartoum for sometime during the war.

Death of Lagony, rise of Vincent Otti

There are many theories that could explain the death of Lagony. One is that he was sent from Sudan to abduct and conscript fighters, but upon reaching Kony’s birthplace in Odek, he carried out abductions and killed many civilians, which annoyed Kony. Another view is that Lagony got entangled in the complex rivalries between the Acholi from the north and the east.

“There has always been a rift – it did not start in the bush – and the LRA was not spared of the north-east rivalry. Lagony was from the north, while Kony was from the east,” revealed a source.

Before his death, Lagony had become a powerful commander and enjoyed close relations with the Khartoum regime. He opened new communication channels with Khartoum and also attempted to link up with the remnants of the Uganda Peoples’ Army (UPA). When the LRA character gradually began changing, Vincent Otti became its new face of brutality.

It is believed that around 1985, Otti owned a shop in Wandegeya, a suburb of Kampala, selling merchandise to Makerere University students. Another source revealed that during the LRA war, “there was an attempt by the LRA to link up with Juma Oris of the West Nile Bank Front [WNBF, another rebel group operating in West Nile].”

This group was quite active in springing attacks from Sudan. It is arguable that WNBF attempted to cut off West Nile from the rest of Uganda. But Oris did not have the capacity to stretch his troops to Koboko, Arua and Yumbe. Upon linking up with the LRA, it was agreed the two rebel groups could work in harmony. LRA was assigned a role of controlling the western side of the River Nile bank.

Otti and his marauding Red Brigade were tasked with this assignment. To show his brutality, Otti burnt more than ten vehicles in a single incident.

“He practically ran the Karuma-Pakwach, Gulu-Adjumani axis, where he carried out numerous ambushes,” said a source.

Otti and his fighters found sanctuary in the Murchison Falls Park and the large forest cover between Amuru and Adjumani districts.

“He became quite handy because he hailed from Atiak [presently Amuru district] and knew the terrain well enough to execute a guerrilla war campaign.”

Apparently, what endeared Kony to Otti, the executioner of the infamous Atiak massacre, was his brutal tactics.
“Of course, loyalty and the firm show of brutality underpinned the rise of some LRA commanders like Otti,” said the source.

Otti, who was a junior commander, was later named Kony’s deputy after the execution of Lagony.

Elusive Kony

Kony and his commanders have often used pseudonyms to avoid tracking. In the late1990s, most of Kony’s commanders’ names were not known. LRA fighters also maximised the use of numerical numbers. “They referred to themselves as Acel, Ario, Adek . . . [one, two, three in the Luo dialect] and yet it also did not represent their hierarchal order,” said a former LRA fighter. For example, Okot Odhiambo is known as ‘Two Victor’, his radio call sign.

The rebels also commonly referred to themselves as Laponyi (teacher in Luo), and even Kony was Laponyi. It helped them in command and control. I interviewed a former journalist who covered the war extensively for New Vision and Daily Monitor about why Kony has managed to survive assassination or a palace coup.

Charles Tolit, who is now a human rights lawyer based in Gulu district, cites three reasons Kony remains elusive.

“Kony, as a child started manifesting mystic character. He would wander in forests even before he started a rebellion. In his formative years, he stayed in isolation. Perhaps his interaction with nature built his instinct for survival.”

Unlike other organized guerrilla movements that crisscrossed jungles and major capitals across the world to build alliances, Kony never did so.
“He got acquainted with the jungle and built an emotional instinct of survival,” Tolit said.
According to him, Kony found numerous weaknesses within the NRA.

“The first five years could have formed the most serious confrontation of the NRA to end the war. But after that, the rest was a bundle of misadventures.”
Tolit argues that at first it was a kind of punishment for the commanders deployed to fight in the north. Yet, later, NRA’s senior commanders began to benefit in social and economic spheres.

“Many were beginning to enjoy the dividends and spoils of the war. This gave Kony an advantage.”
There were a number of mistakes, including graft and ghost soldiers. Commanders in the north deliberately inflated the exact troop strength under their command by, among other things, keeping names of dead soldiers on the payroll so as to keep drawing their salaries.

Kony also enjoyed the sanctuary he had in South Sudan and the support he later obtained from Khartoum.

In the next series, we examine why the government ordered the Acholi community to abandon their homes and live in camps. We also discuss why the NRA failed to end the insurgency that outlived even its most accomplished commanders, including generals Salim Saleh, David Tinyefuza, Cheefe Ali and James Kazini.

emutaizibwa@observer.ug