Military Review English Edition November December 2016 | Page 79

LIMITED INTERVENTION

more than one hundred kilometers from their company
commander (more than five
hours by tracked vehicle).
From March to July 2014,
Battlegroup Scorpion had
an area of operations that
ran from Sibut to Bria, a
distance of approximately
350 kilometers, for an area
of sixty thousand square
kilometers.13
It is difficult in these
cases to consider reaction maneuvers and rapid
reinforcement. This is why
rotary-wing support was
crucial, especially given its
psychological effects for
enemy forces. Some areas
had to be left uncontrolled
or monitored by mobile
surveillance at intervals.
Then there was the issue of
radio links: VHF (very high
frequency) radio waves do
not effectively cover these
distances, and SGTIAs are
not normally equipped with
high frequency or satellite radios. The immense
distances made command
more complex, since it is
difficult for a battlegroup
command post to deploy
more than one tactical
command post. To be
able to control its area of
operations, Battlegroup
Scorpion, from a ten-officer
command post, deployed
one main command post
and three tactical command
posts (composed of one
signal team and one or two
officers) permanently for
four months. Of course,

Two women share a laugh in Gulu, Uganda. Both have had their lips cut off by the Lord’s Resistance Army rebels—a punishment commonly inflicted on women who are washing clothes, looking for firewood or food, or
doing other chores in the vicinity of the camps. (Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)

Specially Designated Global Terrorist: Joseph Kony

In March 2016, the U.S. Department of the Treasury announced new sanctions against the “specially
designated global terrorist” Joseph Kony and the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA). According to the
Department of the Treasury, since its beginnings in northern Uganda in the 1980s,
“the LRA engaged in the abduction and mutilation of thousands of civilians across central Africa.
[Instead of recruiting, the LRA, which considers itself Christian, abducts children and turns them
into fighters.] Under increasing military pressure [from the United States and other nations], Kony
ordered the LRA to withdraw from Uganda in 2005 and 2006 [after it had displaced nearly two million people, according to the U.S. Department of State]. Since then, the LRA has been concentrated
in eastern Central African Republic (CAR) and … on the border of Sudan and South Sudan …, while also operating in the
Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and South Sudan.
“Since December 2013, the LRA has kidnapped, displaced,
committed sexual violence against, and killed hundreds of
individuals across the CAR, as well as looted and destroyed
civilian property … .
“LRA cells are frequently accompanied by captives who are
forced to work as porters, cooks, and sex slaves. The LRA engages in a high prevalence of gender-based violence including
rapes of women and young girls … . In southeastern CAR, …
approximately 21,000 Central Africans and 3,200 refugees
from the DRC have been displaced as a result of LRA violence.

The Lord’s Resistance Army leader,
Joseph Kony, in 2012. (Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)

“In addition to its attacks on civilians, the LRA has engaged in illicit diamonds trade, elephant poaching, and ivory trafficking for revenue generation since at least 2014.”1
In “How Killing Elephants Finances Terror in Africa,” National Geographic online, Bryan Christy narrates how an expert taxidermist created an artificial tusk that could contain a tracking system and
then be placed with poached tusks to trace their illegal trade route, which passes through the Central
African Republic. African tusks eventually sell in China for thousands of dollars.2
Notes
1. Department of the Treasury, “Treasury Sanctions the Lord’s Resistance Army and Founder Joseph Kony,”
Department of the Treasury Press Center website, 8 March 2016, accessed 17 March 2016, https://www.treasury.
gov/press-center/press-releases/Pages/jjl0376.aspx.; see also Department of State, Office of the Spokesperson,
“The Lord’s Resistance Army: Fact Sheet,” Department of State website, 23 March 2012, accessed 29 February 2016,
http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2012/03/186734.htm.
2. Bryan Christy, “How Killing Elephants Finances Terror in Africa,” National Geographic website, 12 August

MILITARY REVIEW  November-December 2016
2015, accessed 17 March 2016, http://www.nationalgeographic.com/tracking-ivory/article.html.

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