Top stories from DAWNS Digest.
Uganda Captures Top LRA General. Is Joseph Kony Next?
A US-backed Ugandan military force captured one of the top leaders of the Lord’s Resistance Army. This suggests that they are right on the tail of nabbing the internationally wanted Joseph Kony. “The Ugandan army said it caught Caesar Achellam, a major general in Kony’s outfit of about 200 fighters, in an ambush along the banks of the River Mbou in Central African Republic (CAR) on Saturday. Achellam was armed with just an AK-47 rifle and eight rounds of ammunition, a spokesman for the Uganda People’s Defence Force (UPDF), said. He was being held with his wife, a young daughter and a helper. The UPDF, which has a force hunting for Kony full-time in the jungles of CAR, backed by U.S. troops, said the capture of Achellam would encourage other fighters to abandon the LRA. ‘The arrest of Major General Caesar Achellam is big progress because he is a big fish,’ said UPDF spokesman Felix Kulaigye. ‘His capture is definitely going to cause an opinion shift within the LRA.’” (Alertnet http://bit.ly/J9R9Xq)
An Outburst of Sectarian Violence in Lebanon Suggests Syria Conflict is Spilling Over
For months, we have heard warnings that full-scale civil war in Syria would have dire consequences throughout the region. It seems that one of the first casualties may be Lebanon “Three people were killed when fighting erupted overnight in the Lebanese city of Tripoli between members of the Alawite minority loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and members of the Sunni majority, witnesses and security officials said. Rocket-propelled grenades and automatic rifles were used in the fighting in an Alawite enclave and surrounding Sunni neighbourhoods in the port city, 70 km (45 miles) north of Beirut. “The clashes peaked at dawn. The sound of gunfire is still echoing in the city,” a Lebanese security official said…A small Alawite minority is concentrated in Tripoli, a conservative Sunni city where many residents have been enraged by the Syrian government’s crackdown on the 14-month revolt against 42 years of rule by the Assad family and their Alawite establishment. Syria’s Sunni majority is at the forefront of the uprising against Assad, whose sect is an offshoot of Shi’ite Islam. Lebanon’s government, headed by Najib Mikati, a wealthy former businessman and a personal friend of Assad’s, has been among the few worldwide supportive of the Syrian government during the crackdown.” (AlterNet http://bit.ly/JwisY0)