December 2008, 8 days after Uganda launches Operation Lightning Thunder against the Lord’s Resistance Army in Garamba, DRC:
Victory is assured this time…As an old fighter, I would not want to be in Kony’s position. The combined arms operations about to begin will decimate him…Our forces are closing in on Kony.
–(Pres. Museveni, December, 22, 2008, The New Vision)
In November 2002, several months into Operation Iron Fist:
The LRA is on the verge of final and total defeat. Nothing will save them…I don’t think we shall hear from Kony next year – 2003.
–(Pres. Museveni, November 22, 2002, The New Vision).
One question: where is the Operation Lightning Thunder Web site?? A November 7, 2002 article in The New Vision declares:
THE UPDF has gone cyberspace in its operations against Joseph Kony’s rebels in the north and southern Sudan, reports John Eremu. From any part of the globe, one can now get the latest information on Operation Iron Fist by logging onto the website address: www.updfironfist.co.ug.
Sadly, it is a dead end…
[...] complex framing of the conflict. Why not just call him elusive? It would be true. See a previous post on proclamations about the end of the LRA in [...]