Comments for Mats Utas

Comment on The (LRA) conflict: Beyond the LRA lobby & the hunt for Kony… and towards civilian protection – By Kristof Titeca by Kristof Titeca

Kristof Titeca — Sun, 19 May 2013 17:26:50 +0000

Many thanks for your questions. There are two issues I’d like to clarify: i) I don’t blame the advocacy campaigns for the violence on the ground, but for not addressing the violence of other actors, related with the LRA conflict, in their lobbying and interventions; and ii) A distinction should be made between advocacy/lobbying for military intervention; and the interventions of these lobby groups themselves.

The Congolese army is only present in these areas because of the LRA – there was no army presence, or very minimal presence, in these areas before the LRA violence started. The motivation of the Congolese government to fight the LRA, and protect the population, has always been very minimal -the government has always minimized and even denied its presence. The army’s presence largely is a result of external pressure on the Congolese government. US pressure, and the various media campaigns in the US, played an important role in this.

Even if these advocacy campaigns would have played no role in the arrival of the Congolese army in the affected areas, their concrete interventions continue to focus on the LRA as such, largely neglecting the other threats (as shown for the high-frequency radio’s, which are not tailored for the other threats); and also in their lobby/advocacy efforts (such as the Crisis Tracker), they continue to successfully portray the conflict as ‘LRA only’, which made it hard for other humanitarian actors to find funding to for example address army violence and finance judicial processes.

Also, I don’t want to argue that the Congolese army is not necessary: they are very necessary to protect the population against the LRA. But remaining silent about their (and other groups’) abuses further allows these events to happen.

Comment on The (LRA) conflict: Beyond the LRA lobby & the hunt for Kony… and towards civilian protection – By Kristof Titeca by Michael Kleinman

Michael Kleinman — Sun, 19 May 2013 02:10:04 +0000

This is a very interesting piece, but I do have one question. If I understand correctly, your argument seems to rest on the assumption that the Congolese military is in the area as a direct consequence of the advocacy by Invisible Children and others.

In other words, that the the Congolese military would not have deployed to Garamba National Park to fight the LRA without being pushed by this advocacy campaign. Is this correct?

Because, if not – if the Congolese military would have been in Garamba to confront the LRA regardless of international advocacy – part of your argument falls apart. Then it’s not the advocacy campaign itself which is to blame for the violence by Congolese soldiers and others on the ground.

Comment on The Malian crisis: causes, consequences, responses by Morten Bøås and Mats Utas by The Malian crisis; causes, consequences, responses | SidylamineMali.com

The Malian crisis; causes, consequences, responses | SidylamineMali.com — Fri, 10 May 2013 13:48:22 +0000

[…] is an abridged version of the full article published in Mats Utas’ blog and in the Finnish Journal of Foreign Affairs 2/2013. Source: […]

Comment on Mali : the unexpected crisis, a year later…. (guest post by Marc-André Boisvert) by Dave Taylor

Dave Taylor — Thu, 09 May 2013 10:44:29 +0000

Thank you for writing such an informative, personal and moving account of your experience in Mali. This type of writing helps me to empathise with people in tough situations rather than seeing it as just another news item.

Comment on The best recipe for protracted warfare in Mali is aerial bombing and rushed deployment of peacekeeping forces by Del G

Del G — Thu, 02 May 2013 13:05:07 +0000

Thankyou for writing this very indepth and informative article on the situation in Mali. I feel far more informed on the situation than I ever did from watching short news bulletins.

Comment on ”Even my grandmother would go fighting” (Guest Post by Ilmari Käihkö) by http://adamdroberts.com/how-to-keep-good-maintenance-Of-your-computer/

http://adamdroberts.com/how-to-keep-good-maintenance-Of-your-computer/ — Thu, 25 Apr 2013 20:01:21 +0000

Howdy! This is my first comment here so I just wanted to give a quick shout out
and tell you I genuinely enjoy reading through your posts.

Can you recommend any other blogs/websites/forums that deal with the same topics?
Thank you!

Comment on ‘war as a violent mode of participating in today’s global economy’: reading danny hoffman’s war machines by Danny Hoffman takes Deleuze to West Africa | Africa: Politics and Societies South of the Sahara

Fri, 19 Apr 2013 15:57:02 +0000

[...] and Félix Guattari to an African conflict. I abstained from writing a review because everything is nicely summed up by Mats Utas already. Buy this book and be fascinated by a rare combination of investigative guerilla journalism and [...]

Comment on West Point – Conflicting perceptions of crime, security and Liberian ex-combatants (by Mariam Persson) by descripti

descripti — Tue, 16 Apr 2013 19:39:21 +0000

Hello Everybody!
I strongly believe that most reporters have bias in their reposts from time-to-time. With all due respect, I notice some bias against the Swedish and/or the vice guide to Liberia documentary in the above reporting. Personally, I believe that West Point in Liberia and the Liberian nation needs plenty of help in order to improve those “desperately poor and unemployed people living condition in West Point and in Liberia. There are sanitation problems all around Liberia, mostly in the city of Monrovia. Yes, West Point’s situation is exceptionally catastrophic as shown on the vice guide to Liberia documentary. From reading the above posting, I notice that the authors understand the bad situation in West Point, therefore, why are they so disturb or upset by the facts revealed by the Swedish and/or the vice guide to Liberia documentary?
Perhaps you have a different lifestyle, but one can find crime, violence and some drug activity in West Point all day, as well as prostitution, that is the true. As for Hell, I do not know how hell feels; therefore, I will not take it that far. However, life in Liberia is very hard money or no money. Just dealing with the light, water and roads issues everyday is hard. Try living on $1.00 a day, all most people get to eat everyday is rice and red oil. Currently, there is no growth so how is saying the true a negative thing? I understand that we love Liberia and we will like to see it improve, but the documentary was accurate and it shed light on those “impoverished” people struggle from a different point of view. Why will a notorious ex-combatant be afraid in West Point? Is living in a house with no windows normal to you? Gang leader in West Point, the place is as bad as the documentary stated. In other for anyone to become successful that lives in that situation, they need to move out of West Point. In Liberia today, you do not have to look for post war rebel networks or ex-combatants, they are everywhere in Liberia.
Lastly, we Liberia must accept the true and deal with it in a positive way. The true is the true for everybody. Perhaps we should hold our leaders in the house responsible for impoverished situation in Liberia overall.

Comment on West Point – Conflicting perceptions of crime, security and Liberian ex-combatants (by Mariam Persson) by Mikael Wiking

Mikael Wiking — Mon, 15 Apr 2013 10:06:16 +0000

Thanks for a really good blog putting the finger on something so important, yet so often forgotten. It is often so tempting and easy to define something as chaotic and unorganised, rather than trying to dig deeper and go into depth to improve your understanding. I visited West Point a couple of times myself in 2007 and your description of the area almost brings back memories of smells, sounds and the heat under the burning sun.

Comment on Has Grand Gedeh County become a frontline? Guest post by Ilmari Käihkö on the situation in the Liberian borderlands by Wilmot G. White

Wilmot G. White — Sun, 31 Mar 2013 11:03:44 +0000

Liberia should moved forward and stop the pity politics.