According to U.S. embassy cables acquired by WikiLeaks, Invisible Children provided an intelligence tip to Ugandan authorities, leading to the arrests of a former child soldier Patrick Komakech, a church leader and many more who were implicated as sympathizers to the Lord’s Resistance Army.
The leaked memos document that U.S. officials were aware of the Ugandan government’s campaigns to demonize opponents of their military solution against the LRA by portraying them as collaborators to Joseph Kony’s regime.
In the June 11, 2009 cable, former US ambassador to Uganda Steven Browning wrote, “Invisible Children reported that Komakech had been in Nairobi and had recently reappeared in Gulu, where he was staying with the NGO. Security organisations jumped on the tip and immediately arrested him.”
The NGO also reportedly backed a Ugandan government operation that killed more civilians than LRA militants.
Both Invisible Children and the Ugandan government dismissed details of the documents yesterday.
“That is not true,” Invisible Children Uganda Spokesperson Florence Ogola said. “We are not involved in anything to do with security. We only deal with development.”
Image: youtube.com/invisiblechildreninc
