MK
The Monitor (Kampala)August 12, 2003
Posted to the web August 12, 2003 Kakaire Ayub Kirunda
Kampala Youth in Karamoja are asking for about Shs 6 billion to rout the Lord's Resistance Army [LRA] rebels lodged in Teso.
The Chairman Karamoja Peace and Environmental Protection Service [KAPEPS] Mr Akore John Bosco Jokothau says the money is needed for the social-economic development of the sub-region."All we need to finish off Kony and his group is this money so that we can have water, diversify our economy, build polytechnics and resettle our people," Akore said in an interview with The Monitor on August 10.He said once government releases the money, hundreds of Karimojong youths will be ready to fight the rebels."Once we are given this task... the Acholi and Iteso should support us," he said.
He said causalities suffered by the LRA when they tried to cross to Karamoja are a clear manifestation that the Karimojong can tame the rebels.He said the northern insurgency had persisted because some army officers are benefiting from the rebellion."It is common sense that one cannot destroy their source of income. Much as the rebels are fighting without any fear, the UPDF soldiers fight while hiding," Akore said.
He said that the war would end if the army started looking at the LRA as enemies and not as a source of income.
"The lie can be maintained only for such time as the State can shield the people from the political, economic and/or military consequences of the lie. It thus becomes vitally important for the State to use all of its powers to repress dissent, for the truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, the truth becomes the greatest enemy of the state."
- Dr. Joseph M. Goebbels - Hitler's propaganda minister
