By Richard M. Kavuma
July 13, 2003 -Monitor
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Maj. Gen. Mugisha Muntu on Friday disagreed strongly with Minister Ssemakula Kiwanuka on why the northern war has not ended. "No guerilla can succeed without the support of the local population," Prof. Ssemakula Kiwanuka said during a group discussion at the East African Conference on Political Succession. Ssemakula is the Minister of State for Luwero Triangle. Muntu, a former army commander, immediately raised his hand to oppose Ssemakula's claim that Acholi were supporting the LRA rebels and that was the reason for unending northern war. The two-day conference ended on Friday at International Conference Centre in Kampala. It was organised by the East African Centre for Constitutional Development and the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung. Ssemakula also charged that Lango and Teso leaders had condemned the Joseph Kony-led LRA but the Acholi MPs had not. Muntu, now a member of the East African Legislative Assembly, told Ssemakula that the Acholi are trapped in a brutal war. "When a population supports a rebellion, recruitment is voluntary," Muntu said. Giving what he called a deep analysis of the rebellion, Muntu said government has failed to defeat the rebels for "different reasons". He did not disclose them. "To say that Kitgum, for instance, supports Kony is ...," Muntu said, failing to find the right words to complete the sentence. The Acholi Parliamentary Group and individual MPs have repeatedly condemned the war in which the rebels have killed, maimed, abducted and displaced hundreds of thousands of civilians. About 100 politicians, academicians, leaders of civil society organisations and various professionals attended the conference. They resolved that among others, presidents should be elected for only a fixed number of terms. |
� 2003 The Monitor Publications
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