The Monitor (Kampala)
EDITORIAL
July 26, 2003
Posted to the web July 28, 2003
Kampala
Members of the Acholi Religious Leaders Peace Initiative want the President, Lt Gen. Yoweri Museveni to name the leaders he recently accused of abetting the Kony rebellion.
Gen. Museveni reportedly told participants at a workshop on the conflict in northern Uganda that Joseph Kony's Lord's Resistance Army rebels have supporters among the leadership who encourage them and confuse the international community.
Which leaders does the President mean?
That is the question the religious leaders want Museveni to answer by naming names.
They also make another allegation: That army officers who are not from northern Uganda do not seem concerned about ending the rebellion.
Apart from the deaths, destruction, and wanton mayhem that it has spurred, the recent rebel incursion into areas outside the Acholi sub-region, especially into Teso, has spewed ugly emotional debris.
Gen. Museveni and other army top brass have moved quickly to attempt to reassure us that the apparent spread in rebel activity indicates that the UPDF will defeat them soon.
Unfortunately, most civilians in and outside the war zone do not share this rosy perception. They see the escalation of rebel activity as a result of UPDF failure to contain it.
Whatever the case, there is added urgency in calls for an end to the 17-year rebellion.
Both Museveni and the religious leaders have said that they are working to end the rebellion.
That is why the accusation and counter-accusations among them and others seeking to end the war are diversionary and must be stopped.
There are more important points to ponder in the pursuit of peace, including why Gen. Museveni is intent on a military solution to the war when it has failed over and over.
Perhaps it's time all of us pooled our efforts on the side of those working for a negotiated peace deal with Kony's rebels.
