Government Ready to Relocate Kony
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New Vision (Kampala)
November 14, 2003
Posted to the web November 14, 2003
John Eremu
Kampala
THE Government is ready to relocate LRA leader Joseph Kony and his top commanders to a country of their choice if they surrender and feel unsafe in Uganda, state minister for defence Ruth Nankabirwa has said.
Nankabirwa said salaries for the various militia groups battling the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) in the east and north have been raised from sh40,000 to about sh60,000 to boost their morale.
She told the weekly ministerial press briefing yesterday that the UPDF and the militia forces - Arrow Group in Teso and the Amuka Group in Lango - had scored many successes against the rebels. She said Kony's deputy Vincent Otti wanted to surrender due to military pressure but feared revenge.
"We are not suffocating anybody from coming out of the bush including Kony himself," Nankabirwa said.
"If they don't feel safe here, this government can organise for Kony to stay outside the country in whatever place he wants, just for the sake of our people," she added.
Nsaba Buturo, the Minister of State for Information, moderated the briefing at the department of information boardroom in Nakasero. Present was the director of information in the President's Office, Dr. Okullu Murra.
Nankabirwa, who is fresh from a tour of the north, said the UPDF had been beefed up and that the Amuka militia had been adequately armed to fight the rebels. She criticised James Rwanyarare, the chairman of the UPC presidential policy commission, for saying there was no UPDF in the north.
"For Owekitibwa Rwanyarare to make those remarks, he must be having a very serious problem. I invite him to join me on my next trip so that he can see the situation for himself," she challenged.
She said the LRA war will be ended either in Lango or Teso and that intelligence organs will continue tapping telephones of suspected rebel collaborators.
Nankabirwa blamed some leaders from the north for not taking government messages to the people.
"When I was there, I discovered that there was a vacuum. Government messages on security were not being properly delivered to the people. People don't want to risk their lives and reach the grassroots. We need to remind the Resident District Commissioners, who are chairpersons of district security committees, to reach and talk to the people," she said.
She dismissed the UN report that the UPDF was enlisting underage children into the army. She, however, did not rule out the possibility of overzealous youths lying to the UPDF that they were above 18 years in order to be recruited.
