From: Rehema Mukooza <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED],[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: ugnet_: Re: Who is Kony?
Date: Sun, 28 Mar 2004 17:48:00 -0800 (PST)
Members:
I will not believe this pokopoko coupled with rumors about Kony. The man is a freedom fighter. In order for me to know more about this man, Kony, I will need to log on to Radio Rhino ( http://www.radiorhino.org/ ) to hear from the rebels themselves. I do not believe this propaganda Museveni is spreading about this man. I am a critical thinker.
Who is Museveni, the man who has continued to terrorize northern Uganda region?? Museveni is not mad. He knows what he is doing, very well. For him this war has become a way of life and he is gaining a lot from it.
His children are said to receive preferential treatment compared to Ugandan children. Natasha Museveni was flown to Germany to have a normal natural childbirth, whereas many mothers around Uganda die during childbirth because the govt has simply refused to build hospitals around Uganda. The ministry of health has no access to the Uganda Treasury in order to receive funds to build hospitals.
Zakoomu M.
emmanuel musaazi <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: IRIN Web Special on the crisis in Northern Uganda
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- LRA Structure - Continued --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Who is Kony?
But who exactly is this 'Kony', the man who has continued to terrorise the northern Ugandan region?
Walter Ochora, the chairman of Gulu local district council, who has met Kony
once, argues that the rebel leader is not insane, as many have suggested.
"Kony is not mad. He knows what he is doing, very well. For him this war has
become a way of life and he is gaining a lot from it," Ochora says.
Kony's own children, fathered in the bush, are said to receive preferential
treatment compared with the abductees. They are given better food to eat and
even receive primary school education from abducted teachers.
Kony is thought to be the father of between 30 and 100 children, according
to information from children returning from LRA captivity. "While we were in
Sudan, Kony's children and his commanders were going to school. They ate
food that they got from [the Sudanese government garrison town of] Juba. The
rest of us only ate the beans and millet we cultivated," said Onencan, a
former abductee.
"During the drought season, the rest of us had to attack Sudanese villages and forcefully take food from them in order to survive, while Kony's children continued to be well fed," the 15-year old added.
Onencan, currently under rehabilitation at the World Vision Centre in Gulu
town, described Kony as a devoutly religious man who - like Alice Lakwena -
sees himself as a prophet. "We prayed a lot. We used to say the Lord's
Prayer. The objective of the prayers was to help us with the war so we could
one day win and come out of our present difficult situation and live
decently," Onencan told IRIN.
Before any combat, Kony would predict the likely outcome, Onencan added. "Most of us believed him because he would predict things which would actually happen the way he had predicted. When we were not in battle, Kony would sit down and discuss with his commanders," he said.
Other former captives also speak of intensely spiritual prayer sessions, which blended Catholic, Protestant and even Islamic worship.
On Sundays and Fridays, prayers were conducted three times a day, according
to Consi Lalam, another former captive undergoing rehabilitation at the
World Vision Centre. "Some days we would be told to pray against something
bad that was about to happen,� she said. "When the government was about to
attack us in Sudan, Kony said he had seen a vision from the Holy Spirit that
UPDF was preparing to attack us.
Fr. Rodriguez, who has managed to make contact with the rebels argues that Kony has not a "single religious bone in his body". "Some of the most sublime beliefs have been used throughout history to commit atrocities," he notes.
For others, like Charles Okot, a trader in the Gulu market, speculating on
whether anyone knows why Kony is fighting is not the issue. "What is
important is that the people must not be allowed to suffer. It is the
responsibility of the government to protect its people. This is what we need
to realise. Let us not think of the reason. Let us think of the people," he
says.
Why the LRA is difficult to contain
But why has the UPDF been unable to destroy the LRA, as was initially expected of its anti-LRA offensive, code-named 'Operation Iron Fist'?
The LRA has stepped up its attacks on northern Uganda in retaliation for the
offensive against its bases in southern Sudan. In response to Operation Iron
Fist, the LRA has divided into smaller units and spread across Acholi
region's three districts of Gulu, Kitgum and Pader.
In addition, the group has begun to spread its activities to a wider geographical area beyond Acholiland. More recent attacks have been carried out westwards into Adjumani, southwards into Lira and Apac, and eastwards into the Karamoja district of Kotido.
Although Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni spent the second half of 2002 in the northern military headquarters in Gulu to personally oversee the war against the LRA, the attacks have escalated in recent months. Museveni returned to the north in July 2003.
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