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The Monitor (Kampala)
OPINION
April 23, 2004
Posted to the web April 23, 2004
David Ouma Balikowa
Kampala
You are either a Movementist, lord or nothing
Let us flashback to last week's major news events; Mr Joseph Kony's interview,
President Museveni's missive and the report by the International Crisis Group (ICG) on
northern Uganda.
Kony's interview provided some rare insight into the man behind the bloodiest war in
the country's history. The stuff about how he has put his war theatre together is
quite amazing.
Throughout the interview, Kony constantly refers to his followers and fighters as
lords. Ordinarily, the word 'lord' in the social sense refers to a person of very high
ranking. In the Christian sense, there are only two Lords; God and Jesus Christ.
Since Kony professes to be a follower of the Christian Ten Commandments, we could
safely assume that he is using word lord in the latter sense.
This would open up a can of warms though. There is simply nothing Christian about the
LRA war in the eyes of right thinking people.
His views on Museveni are however very revealing especially about any prospects for a
peaceful resolution to the northern conflict.
Kony said: "Museveni cannot talk peace. He is a killer. He wanted to kill me by all
means. I have asked the lords of the LRA to kill Museveni." It takes a lot to turn
around an armed man from that type of conviction. Having become a prisoner to the fear
of being killed, he would rather die fighting than surrender.
So when Kony says he has asked the lords of the LRA to kill Museveni, he is that
desperate to save his own head. It is not a secret that Museveni wants to kill Kony.
He has tried for donkey years only that he has failed. The last time he came close,
the media was told, he only captured Kony's kaunda suit.
How sad. Museveni's own missive about Kony and the LRA war seems to confirm Kony's
fears about Museveni. Museveni reiterates that he will defeat Kony militarily but adds
that he will leave a window open for dialogue.
Mark that; the window, not the door open. The truth of the matter is that no armed
combatant wants to negotiate from a position of weakness, unless forced to.
Museveni says he wants the LRA to assemble in a designated place and disarm. But by
the time Kony accepts that, he would have reached a point of accepting total defeat.
In which case even Museveni would no longer be interested in talks.
And that is the snag about any Museveni/Kony talks. Until we start hearing both
Museveni and Kony say that they will not kill each other, the "window' for dialogue is
yet to be open.
Which is not surprising when the ICG blames Museveni of using the war to cling to
power. The ICG says Museveni prides in the army so much that he would find problems
flexing his political muscle if the war machinery went silent all of a sudden.
Many Ugandans would agree with the ICG when it says that Museveni is constantly at
pains to justify that the army is the pillar of the regime. The blend between the
military and politics offers some valuable glimpse in support of this proposition.
Kony's reasoning might fall short of appeal. But his arguments would find meaning in
Museveni's political equations.
Like Kony has deployed his lords to kill Museveni, Museveni has also deployed his
Movementists to finish off the political opposition.
The pity then is that Uganda has been reduced to a political ground where only the
Movementists and lords rule. You are either a Movementist, a lord or nothing.
With the road to 2006 getting more slippery as the stakes get higher, some political
groups are already even opting out than face the agitated Movementists deployed to
push the third term project through.
If you asked people in the opposition about dialogue with government, they will tell
you Museveni is not serious about having political dialogue. Now this is not Kony
talking. But note the similarity in reasoning.
The talks with political opposition parties (Group of Seven) on the transition to
multiparty rule have flopped, unfortunately proving the point Kony is trying to make
about Museveni not being able to talk peace.
And that is precisely the bigger snag about the lack of culture for political dialogue
in this country. Museveni can make the point that Kony is not worth the time talking
to, but not the unarmed opposition in Kampala.
As long as they still make the case that Museveni cannot be trusted in talks, it tends
to give Kony the moral authority to make a similar point.
Relevant Links
East Africa
Uganda
So if talks must be held, let the ones with the opposition first materialise. The
talks will break the political ground leaving Kony with hardly any excuse to continue
misusing his lords on missions to kill.
The Movementists deployed to kill off the opposition will also regain a sense of
direction and learn to share the political space with the opposition.
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