Ahmed Kateregga
If Konny is a spent force, why are over two million Ugandans still internally
displaced in Uganda?
EM
Toronto
The Mulindwas Communication Group
"With Yoweri Museveni, Uganda is in anarchy"
Groupe de communication Mulindwas
"avec Yoweri Museveni, l'Ouganda est dans l'anarchie"
----- Original Message -----
From: Ahmed Kateregga Musaazi
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] ; [email protected] ; [EMAIL PROTECTED] ; [EMAIL
PROTECTED]
Sent: Thursday, January 10, 2008 11:13 AM
Subject: Re: Kony Rejects Talks deadline
Jospeh Kony is a spent force even his former sponmsors, supporters and
admirers have started distancing themselves from him.
----- Original Message -----
From: Matek Matek
To: [email protected] ; [EMAIL PROTECTED] ; [EMAIL PROTECTED] ; [EMAIL
PROTECTED]
Sent: Thursday, January 10, 2008 8:12 AM
Subject: Kony Rejects Talks deadline
Kony Rejects Talks Deadline
Tensions rise as rebel leader claims Ugandan president is pressuring him to
sign peace deal.
By Samuel Okiror Egadu in Gulu (AR No. 149, 9-Jan-08)
Lord's Resistance Army, LRA, leader, Joseph Kony, has reacted angrily to
the January 31 ultimatum for a peace deal set by Uganda president Yoweri
Museveni, significantly raising tensions surrounding pending talks to end the
conflict in the north.
"Museveni is setting unreasonable deadlines," Kony said in a recent phone
call to Norbert Mao, the Gulu district commissioner. "The January 31 deadline
is unreasonable. These threats by Museveni undermine the peace process."
Kony insists he is committed to peace, but Museveni has warned that the
Ugandan army is ready for him if he returns to war.
In late December, Museveni said the army has used the past 18 months of
relative peace to prepare for any future armed clashes should Kony's rebels
attempt to re-enter northern Uganda.
"We want Kony and his remnants to come out peacefully. If they don't … the
army is ready for everything," said the president.
"The army is much stronger than ever. Nobody is ever going to cause
troubles in Uganda using a gun. No more guns. If there is anything, we should
use the mouth."
Kony flatly rejected Museveni's deadline, however.
"Why should deadlines be there?" Kony complained, according to Mao. "If
deadlines are to be set, they should be set in Juba, not in Kampala, Arusha or
Adisababa. Why can't he leave everything to be done in Juba?"
"We have not yet completed our consultations," continued Kony, said Mao,
who has become a friend and confidant to the rebel leader.
Kony was referring to a six-week rebel delegation tour late last year of
northern Uganda during which members consulted victims of the LRA insurgency on
accountability and reconciliation aspects of the Juba peace proposal.
Kony is wanted by the International Criminal Court, ICC, along with three
of top commanders for war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Kony's army has conducted a guerilla-style war in northern Uganda since
1986 that has displaced over 2 million people and left an estimated 100,000
dead. At the same time, his forces have abducted around 40,000 people, mostly
children to become soldiers and sex slaves.
Mao said Kony also rejected Museveni's claims that he was delaying the
peace talks to retrieve buried weapons and plan a fresh military offensive in
the war-ravaged north.
"I am being judged wrongly," said Kony reportedly. "I have not sent anyone
to pick bullets or guns. I am not going to attack or declare war."
Kony, however, was silent on the fate of his former second-in-command,
Vincent Otti, who Museveni said was killed by Kony over a dispute about the
peace talks and accusations of disloyalty.
Otti was considered a key to the success of the talks because he was
readily available to the media and strongly advocated an end to 20 years of
hostilities.
Following Kony's comments, negotiators for the LRA said the January 31
deadline was impossible because they had been unable to reach Kony's camp in
the Garamba Park of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, DRC.
Before talks can proceed in Juba, rebel members who took part in the
six-week tour of the north have to discuss their findings with Kony, said LRA
delegation leader Martin Ojul.
The team must get Kony's views on accountability and reconciliation, he
said, before discussing the remaining peace deal topics - a permanent
ceasefire, demobilisation and disarmament and the reintegration of rebels.
"The peace process is on course," Ojul told IWPR this week. "Kony himself
is committed to the peace process." Ojul rejected any deadline because, he
said, there were a number of issues relating to the peace agreement which
remained unresolved, "All this can't be done in two or three weeks."
Other members of the rebel consultation team concurred.
Yusuf Adek, a senior advisor to Kony, said, "Peace talks [are] a process.
It takes time. The order of January 31 for us to sign a peace deal is not
possible."
Ojul told IWPR that the LRA will not be intimidated by Museveni's comments
and that the president has issued deadlines before, but with little effect.
"This is not the first time Museveni is making such threats and deadlines.
We are committed for the conclusions of the talks," he said.
Ugandan interior minister Ruhakana Rugunda, however, said the LRA can't
forget that more than 1.7 million displaced internal refugees are waiting for a
peace deal to be signed before they return to their homes.
"We have been talking for the last one and half years," Rugunda told IWPR.
"We want a peace deal to be signed as soon as possible so that we can redirect
our energies to rehabilitation and rebuilding of insurgency areas.
"The government will continuously work for the expeditious conclusion of
the peace talks so that a final sustainable peace agreement is signed by the
two parties."
Although the LRA delegation has rejected a deadline, Ojul flew to Juba this
week to meet Riek Machar, the vice president of South Sudan, who is mediating
the talks.
The two were to discuss arrangements for the team to meet Kony. The
delegation has apparently been hampered by a lack of funds, which are being
handled by a third party.
They failed to pay a number of hotel bills during their recent tour. Some
members were temporarily held in their rooms until outstanding sums were paid.
Samuel Okiror Egadu is an IWPR journalist in Uganda.
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