ACHOLI religious leaders and elders spent Saturday night and Sunday conferring with the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) chief, Joseph Kony, at his hideout in a jungle close to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) border with Sudan, reports Henry Mukasa in Nabanga, Sudan.

By Sunday afternoon, the Acholi team had not emerged from the hideout and there was no word from them yet.

Consequently, Kony, who was scheduled to hold talks with Southern Sudan vice-president Dr. Riek Machar, elders from Southern Sudan and international mediators at the Sudan-Congo border did not show up.

Machar and his group that included journalists, travelled in a drizzle and on the soggy road from Nabanga to the border rendezvous early morning and waited for the whole day. In the afternoon, Machar received communication that Kony was unable to turn up.

As Machar’s group waited, at about 1:45pm, LRA’s Capt. Sunday Ochaya arrived together with Kony’s 13- year-old son named Salim Saleh. There was speculation that Kony was about to arrive, but it turned out that Ochaya had been sent to pick UNICEF officials who had been cleared to visit the LRA camp to check on the condition of abducted children.

The UNICEF team was led by Una McCauley, who is also a technical adviser to the Southern Sudan government on children and women. For letting UNICEF visit its camp, the LRA received blankets, maize flour, sugar, salt and saucepans.

Commenting on the aborted meeting, Machar said the LRA leaders were still consulting the Acholi team.

Machar expected his meeting with Kony to take place today but said this would depend on the meeting between Kony and the Acholi leaders led by Gulu chairman Nobert Mao, which reportedly arrived in Maridi yesterday.

On Saturday, there was excitement when the LRA high command led by Vincent Otti held a face-to-face meeting with Machar at the Congo border. The LRA greeted and hugged Acholi elders led by the Paramount chief Rwot Achana II.
But Kony did not attend the agenda-setting meeting. He was reportedly ill.

Otti’s delegation included Maj. Gen. Okot Odhiambo, who was indicted by the International Criminal Court.

“It is nice to see you all today and our chief (Rwot),” Otti said as he raised his right hand like a bishop giving blessings to a congregation. “Personally, I am seeing him (Rwot) for the first time,” he added.