LRA’s Martin Ojul releases a white dove as a sign of peace in Kampala yesterday

By Alfred Wasike

MEMBERS of the LRA peace team received a VIP reception at Entebbe airport yesterday as they set foot on Ugandan soil for the first time in 20 years.

The LRA delegates, led by Martin Ojul, smiled as they exchanged handshakes and hugs with the waiting head of the Government peace team, Dr. Ruhakana Rugunda.

The team, which also consisted of Lira lawyer Ayena Odongo, Dr. James Obita, Peter Ongom and Santa Okot, was driven in a ministerial convoy, escorted by the Police, to the Media Centre in Kampala.

During a two-hour press conference, the LRA team said they had come for peace.

“We have come to consult and mobilise our people in the affected areas on accountability and reconciliation,” Ojul said.

“We are committed to peace. The peace agreement should have been signed a long time ago. Kony is not for war. He has blessed our coming… .e is for total peace.”

To demonstrate the rebels’ commitment to peace, Ojul released a white dove.

Asked what they would tell the relatives of the victims of LRA massacres, such as those in Barlonyo and Atiak, and abductions like the one at St. Mary’s in Aboke, Ojul said: “We are going to visit all these places. And we are going to explain to our people that these incidents happened during wartime.”

On the International Criminal Court, Ojul and Ayena said they were not bothered about the arrest warrants. They pointed out that the UN Security Council had the power to suspend the indictments for 12 months, with a mandate to renew.

“We don’t fear the ICC,” Ayena said.

“The ICC is an encumbrance to the peace process. We hope the ICC and its prosecutor will restrain themselves to allow us develop alternative justice mechanisms. The ICC will die a natural death.”

However, Rugunda disagreed. “It was a conscious and well thought-out decision, and Uganda supports the ICC arrest warrants. The indictments stand. Impunity must be addressed,” he stressed.

Ojul said they wanted to deliver a message to President Yoweri Museveni when they meet him.

“We sincerely apologise to President Museveni for what some of our people did when they refused to greet him when he came to Juba. This misconduct is unacceptable.”

Josephine Apire, the woman who declined to shake Museveni’s outstretched hand, was recently dropped as the deputy leader of the LRA peace team and replaced by David Matsanga. Ojul denied that the rebels were still holding abducted children and women. “When Operation Iron Fist started, we released many children and women. The ones who are in our custody are our children and our wives,” he said.

At least 66,000 youth are thought to have been forcibly recruited into the LRA over the years, according to World Bank report earlier this year.

“Two-thirds of them are severely beaten, a fifth are forced to kill and nearly 10 percent are forced to murder a family member or friend to bind them to the group,” the report noted.

Save the Children in a press statement in February said 10,000 Ugandan children were still unaccounted for, while 1,500 were still believed to be held by the LRA.