By Henry Mukasa

THE leader of the LRA peace delegation, David Nyekorach Matsanga, has refuted reports that he was sacked. Matsanga said yesterday he still maintained full contact with rebel chief, Joseph Kony.

He explained that the un-signed statement said to be from the LRA high command over the weekend, came from rival former LRA negotiators.

“This group of former LRA delegates have teamed up with self-confessed paupers and senior militarists in Nairobi and London, namely Obonyo Olweny and Alex Oloya, under a new outfit called Uganda Peoples Liberation Front/Army (UPLF) headed by Ladit Balgara based in London to cause mayhem for the people of northern Uganda,” Matsanga said in an email sent to The New Vision.

“They issue unsigned statements using the LRA letterheads that Obonyo acquired during his spokesman tenure one year ago.”

Matsanga claimed that his detractors converge in “tribal cocoons” and malign his work by asserting that he does not hail from the north. Matsanga hails from Bugisu in eastern Uganda.

He said Kony was aware of the “tribal chauvinism” and addressed it on November 28, 2008 at Rwi-Kwangba when he met religious and cultural leaders from the north.

“Those who have plotted against me have lost in the past and will lose on this round. They have been advised (by Kony) to desist from such malicious acts and work with me to bring peace in northern Uganda,” Matsanga said.

He also blamed what he called “merchants of conflicts in Uganda based in London” for sowing discord in the LRA to derail the peace process.
But Olweny denied fighting Matsanga and doubted Matsanga’s claims of direct contact with Kony.

“Since the attack on LRA bases in the DRC, I don’t think he has talked to Kony. Kony is under pressure. He hardly talks to anyone,” Olweny said.

“Kony sees Matsanga as responsible for the attack. He misled him,” he added.
Asked how, Olweny pointed at the many times delegates went to Ri-kwangba for the peace agreement signing ceremony, only to return empty-handed.

“Kony never saw the text of the agreement until the day of signing. Is that normal?” he asked.

Olweny said the Sudan Tribune, which published the article about Matsanga’s termination, should be contacted for its source of information other than using him as a scapegoat.

He also laughed off Matsanga’s description of him as a pauper.

“I am a published author. How can I be a pauper? He is the one asking for money in the name of LRA and the blood of the suffering people in the north,” Olweny charged.

“We began the peace process in Juba and he came from London begging to join the LRA delegation. You tell him he has failed to deliver the peace agreement he promised to his paymasters,” he added.

Asked whether it was true that he had joined a new rebel front (UPLF/A), Olweny said: “I think Matsanga is running out of his mind.”