By Henry Mukasa

NORAH Anek Oting, the mother of LRA leader Joseph Kony, is dead.

Anek, 86, passed away at Mulago hospital in Kampala on Tuesday night at 11:50pm after she succumbed to cardiac failure and lung disease, the hospital spokesperson, Eliphaz Sekabira, said.

Anek, who was a resident of Mukono district, had been admitted to Mulago in the afternoon. By press time, the body was still at Mulago mortuary.

In March 2008, Anek was admitted at the executive wing of Mulago Hospital where she underwent diabetic treatment.

She was under the guardianship of State House and the Government was meeting her medical bills.

Gulu RDC Walter Ochora, who worked closely with Anek during the Juba peace talks, said he had received a telephone call from State House informing him of her death.

He said burial arrangements were underway in Lalogi sub-county in Gulu district.

Ochora noted that Anek must have died a disappointed woman after Kony refused to sign a peace agreement despite her advice.

He recounted that when Kony asked to meet his mother, he convinced President Yoweri Museveni to allow her travel to Garamba.

He said the President, who was worried about Anek’s health, offered two PGB guards, a doctor and an assistant, Juliet Obina, to travel with the elderly lady.

Ochora recalled that during the 12 days Anek spent with her son, she appealed to him to sign for peace, reminding him that Museveni had looked after his parents during his absence.

“Your father died and Museveni buried him. Do you want him to bury me too in your absence?” Ochora quoted Anek as saying.

Anek gave birth to Kony in 1962 in Odek village, Gulu district. The two got separated in 1989 when Kony, then 26, launched a military offensive against the NRM Government.

The atrocious rebellion raged for close to two decades, devastating northern Uganda, Southern Sudan and later Eastern Congo where Kony fled in 2005.

Anek was one of the relatives who visited Kony in Garamba as a confidence building measure during the peace talks. The emotional meeting between mother and son, after 17-years of separation, took place on December 9, 2006.

“I have come with a message of peace. The people want peace. I am asking you to make peace out of this process,” Anek told her son.

In response, Kony who hailed Museveni for facilitating his mother’s travel to Garamba, promised peace.

“Truly, mummy, now that you are here, I believe the message you brought. And there will be peace. We also want it,” Kony reportedly replied.

However, he backtracked on his promise and refused to sign of the peace agreement.

Earlier, in May 2006, she told The New Vision in an interview that she did not understand what was wrong with her son or what he was fighting for.

“I was perplexed to see him do the things he did: the war, the killings, the abductions. I didn’t know I would produce such a child. I don’t understand what he is fighting for.”