‘LRA near to total defeat’

Nov 21, 2002

President Yoweri Museveni has said Kony rebels have suffered a thorough beating and will be no more by next year

By Okello Jabweli, Hamis Kaheru & Joyce Namutebi

PRESIDENT Yoweri Museveni has said Kony rebels have suffered a thorough beating and will be no more by next year.

“The LRA is on the verge of final and total defeat. Nothing will save them,” the President said. “Only yesterday (Wednesday), after many losses, Kony and his troops fled the Imatong mountains towards Jabeleine. It is now the Sudanese to deal with him.” Jabeleine, a Sudanese government controlled area, is not in the orbit of UPDF’s Operation Iron Fist in southern Sudan.

In a speech to Parliament yesterday, Museveni said the Government was finally addressing the weaknesses that have enabled Kony and his rag-tag Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) to thrive over the last 16 years.

Museveni’s three-hour address was broadcast live on Radio Uganda.

He said the UPDF had done well against Kony terrorists during a difficult part of the year (the rainy season when the grass is tall and movement is difficult) and promised even better outcome once the dry season starts in December.

“I don’t think we shall hear from Kony next year - 2003,” Museveni said.

He said Kony was able in the past to sneak in and out of the country to cause havoc due to Sudan’s continued support to him, the perennial under-spending on defence and the poor road infrastructure in the north.

Museveni said the constant factor has been the difficult terrain in the Acholi region. He said all the four problems were being addressed.
He said the UPDF’s under-equipping was a big and an unnecessary mistake because security is the basis of everything else.

“It is wrong to talk of poverty eradication and development and not talk of security,” he said.

He said he was building a strategic core of the UPDF capable of defending Uganda from external aggression.

He said nobody should be worried about the force. “Unless you had plans to invade Uganda, you shouldn’t worry. It is mainly going to be a defensive force,” he said.

Museveni said the recent defence budget increment of US$26m would enable the army plug some of its weaknesses, especially the lack of appropriate equipment.

“This argument of too much defence expenditure is nonsense. It is not acceptable and I don’t want too hear it,” Museveni said.

“In my language, we have a saying that many tongues spoil the porridge. We need advice alright but somebody must be in charge. A country cannot be everybody’s business. That is not possible. Somebody must be answerable.”

He supported his position with the late Mwalimu Julius Nyerere’s philosophy that being independent also entails the ability to make mistakes.

“There are elected leaders. If I make a decision, you my friend, whoever you’re you, must respect it. If I make mistakes, I will learn from them but you can’t have a situation where the country is everybody’s business,” Museveni said.

He dismissed claims that Sudan armed Kony and offered him a safe haven in retaliation for Uganda’s support of the SPLA.

Museveni said Uganda begun supporting the SPLA in 1988, two years after the first batch of rebels supported by Sudan launched attacks on Uganda. “We backed SPLA but that was long, long after the Sudan had attacked us. We supplied the SPLA because we are not punch-bags. You hit us, we hit you. That is the law of nature,” he said.

Museveni said the insecurity in the north was a classic case of terrorism supported by regional states against the people of Uganda.

Retracing the genesis of the war, Museveni said the conflict initially gained ground in Acholiland due to unfounded fears that the NRA would retaliate against the Acholi and Langi for the Luweero atrocities and the chauvinism that had been sowed by colonialists.

“These lies were soon exposed because no Acholi or Langi were being harassed either in Kampala or in the north,” Museveni said.

He said the early Acholi rebel leaders like the late Brig. Odong Latek, “priestess” Alice Lakwena and Angello Okello, were not terrorists. Museveni said Kony introduced terrorist tactics like forced recruitment, civilian killings and mutilations.

(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});