Kony days are numbered, says Amama Mbabazi

Defence minister Amama Mbabazi has said the UPDF is about to eliminate rebel chief Joseph Kony and his Lord Resistance Army, reports Jonathan Angura.“We have deployed there to finish the job of defeating Kony. We are there to search, find and destroy Kony and we are in the final stages of getting him,” Mbabazi said.He was yesterday speaking at the pass-out of 79 UPDF officers who have been undergoing a company commanders course at Gaddafi barracks, Jinja.He said details of how to minimise casualties on the civilian population and Ugandans abducted by Kony into the Sudan were being worked out. Mbabazi said the recent agreement between Uganda and Sudan in which UPDF was allowed in Sudan to pursue Kony was not meant to directly involve Sudanese forces in combat.He said following the killing of Captain Khelil Magara by the LRA, Sudanese forces might get involved.“We are now back on the designing table, taking into account these new developments and I hope the Sudanese forces will work with us to fight this new crime committed by Kony,” Mbabazi said.On the ADF rebels in Western Uganda, Mbabazi said a UPDF brigade had been established permanently in the area to hunt down the rebels. He said Uganda still maintains some troops in the DR Congo to keep peace in the area in accordance with the Lusaka agreement.“If there is no peace in the Democratic Republic of Congo, then we cannot be an island of peace either,” he added.