Rebel collaborators should be brought to book as well

Oct 11, 2005

SIR — The LRA rebel collaborators must be held responsible for the atrocities on civilians and depletion of human resources needed for the reconstruction of war ravaged Acholi. Both civilian and rebels have died as a result of the senseless war.

SIR — The LRA rebel collaborators must be held responsible for the atrocities on civilians and depletion of human resources needed for the reconstruction of war ravaged Acholi. Both civilian and rebels have died as a result of the senseless war.

The collaborators are fully aware of the existence of the Amnesty law and the good intentions of the NRM government, especially the strict instructions of President Museveni to the UPDF not to kill any LRA rebel who voluntarily gives up fighting or is captured in the battle field.

In spite of this, the collaborators continue lying to the rebels. For instance, the no-nonsense UPDF Brigade under the command of Lt. Col. David Kabangira killed 59 LRA fighters in just one month (September 3 and October 3).

But 17 abductees were rescued and many lives saved. Over 10 rebels surrendered to the Brigade according to Lt. Godfrey Kyomuhendo, the Brigade counter intelligence officer. This is just one Brigade in the region and how many LRA are being killed every month in the whole sub-region?

In fact, the collaborators both locally and nationally are worse than the LRA themselves and yet they live with us! There is need for a clear understanding of human rights, political persecution and rebel collaboration in the Acholi sub-region. the three are being mixed up and rebel collaborators or sympathisers are left to operate freely at the expense of our suffering masses.

Christopher Omar
Pader

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