UPC Confirms Kony Letter

By Geresom MusamaliTHE Uganda People’s Congress (UPC) yesterday admitted having written to Joseph Kony, the commander of the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), the letter that eventually landed in Government hands.The Government announced recently that the UPDF had recovered a letter from UPC president Dr. Milton Obote to Kony during their operation against Kony in Southern Sudan. Government did not disclose its contents.President Yoweri Museveni over the weekend revealed that the UPDF had recovered Obote’s letters to Kony. In the letter, Obote reportedly said UPC does not and cannot condemn Kony. UPC Presidential Policy Commission (PPC) chairman Dr. James Rwanyarare said Obote had written to Kony only once, and that the communication was of a harmless nature.Rwanyarare produced a copy of the letter written in Lusaka, Zambia on April 22, 1998, which said, “I have publically affirmed in a message which was published in Uganda that UPC cannot and does not condemn your organisation and army for taking up arms to fight Museveni.”Rwanyarare said the message was sent through Powel Cotton whom Obote describes as a son of a former childhood friend. He could not reveal Cotton’s nationality nor any other detail about the emissary.He said a copy of the letter was given to him (Rwanyarare) when he attended an international conference in London later that year.He said during the conference, he met LRA and Allied Democratic Forces representatives, and briefed the press about it on return to Uganda.Rwanyarare said a copy of the letter had gone missing from his office under mysterious circumstances. He said he quickly organised to have another one delivered to him from Lusaka and circulated it widely.He said he had expected the Government to react to his meeting with Kony’s representatives at that time but they did not, and that an attempt to react to the matter now was in bad faith.Ends