Ex-rebel battalion formed

Apr 30, 2004

PRESIDENT Yoweri Museveni has ordered the army Commander, Maj. Gen. Aronda Nyakairima, to form a 105th battalion comprising only former commanders and fighters of Joseph Kony’s Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) integrated into the UPDF.

By Dennis Ojwee
PRESIDENT Yoweri Museveni has ordered the army Commander, Maj. Gen. Aronda Nyakairima, to form a 105th battalion comprising only former commanders and fighters of Joseph Kony’s Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) integrated into the UPDF.

“I have already ordered the army commander to immediately form the 105th Battalion of all LRA ex-fighters with their former commanders who have joined the UPDF, to be under one leadership.
This will help us know the statistics of this useful group,” Museveni said.

The president phoned in to Radio Mega FM station on Thursday night during the tri-weekly programme Dwog Paco (come back home).

The programme is aired every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. Mega radio broadcasts throughout the northern and part of the northeastern regions.

Museveni said the budget was revised to accommodate the new forces under the 105 battalion.

Speaking about the former Kony rebels Museveni said, “those who want to either go back and settle with their parents or go back to school will be given some package by the Government.” He said those wishing to join the UPDF would be given an opportunity to do so.

“First of all, I am very sorry for the suffering the people in Acholi and the north have undergone at the hands of the bandits. We are doing everything possible to see this problem end,” he said.

The president said he had called in to give a special word of thanks to one of Kony’s former top field commander, Capt. Charles Abola, 29, who surrendered with 28 LRA fighters under his command.
Museveni also appealed to the entire leadership of the LRA still in the bush to surrender.

He said, “I call upon Kony, and his commanders like Vincent Otti, Kenneth Banya, Lakati, Charles Okot-Odiambo, Ocan-Bunia and the rest still in the bush to come out. They will be killed if they don’t.

They will be killed today or tomorrow or the other day. There is no doubt about that. So, let them come out in order not to be killed.”

He said the UPDF had not been sleeping, adding that the army had pushed the LRA out of Teso in eastern Uganda and followed them in Lango, where he said he camped at Okwang sub-county to oversee the operations against the rebels after they massacred about 200 people at Barlonyo in Ogur sub-county.

Museveni said the army was constantly pursuing the LRA group under Otti in Kilak county west of Gulu, Charles Okot-Odiambo in Pader and for Joseph Kony inside Sudan.

He said Kony had never shown interest in talking peace with the government.

“This Kony war will soon come to an end. It will be ended in two ways; either militarily or talks if the rebels are willing. Otherwise there is still room for the rebels who want talks. But those who want to fight will all be killed,” Museveni added.

He said the UPDF had killed more than 1,000 Kony rebels and their commanders in the last 10 months and they were continuously hunting for more.

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