Kony turns away UPDF officer
Jul 26, 2006
THE Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) yesterday rejected inclusion of a UPDF officer on the team heading to DR Congo to meet its leader, Joseph Kony. A team of more than 100 people hoping to persuade Kony to end his uprising prepared on Wednesday for the final leg of their journey to the Sudan-Congo bo
By Henry Mukasa
and agencies in juba
THE Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) yesterday rejected inclusion of a UPDF officer on the team heading to DR Congo to meet its leader, Joseph Kony. A team of more than 100 people hoping to persuade Kony to end his uprising prepared on Wednesday for the final leg of their journey to the Sudan-Congo border.
“For the sake of peace, Maj. Richard Otto, a consular staff, has been flown back to Juba,†an official from the Government of Southern Sudan said at Maridi airstrip.
The New Vision learnt that similar attempts to bar ambassador Buso Byenka, the head of mission in Juba, were rejected by the Government of Southern sudan (GOSS).
The Uganda delegation of about 70 includes relatives of senior LRA commanders and several of Kony’s former wives, chiefs, elders and religious leaders from northern Uganda and four officials from the Juba consulate.
This team, which assembled at Maridi airstrip, is the largest delegation ever to attempt meeting Kony.
Departure scheduled for last evening awaited arrival of Kony’s mother Nora Oting, who was expected to fly in from Kampala accompanied by the Minister of State for Defence, Ruth Nankabirwa.
The delegation also includes the Archbishop of Gulu, John Baptist Odama and political leaders headed by Gulu district commissioner Col. Walter Ochora.
The vice-president of GOSS, Riek Machar, will lead the team to Garamba National park where the LRA recently shifted.
The group, which assembled at Maridi airstrip early Wednesday, was last evening expected to embark on a six-hour journey by road to Nabanga border point, where they expect to be cleared to proceed into Garamba park.
Sources said the meeting was expected to take place yesterday in Nabanga, near the border with the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The LRA, the sources added, had been holed up in this area and in Garamba national park for some time now.
The delegation wants to convince Kony that he will be safe to return to his native northern Uganda if he accepts a peace deal that rebel representatives and Uganda’s government team hope to agree at peace talks in southern Sudan’s capital Juba.
Machar wants to broker an end to Kony’s two-decade war with Uganda’s government, which has uprooted nearly two million people in northern Uganda and destabilised southern Sudan.
The LRA set up bases in the south during the mid-1990s before shifting to the jungles of northeastern Congo last year amid military pressure from the UPDF.
If a deal is reached, Uganda’s government has offered to protect Kony from 33 charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity he faces before the International Criminal Court.
But a gulf of mistrust still divides the two sides. On Monday, the talks in Juba adjourned for a week of consultations.
and agencies in juba
THE Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) yesterday rejected inclusion of a UPDF officer on the team heading to DR Congo to meet its leader, Joseph Kony. A team of more than 100 people hoping to persuade Kony to end his uprising prepared on Wednesday for the final leg of their journey to the Sudan-Congo border.
“For the sake of peace, Maj. Richard Otto, a consular staff, has been flown back to Juba,†an official from the Government of Southern Sudan said at Maridi airstrip.
The New Vision learnt that similar attempts to bar ambassador Buso Byenka, the head of mission in Juba, were rejected by the Government of Southern sudan (GOSS).
The Uganda delegation of about 70 includes relatives of senior LRA commanders and several of Kony’s former wives, chiefs, elders and religious leaders from northern Uganda and four officials from the Juba consulate.
This team, which assembled at Maridi airstrip, is the largest delegation ever to attempt meeting Kony.
Departure scheduled for last evening awaited arrival of Kony’s mother Nora Oting, who was expected to fly in from Kampala accompanied by the Minister of State for Defence, Ruth Nankabirwa.
The delegation also includes the Archbishop of Gulu, John Baptist Odama and political leaders headed by Gulu district commissioner Col. Walter Ochora.
The vice-president of GOSS, Riek Machar, will lead the team to Garamba National park where the LRA recently shifted.
The group, which assembled at Maridi airstrip early Wednesday, was last evening expected to embark on a six-hour journey by road to Nabanga border point, where they expect to be cleared to proceed into Garamba park.
Sources said the meeting was expected to take place yesterday in Nabanga, near the border with the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The LRA, the sources added, had been holed up in this area and in Garamba national park for some time now.
The delegation wants to convince Kony that he will be safe to return to his native northern Uganda if he accepts a peace deal that rebel representatives and Uganda’s government team hope to agree at peace talks in southern Sudan’s capital Juba.
Machar wants to broker an end to Kony’s two-decade war with Uganda’s government, which has uprooted nearly two million people in northern Uganda and destabilised southern Sudan.
The LRA set up bases in the south during the mid-1990s before shifting to the jungles of northeastern Congo last year amid military pressure from the UPDF.
If a deal is reached, Uganda’s government has offered to protect Kony from 33 charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity he faces before the International Criminal Court.
But a gulf of mistrust still divides the two sides. On Monday, the talks in Juba adjourned for a week of consultations.