Government sets terms for Kony deal
May 05, 2008
THE Government delegation will not return to Ri-Kwangba unless it has evidence that LRA leader Joseph Kony will show up for the signing of the final peace agreement, international affairs minister Henry Okello Oryem has said.
By Henry Mukasa
THE Government delegation will not return to Ri-Kwangba unless it has evidence that LRA leader Joseph Kony will show up for the signing of the final peace agreement, international affairs minister Henry Okello Oryem has said.
“We have told the Acholi paramount chief, Rwot Achana, that before we make any move, he, Riek Machar or UN envoy Joachim Chissano should have met Kony and have assured us that he is in Ri-Kwangba,†Oryem told The New Vision yesterday.
Chief mediator Machar was due to meet Kony last Thursday but the meeting flopped for unclear reasons.
On April 10, Kony failed to show up for the signing of the final peace agreement.
He later told the mediator he needed more information on the accountability clause.
Kony said he needed clarification on the traditional justice system, the International Criminal Court and the special division of the High Court to be set up to try serious crimes committed in northern Uganda.
The issues raised by Kony, and the way forward for the stalled Juba peace process, will be discussed at a seminar of Acholi leaders in Kampala tomorrow and Wednesday.
The leaders are due to travel to Ri-Kwangba on Saturday to meet Kony.
But some of them have said they will not go until Kony has given audience to Machar first.
At another function, organised by students from Chua county in Kitgum district at Makerere University on Saturday, Oryem named Owiny Omoya, an Acholi living in Europe, and Alex Oloya, a relative of Kony, as the people who advised the rebel leader against signing the final peace agreement.
“The peace talks are being sabotaged by the Acholi themselves,†Oryem said.
“Col. Owiny Omoya called Kony and told him he had secured help from Yemen to boost his forces so he could still win the war.â€
Alex Oloya, he added, deceived Kony that the head of his negotiating team, David Matsanga, had connived with the International Criminal Court to have him arrested.
“Oloya told him that Matsanga would call the Bazungu (whites) who would grab Kony immediately he appeared to sign the peace deal and fly him to The Hague to be hanged,†Oryem told the students.
THE Government delegation will not return to Ri-Kwangba unless it has evidence that LRA leader Joseph Kony will show up for the signing of the final peace agreement, international affairs minister Henry Okello Oryem has said.
“We have told the Acholi paramount chief, Rwot Achana, that before we make any move, he, Riek Machar or UN envoy Joachim Chissano should have met Kony and have assured us that he is in Ri-Kwangba,†Oryem told The New Vision yesterday.
Chief mediator Machar was due to meet Kony last Thursday but the meeting flopped for unclear reasons.
On April 10, Kony failed to show up for the signing of the final peace agreement.
He later told the mediator he needed more information on the accountability clause.
Kony said he needed clarification on the traditional justice system, the International Criminal Court and the special division of the High Court to be set up to try serious crimes committed in northern Uganda.
The issues raised by Kony, and the way forward for the stalled Juba peace process, will be discussed at a seminar of Acholi leaders in Kampala tomorrow and Wednesday.
The leaders are due to travel to Ri-Kwangba on Saturday to meet Kony.
But some of them have said they will not go until Kony has given audience to Machar first.
At another function, organised by students from Chua county in Kitgum district at Makerere University on Saturday, Oryem named Owiny Omoya, an Acholi living in Europe, and Alex Oloya, a relative of Kony, as the people who advised the rebel leader against signing the final peace agreement.
“The peace talks are being sabotaged by the Acholi themselves,†Oryem said.
“Col. Owiny Omoya called Kony and told him he had secured help from Yemen to boost his forces so he could still win the war.â€
Alex Oloya, he added, deceived Kony that the head of his negotiating team, David Matsanga, had connived with the International Criminal Court to have him arrested.
“Oloya told him that Matsanga would call the Bazungu (whites) who would grab Kony immediately he appeared to sign the peace deal and fly him to The Hague to be hanged,†Oryem told the students.