No Ceasefire, Says Museveni

By Alfred Wasike
THE Uganda People’s Defence Forces (UPDF) will not accept the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) leader, Joseph Kony’s unilateral cease-fire, President Yoweri Museveni announced yesterday.

Addressing his first press conference this year, Museveni said Lt. Gen. Salim Saleh, a member of the Government peace team, is scheduled to meet “some rebels or some people connected to the rebels, so we wait and see whether they agree or not.”

The meeting, at an undisclosed location, is scheduled for today. Saleh is the only government official who welcomed the cease-fire on Sunday after Kony declared it in a radio call to the Acholi religious and cultural leaders last Saturday.

Briefing the US Assistant Secretary of State for Africa, Walter Kansteiner, at State House Nakasero, Museveni said if Kony was sincere and abided by the terms of the cease-fire laid down by the Government in August last year, there would be a real cease-fire agreed by both sides.

Moments after the closed talks, Museveni scoffed at Kony’s recent declaration.

“There is no cease-fire. UPDF cannot respect Kony’s unilateral cease-fire. It is a ploy for him and his terrorists to survive through the dry season. Cease-fires must be bilateral not like Kony’s,” he said.

Kansteiner, who hailed Museveni as a great US ally against international terrorism and Uganda as a great economic success story, flew to Uganda after opening the new US embassy buildings in Nairobi and Dar-es-Salaam.

The old buildings were destroyed by simultaneous terrorist bomb attacks that left more than 200 dead and wounded.

On his change of attitude towards multipartyism, Museveni said, “Newspapers and Ugandans should learn to do things in a disciplined way. Let us wait for the NEC (National Executive Committee) which sits on the 25th of March, thereafter the National Conference and then I will comment on this matter. It is not good for you to kujabula (eating raw food) before the food is cooked.”

On the Iraq crisis, he said, “The position of Uganda is that all countries have a right to defend themselves against terrorism. You know my position on this matter.

“We fought bin Laden and his al-Qaeda trainees like Kony for many years. Then on September 11, 2001, they drove civilian planes into buildings in the USA.”

Museveni said his discussion with Kansteiner focused on bilateral, regional and security issues.

“If the US is convinced that Saddam is linked to al-Qaeda, then they should defend themselves,” he said.

He said Uganda and the USA “agree on very many issues”.

He hailed the USA for enacting the Africa Growth Opportunity Act.

“I would like to salute the USA for opening up their closed market to us to trade in without tariffs, without quotas. We are allowed to trade in at least 800 items. This is the greatest event since the independence of Africa from colonialism,” he said.

Kansteiner said, “Uganda is a lovely country. We talked about how to encourage US investors to come and invest in Uganda.”

On Kony, Kansteiner said, “When a country comes under attack, you look to your friends. For example, President Museveni has been very helpful on the Sudan peace process in Machakos.”
Ends