Kony rings MP Mao

Jan 12, 2003

LRA leader Joseph Kony on Saturday spoke to Gulu Municipality MP Nobert Mao for over two hours with fresh proposals about ending the northern war.

By Okello Jabweli

LRA leader Joseph Kony on Saturday spoke to Gulu Municipality MP Nobert Mao for over two hours with fresh proposals about ending the northern war.

Mao told The New Vision in an exclusive interview at Parliament House yesterday that Kony expressed interest in having ceasefire talks with the UPDF and also invited Acholi military leaders to visit him in the bush.

Mao said Kony called for direct talks with President Yoweri Museveni. He accused Museveni of being an obstacle to peace and said he would only talk in the presence of a third party mediator of international standing.

Mao said he received Kony’s call at 6:20pm in the presence of Agago MP Prof. Morris Ogenga Latigo. The elusive rebel leader spoke in a mixture of his native Luo and English. Ogenga, who along with other Acholi MPs were present at the briefing, said there was no doubt that the caller was Kony.

“The voice is his. I listened to the tape of his peace talks with Bigombe and also heard his voice when he recently called in to Mega FM,” Ogenga said.

Mao said the two-hour phone call could have cost Kony at least $600 (about (sh1m).

Mao said Kony agreed to send a military delegation to meet a UPDF team outside Uganda. He said such a meeting would discuss ceasefire proposals to facilitate the movement of scattered LRA forces to agreed locations other than those proposed by Museveni, which he referred to as “traps.”

Museveni has repeatedly advised the rebels to retreat to uninhabited areas of southern Sudan like Panyikwara and Owiny Kibul if they were interested in peace talks. Mao quoted Kony as saying such conditions are tantamount to surrender and warned that he was not like Ali Bamuze, UNRF II rebel boss who recently signed a peace deal.

Mao, the Acholi Parliamentary Group (APG) chairman, yesterday briefed Museveni about what Kony had told him. He said Museveni expressed no objection to dispatching a military delegation to discuss a ceasefire with Kony but vowed to pursue the rebels in the meantime.

Asked why he does not call State House directly on the hotlines available to him, Mao quoted Kony as saying the phone numbers could be a ploy to kill him by triggering off devices to set a guided missile to kill him the way the Chechen rebel leader was killed.

He said Kony insisted that he had a political agenda which was not different from that which inspired the first rebellion against the NRM government. “He (Kony) said he was not the one who started the war but it was Museveni. He said he went to the bush following calls from the former UNLA of Gen Tito Okello Lutwa to resist the oppression and persecution of the Acholi.

Mao said Kony appeared very angry with the Acholi military leaders, saying their insistence on militarism served what he called Museveni’s agenda of killing Acholi.

He reportedly said instead of fighting Museveni some Acholi fight him. He said he was not the problem but that the problem existed before he came on the scene.

Mao quoted Kony as saying the Acholi hate him today but will love him when he takes over power.

Kony also reportedly laughed off the US government recent contribution of US$3m (about sh5b) to fight him saying Americans support everybody. He claimed that his group also received support from the US.

Mao said years of fighting against government seem to have exposed the rebel leader to the extent that he now talks of international issues and is even aware of electronically triggered missiles.

Army Chief of Military Intelligence Col. Noble Mayombo could not be reached for comment yesterday.

UPDF Spokesman Maj. Shaban Bantariza said Mao had not told him about the contact. “Since Mao is a member of the government peace team, I think he is doing his work and the army has no problem with that.”

Mao said Kony greeted state minister Betty Akech, Gulu LC5 boss Walter Ochora, Operation Iron Fist intelligence officer Lt. Col. Otema Awany and Kitgum RDC Okot Lapolo. He said he always tunes in to talk-shows and that the four leaders had made it a habit to insult him instead of seeking to know him better.

Mao, who was flanked by MPs Jacob Oulanyah (Omoro), Zachary Olum (Nwoya) and Nyeko Ocula (Kilak), said the APG had accepted Kony’s invitation to them and that members are just awaiting further communication.

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