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Kony Declares Ceasefire

The Monitor (Kampala)
NEWS
September 17, 2004
Posted to the web September 17, 2004

By Frank Nyakairu
Kampala
The Lord's Resistance Army rebels have called for an immediate and
unconditional ceasefire with the UPDF.
LRA's Political Commissar and spokesman, Brigadier Sam Kolo, on Wednesday told
Radio Rhino International-Africa, an AM station that relays from Juelich,
Germany, that the rebels had declared a ceasefire.
Kolo said the LRA decision is in respect to "political changes" in Uganda. "Now
we have come up with a policy that at this moment we have to cease fire to see
what really Uganda is going through. It is changing from a military
dictatorship to a multiparty democracy," Kolo said on Wednesday, adding, "We
will only fight when we are attacked." Kolo said LRA is not "a defeated force"
as the army says, and refuted claims that the rebel force is 150 strong.
"If we were really 150, why have they continued packing people in camps? LRA is
still a force to reckon with," he boasted.
"We believe the government of Uganda will never solve this conflict through
military means. Our doors will keep open for negotiations. Even now I'm ready
to talk to the government," he said.
State Minister for Defence, Ms Ruth Nankabirwa, said she had not got any
communication from the LRA. The Army spokesman, Major Shaban Bantariza,
dismissed the call for ceasefire as inappropriate.
"Brigadier Sam Kolo cannot communicate from Kilak Hills where he is currently
cornered and say LRA wants a ceasefire. He wants to escape, that is all,"
Bantariza said.
"How can we stop our military operations? No one can stop us," he said. "Let
them get to the Presidential Peace team and make their demands, conditions and
programme clear and we start from there," he said.
Members of the Presidential Peace team include former Army MP Lt. Gen. Salim
Saleh and Gulu Archbishop John Baptist Odama.
Two weeks ago a government delegation attempted to start negotiations with LRA
but were put off as the rebels claimed the army killed a captain who had been
involved in the talks.
Previous peace initiatives have failed. The LRA has been fighting President
Yoweri Museveni's government since 1988, sending some 1.6 million Ugandans in
displaced people's camps.
Unicef estimates over 12,000 children have been abducted and the boys turned
into child soldiers while the girls have been into sex slaves.
Additional reporting by Charles Mwanguhya Mpagi

   

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