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Bigombe Team Meets Kony Commanders

New Vision (Kampala)
NEWS
December 30, 2004
Posted to the web January 3, 2005

By Alfred Wasike
Pagak
ACHOLI religious and civic leaders, and the United Nations officials met LRA
rebel commanders in a bush in Kitgum after weeks of painstaking planning.
The meeting, under a scorching afternoon sun, took place in a remote enclave in
Pagak, Palabek, on Tuesday. It was the first of confidence-building meetings
planned between the rebels and the government negotiators ahead of full-scale
dialogue to end the 18-year-long insurgency that has claimed and displaced
thousands in the region.
Chief negotiator Betty Bigombe chaired the tense meeting as AK47-wielding
rebels took cover in the thickets.
The rebels, wearing an assortment of military fatigues, peeped through the bush
as their commanders discussed with the Bigombe team.
The talks started with a prayer by the clergy led by Archbishop John Baptist
Odama.
A cloud of apprehension descended on the meeting when rebel spokesman Brig. Sam
Kolo said his leader, Joseph Kony, was committed to peace, the reason the
rebels did not kill the government team.
"If we were really killers, we could kill you here for nothing. But this is not
our aim. We are committed to peace a hundred per cent," Kolo said, sending
chills through the meeting.
Bigombe urged the rebels to present to the government "concrete" proposals in
order to end the conflict once and for all.
Kolo said in Luo that Kony was committed to "total peace" in the region. His
team had Brigadiers Samuel Okullu and Michael Acela, Colonels Jinari Bongomin
and Ronald Lubwa, and Lieutenant Colonels Santo Alit and Lupul.
On Bigombe's side were Odama, Bishops Nelson Onono Onweng, Ojwang and Macleod
Ochola, Gulu district Khadi Sheikh Musa Khelil, Fr. Carlos Rodriquez, Gulu LC5
chief Lt. Col Walter Ochora, his Kitgum counterpart Nahaman Ojwee, MPs Jane
Akwero Odwong (Kitgum Women), Zachary Olum (Nwoya), Ogenga Latigo (Agago) and
Jacob Oulanyah (Omoro), Kitgum resident district commissioner Okot Lapolo,
paramount chief Rwot Acana, the British embassy defence adviser, Col. Chris
Wilton, and officials from the UN OCHA.
UPDF's peace coordinator Lt. Col. Innocent Oula and Lt. Geoffrey Kambere, the
peace venue intelligence officer, provided security for the Bigombes.
Kolo said, "In the name of Jesus Christ, I have a special message of greeting
from our leader, Joseph Kony."
He said Kony had "a very tight schedule" and could not come but had sent seven
commanders as "a sign of commitment to peace." He quoted Kony as saying though
"many bad things had happened in the past", he was determined to work for
development. "He says that we should be open with each other and compromise to
end the suffering," Kolo said. He described the meeting as a landmark in the
history of the insurgency.
Kolo said the UPDF had deployed too close to the rebels and the ceasefire area
was too small. He apologised for rebel ambushes and abductions during the
ceasefire period.
"Our people are spread all over northern Uganda," he said.

   

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