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Museveni Warns LRA

The Monitor (Kampala)
NEWS
28 May 2007
Posted to the web 29 May 2007

By Richard Otim & Samuel O. Egadu
Moroto & Gulu
PRESIDENT Museveni has said LRA leaders should comply with the ongoing Juba
peace process or perish.
"If Kony does not take chance of the peace talks, he will perish like the
[biblical] pharaoh," Mr Museveni said.
He was addressing Christians at the consecration of Bishop Joseph Abura at St.
Phillip's Cathedral in Moroto town at the weekend.
The Rt. Rev. Abura is the fourth Anglican Bishop of Karamoja Diocese.
President Museveni compared the rebel commanders to the Egyptian Pharaoh whose
forces drowned in the Red Sea for refusing to heed advice against subjecting
the Israelites to extended suffering.
"Uganda is now guarded by God using the Uganda Peoples Defence Forces," he
said.
"If Kony decides to come back [to war], it is up to him."
The President's remarks were a direct response to threats by the LRA to resume
war.
LRA deputy chief Vincent Otti promised a resumption of war in northern Uganda
if the on-going peace talks in Juba, South Sudan, ended without the ICC
cancelling arrest warrants for the top rebel leadership. "We cannot go back to
Uganda without lifting these indictments," Otti told UK's Sky News TV in an
interview broadcast on Friday.
"That is impossible. We cannot go and without our going none of the other
soldiers can go. But we can fight."
Rebel group leader Joseph Kony and his top lieutenants Otti, Dominic Ongwen,
Okot Odhiambo and Raska Lukwiya were indicted by the ICC for war crimes and
crimes against humanity in 2005. The UPDF has since killed Lukwiya in battle.
Mr Museveni said the rebels' conduct was provocative and could jeopardise the
tottering peace talks. The latest round of those talks resume on Thursday in
Juba.
Meanwhile, a group of about 100 LRA rebels last week terrorised the villages of
Lairya and Tore in the Western Equatoria Province of South Sudan killing four
civilians, abducting 12 others, and looting up to 100 goats and cows, the UPDF
announced yesterday.
"We have credible information that a group of LRA rebels led by [Thomas]
Kwoyelo crossed to Garamba [the LRA base in DR Congo] last week causing damage
along the way," northern region army spokesman Chris Magezi said.
One of their robbed victims, Lt Magezi told reporters in Gulu, was Dr Samson
Kwaje, the South Sudan information minister.
"The rebels also disarmed at least 10 Sudanese militias and took 13 SMGs," the
army publicist said. "These militias came to us running that we should replace
their guns because they were taken by our enemy."
Lt. Magezi said the LRA actions were a violation of the Cessation of
Hostilities Agreement and against the spirit of the peace talks.
Otti told Daily Monitor the UPDF's claims were baseless.
He, however, acknowledged that his troops got close to Mr Kwaje's home but only
to pick some food not to vandalize it. He accused the UPDF of spoiling the
LRA's name and image.
"There was no abduction. No killings," Otti said in a telephone interview
yesterday.
"What UPDF is saying is not true. None of our forces from eastern side [of the
Nile] has crossed to join us. Kwoyelo has not crossed to the west."
On the militias, Otti said: "We didn't disarm anyone. It's the militias who
injured one of my soldiers. We only got an SMG and G3 gun."

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