allAfrica.com * Hold Action Against Kony, Acholi Leaders Warn Government The Monitor (Kampala) NEWS 18 June 2008 Posted to the web 18 June 2008 By Patience Aber and Al-Mahdi Ssenkabirwa Kampala The Acholi religious and political leadership has vehemently opposed government's latest stance to pursue the Lords Resistance Army rebel after talks failed to yield a peaceful settlement to the two-decade long rebellion. Various leaders from the region who Daily Monitor talked to unanimously agree that the military approach is not the option. "Even though the peace talks collapsed there is still more chance to resolve the 22-year-old northern insurgency through peace talks," said Sheik Musa Kelin, vice chairperson of the Acholi Religious Leaders Peace Initiative (ARLP). In the interview on June 5, Sheik Kelin said opting for a military offensive will only frustrate the relative peace people in northern Uganda are currently enjoying. "It [military option] has failed in 20 years and it will still fail. They can manage to smoke him [Kony] out of his hide-outs [Garamba Forest] but must ensure that he doesn't sneak here again to breach our peace," he said. Last week, the government announced that it would resume military operations against Kony, but this time with the full support of other countries in the Great Lakes Region. Army and Defence Publicist Paddy Ankunda said "the negotiations were no more, the man [Kony] doesn't know what he wants and we have resolved to go the military way," This implies the series of meetings between government and the LRA for a negotiated peace deal has gone to waste. The Gulu LC5 Chairperson, Norbert Mao described the UPDF's planned move, as reckless saying any attempt to use force would further drive the LRA from signing the stalled peace talks. "If they (UPDF) are interested in resuming the war, why should they go to the media and declare their intention anyway?," Mr Mao asked. "They should not think that the LRA rebels are just sitting. They (LRA) are like mother ducks sitting on their eggs. Personally, I have reservations on the capability of the UPDF over the LRA. He said if the UPDF are embarking on attacking the LRA, it would be the innocent civilians to suffer. Mr Mao said during past military encounters between the UPDF forces and their opponents; the latter used to turn their anger onto innocent people. He said the UPDF should not declare war before getting a report from the Chief Mediator, Riek Machar and the UN envoy, Mr Joachim Chicano that the peace talks have completely failed. "We don't want them to relaunch an operation that will be disastrous like the Operation Iron Fist. Declaring a war is one thing but executing is another business all together." Mr Mao added. The Bishop of Northern Uganda Diocese, Bishop Onono Onweng said: "War can never be a solution to the conflict because it will have a short term remedy. If you solve a conflict using war both parties are often left disatisfied and most probably another conflict crops up," he said. According to the Gulu RDC, Col. Walter Ochora, Kony will never sign the peace talks and never come out of the bush but instead prefer to work as a mercenary. "Let Kony tell Riek Machar and the UN envoy that he is being deceived by the CAR [Central Africa Republic] rebel leaders that they will help him (Kony) to operate as a mercenary," he said on the Gulu- based Mega FM on June 5. The decision to re-launch a military offensive against LRA came on June 2, after a high-powered meeting of all security chiefs in the Great Lakes Region held in Kampala. Maj. Paddy Ankunda said the members reached a consensus to fight Kony because the peace talks option seemed to have failed. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Copyright © 2008 The Monitor. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Quantcast