By Mwanguhya Charles Mpagi
July 18, 2003 -Monitor
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Witchcraft and spirits may after all be working for the rebel leader Joseph Kony. At least that is what the Minister of State for Defence, Ms Ruth Nankabirwa, told journalists in Kampala yesterday. "This [spirits] factor cannot be ignored,” she said at the weekly Cabinet press briefing at Nakasero. “He is a man of spirits. This is for real,” the minister said. Mr Kony is the leader of the rebel Lord’s Resistance Army, which has been waging war in northern Uganda for more than a decade. Fear of Kony’s spirits has made intelligence gathering difficult. “The people believe it and we cannot ignore it. It is very difficult to get information from them," she said. "Some fear that if they say anything about Kony he will know and then come for them at night.” Journalists asked her if the government would now also use witchcraft to fight the rebellion. The minister said that the government would involve all those who can help. “We are calling on everybody, including spiritual leaders? Anybody who thinks he can help to end this rebellion is welcome,” Nankabirwa said. The Minister for Information, Mr Nsaba Buturo, however, clarified that the government would not hire a "professional" witchdoctor to fight the Kony rebels. Nankabirwa, interestingly, also insisted that the army is containing the rebels in Teso and northern Uganda. She said that 14 of 17 LRA commanders have been killed. “The remaining key commanders are [Vincent] Otti and Tabuley." She did not list the dead LRA commanders. The war has killed thousands, and about 20,000 children have been abducted in northern Uganda. A further one million people have been displaced and are forced live in camps that dot northern Uganda. The rebellion is partly sustained by the belief, even by government troops, in Kony's spiritual powers. |
© 2003 The Monitor Publications
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