Bwana Musaazi, Once again, with so much verbiage you have deftly sidestepped the real issues.
But I'll revisit them anyway. 1. The government of Uganda has the responsibility of protecting the property and lives of all Ugandans from both internal and external threats. By commission and omission, Yoweri Museveni's administration has done a terrible job of it in Acholiland. This fact isn't altered, regardless of whether there is local support for the LRA or not and whether Sudan or any other foreign country is supporting the LRA or not. All your arguments in this regard amount to little more than lame excuses. 2. It is curious that to you, southern elements have to be present in the LRA for us to characterize the outcome of the armed conflict in Acholiland as genocidal. I beg to differ. Incompetence, corruption, and dereliction of duty by UPDF officers (including Yoweri Museveni) and rank and file largely accounts for the continued existence of Joseph Kony (who by all reckoning is a psychopath with no credible political agenda). Nearly every one of the commanding officers posted to Gulu, Kitgum, and Lira, to help fight armed rebellion, has profiteered from the war rather than stop it. This includes Salim Saleh, Tinyefuza, and Wasswa. Follow the money, if you think I'm lying or playing politics, as you cheaply shot. 3. The Yoweri Museveni administration has two real junctures for ending the suffering in Acholi. Either to defeat the LRA militarily (which it has failed) or to pursue less violent options. 4. You still haven't quoted for me any Ugandan law that penalizes an attempt to broker peace. If such laws exist, I have already said that we should have it repealed. Contrary to your assertion, I think all Ugandans and friends of Uganda are bound by duty, conscience, and human decency to contribute toward seeking an end to the suffering of more than one million Ugandans, whose tragic fate is a reflection of monumental failure of government. For state functionaries and toadies to hide behind real or imagined laws in an attempt to monopolize genocidal incompetence is mind-boggling. 5. One doesn't have to have a political agenda to point these things out. Personally, I carry water for no one. I speak as a journalist and concerned Ugandan, African, and humanist. Many people, including myself, have condemned and will continue to condemn the savagery of Joseph Kony and the LRA. We have also condemned and will continue to condemn criminal negligence by civilians and soldiers in the Museveni administration that have directly or indirectly led to unnecessary loss of life in northern Uganda and elsewhere in the course of war. Are there those who try to make political hay out of Museveni's and the UPDF's abject failure to defeat a ragtag group of brigands? You bet. That's in the nature of politics. I recognize it although I don't play it. Does that fact (i.e. political hay-making) eliminate the necessity to speak out? Of course not. 6. All this noise Movement apologists and propagandists make about Fr. Rodriguez is just a diversion. Somebody, Ugandan or not, has to put their life on the line, to do the risky job of pursuing alternatives to the government's failed approach. This job is truly dangerous and I'm sure those who undertake the role of mediators are well aware that they will meet hostility from both Kony/LRA and UPDF/Museveni, who share the unsavory reputation of treachery in the face of peace. vukoni -------------------------------------------- This service is hosted on the Infocom network http://www.infocom.co.ug
