[Ugnet] Meanwhile Betty Akullu Continues with her propaganda on behalf of Dictator Museveni

[Matek Opoko]

An Advise to Ms. Betty Akullu... Hopefully you have already obtain property in Washington DC or London..... Continue on with your mouth  ..given Ugandan politics, your butt is as good as Already skined!!!   MK.   Peace and reconciliation is of essence; all else is trivia

By Betty Akech Okullu

We have been told that ostriches bury their heads in the sand when they feel incapable of handling grave situations. We are also told that some people sweep dirt (read difficult issues) under the carpet to avoid handling them. These acts do not solve the problems, rather they prolong them. Some members of our society never accept that they can do wrong. Doing good is their prerogative and doing bad is the prerogative of others especially those in government. This is total hogwash! Mr Olara Samuel seems to exhibit all the above behaviour in his article of 23rd May, 2005 entitled "Name tagging cannot help the peace process" and some of my brother politicians from Acholi are guilty of the same attitude and belief. In my article entitled "The Prospects for peace in Northern Uganda Brighter," Monitor of April 25, I did not discuss the root causes of the Northern conflict, rather I dwelt on the reaso ns why the war has lasted for so long. I explained why I believe the prospects for peace is brighter now than ever before in Northern Uganda. NEGOTIATING FOR PEACE WITH lra REBELS: Betty Bigombe I still reiterate the same. If I had touched on the root causes of the war, I would have definitely mentioned the role of our colonial masters and past governments in militarising, criminalising and impoverishing the region. I would have also mentioned the role of the UNLA, the UPDA and the late Bazilio Okello, the father of the writer Samuel Olara and his ilk, who led hundreds of innocent Acholi sons to wage a reactionary war against the NRA in 1987, with terrible and continuing consequences. Although at that time the war was for a genuine cause, the same war has mutated and transformed itself to the current one with devastating effects on Acholi and many other Ugandans. But, I would have also appreciated the conciliatory role of the Tito Okello Lutwa, Otema Allimadi, Charles Alai, Walter Ochora and others who talked peace with gov ernment and denounced rebellion in 1989 while other hardliners perished in the bushes of Northern Uganda and Sudan and many others fled to exile. In my heart I said let sleeping dogs lie. Let old wounds heal. Let us look to the future honestly, bravely and with hope. However, from the tone of Olara's article, it is now apparent that old hatreds diehard and we may be seeing the beginning of the exhibition of transgenerational hatred. As Olara himself says in his article, this may help create new causes of the conflict. Fortunately for peace loving Ugandans, many of these innocent Acholis who form the majority that have experienced and witnessed the devastating effects of war, have come out openly to identify with government initiatives to end the war. This, they have done through availing critical information to our soldiers, joining the local defence forces, and through community peace initiatives. I would like to point out that government appreciates these efforts. The Acholi are now wise to such venomous political manipulations. Some misinformed Ugandans in the Diaspora like Olara of course continue to claim from the safety of their comfortable exile that they are more Ugandan than Ugandans here at home and more knowledgeable about the state of and the running of the country than we are. Such people are living in history and will continue to try to divide Ugandans by exploiting their ethnic differences and sentiments. This can perpetuate hatred and continued conflict. I believe in honest critical self appraisal. I also know that in any war, we have the combatants, the innocent vulnerable civilians who are usually victims, such as children, women, the aged, and those for the war, such as collaborators, resource mobilisers, propagandists, and those against the war who usually speak and act against it. Certainly most Acholi belong to the innocent vulnerable civilian group and others to the other categories I mentioned above. I f we elite Acholi especially those in the Diaspora like Samuel Olara do not accept that we have a huge share of the blame for the Northern war, then we are not being honest. It takes two to tango. It takes many to incite. We should use our acquired wealth of knowledge and skills at conflict resolution, to help rid our society of this evil conflict. While apportioning blame at this stage in the conflict is counterproductive, it is still very necessary for us to recognise the negative role some Acholi and other stakeholders nationally or internationally have played to cause, prolong and sustain the conflict. It is certainly very necessary to point out the uncalled for murderous and terrorist acts committed by the LRA on the innocent civilians of Northern and Eastern Uganda. Olara should be reminded of the most recent gruesome murders by the LRA of 16 of his brothers and sisters in Koch Goma. What was their crime? They were going to their gardens to dig! Ther e are too many incidents of that kind to list here. Vilifying those who condemn these acts by the LRA is akin to condoning the acts themselves and can be construed as tacit support for the LRA. What should we call such people who condone those acts? I believe in the Biblical saying that the truth will set you free and will always come out. The Acholi have a saying that "Kadi Ibut Ki maru ite pii wang ma ongene" - literally translated it means: "Even if you sleep with your mother in-law under water, people will get to know". Time alone will tell who is on the side of truth. Speaking of truth, in South Africa, the Truth Commission was instituted to allow many negative actors in the Apartheid regime unburden themselves of their guilt by confessing to their victims or their victims' relatives about their crimes against those victims. This was because it was realised that while the victims of apartheid regime were suffering the pain inflicted on them by the perpetrators of apartheid, some of the apartheid agents were also suffering under the yoke of their guilt. This approach has borne results and paved way for reconciliation in South Africa. The Gacaca courts in Rwanda are bringing victims of genocide and genocidaires face to face to try and get justice and reconciliation. When whole populations have suffered terrible atrocities at the hands of some groups, one of the healing processes is in knowing the reasons why such a thing happened and who was responsible. It is only then that people find it in their hearts to forgive though not to forget. The Acholi, as is their culture, have found it in their hearts, to forgive their own sons and daughters for being part of the root cause of their degradation and dehumanisation. If they had not been brutalised by their own children, the LRA and their collaborators, they would never have fled their beautiful homes to live in squalid camps. Many of us share their suffering for we are with them most of the time whenever they have problems. Our relatives and friends are in those camps. We could not ferry them out of harm's way to London or America as others have done with their relatives and friends. It is fallacious to intimate that we are not sympathetic to them in their suffering. We will continue as government to try to ensure their well being in the circumstances, and their protection is our priority. On President Museveni and his Cabinet, I am proud to note that although he has never claimed to be an angel (nobody is), he with his Cab inet have initiated and facilitated the enactment of the Amnesty Law out of his policy of forgiveness and reconciliation. This has benefited thousands of former LRA, ADF, WNBF, UNRF I & II rebels and other Ugandans in the Diaspora. He has agreed to a negotiated peace process in the LRA insurgency and supported Mrs Betty Bigombe, the Chief Mediator to link government with Kony. We still await the outcome of that effort. But the government will not wait with folded arms while the LRA continues on the rampage killing innocent Ugandans. Many Ugandans support the policies and programmes of the President and his Cabinet which have caused visible and tangible development in Uganda. I therefore have no cause to point my smoking gun at him. The UPDF which is composed of all major ethnic groups in Uganda including Acholi and the auxiliary forces, continue to gallantly protect the population and warmly receive LRA reporters. These are reintegrated in the community or abs orbed into the army. This is an achievement in itself, since even in the so called developed world, like America and Europe, such behaviour is alien, and brutality, humiliation and mistreatment of prisoners accused of terrorism is rampant. Finally, on Olara's personal attacks on my personality, Mr Olara should note that Acholi in Gulu have elected me three times as their Woman Representative to the national political arena (Constituent Assembly and Parliament), despite knowing my political affiliation. I am sure this is because they believe in the values I espouse which are honesty, frankness, taking principled stands and being pro-people. The writer is MP - Gulu & Minister in charge of Security, Office of the President

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