Uganda: Uganda Arranges Kony-Mother Meeting
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The Nation (Nairobi)
July 21, 2006
Posted to the web July 21, 2006
Posted to the web July 21, 2006
Frank Nyakairu And Grace Matsiko
Kampala
Kampala
Uganda and Southern Sudan authorities plan to reunite rebel leader Joseph
Kony and his mother anytime next week after 20 years of separation.
The two governments plan to fly the elderly Mrs Nora Oting together with relatives of four of Mr Kony's indicted commanders this weekend to the Sudanese border with DR Congo to meet the Lord's Resistance Army rebel leader.
The move, sources close to the peace talks in the Southern Sudanese capital, Juba say, is meant largely to woo Mr Kony to abandon rebellion.
The meeting is scheduled for July 26.
Mrs Oting who is her 70s will be flown to Southern Sudan at the weekend from where she and her colleagues will travel to meet her son who is holed up in the DR Congo's Garamba National Park, Uganda's Spokesman for the Juba delegation Captain Paddy Ankunda said.
"The meeting is scheduled for 26th this month and will involve Kony's mother and relatives of the other four
indicted commanders as a confidence building measure," Captain Ankunda said in an interview with Daily Monitor in Juba.
Mr Kony and four of his commanders; Vincent Otti, Okot Odhiambo, Dominic Ongwen and Raska Lukwiya are indicted by the International Criminal Court for war crimes and crimes against humanity. Mr Kony, 46, and his top commanders, face 33 counts.
The Southern Sudanese mediation team headed by Vice President Riek Machar will oversee the reunion.
Mr Kony and his fighters have been holed up in Garamba for the last 10 months. His mother Oting, is a widow to Kony's father, Luwigi Obol.
Speaking about the planned reunion, Internal Affairs Minister Dr Ruhakana Rugunda, who is the leader of Uganda's negotiation team said the government is ready to do whatever it takes to achieve peace in northern Uganda.
"The government of
Uganda is determined to have a peaceful end to this war and if it means taking any one, even if it is Kony's mother to meet meet him we shall do it."
Meanwhile, Ugandan government negotiators said yesterday they will not agree a ceasefire with the LRA until a comprehensive peace agreement is sealed, fearing rebel forces will exploit a truce to cause trouble.
"We are not going to make that mistake again," Captain Ankunda told The Associated Press by telephone from southern Sudan.
Government negotiators were reluctant to work out details and sign a ceasefire agreement now because the rebel Lord's Resistance Army used past truces to regroup, rearm, loot food, strengthen a network of collaborators and launch fresh attacks, Capt Ankunda said.
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Past peace efforts have failed because of mistrust and bitter hostilities between rebels and the government. Attempts by religious leaders to mediate between the two sides have also failed. Peace negotiators have now begun to discuss a
political settlement to the brutal conflict, including the reconstruction of areas hardest hit by the conflict in northern and eastern Uganda, Capt Ankunda said.
President Yoweri Museveni has written to his main political rival Dr Kizza Besigye, inviting him for a meeting "to discuss matters of mutual interest."
The letter, signed by the President's Principal Private Secretary Ms Amelia Kyambadde, was delivered to the retired colonel at the Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) headquarters in Najjanankumbi yesterday morning.
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