Uganda: LRA Commanders to Visit Acholi People
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The Monitor (Kampala)
August 31, 2006
Posted to the web August 30, 2006
Posted to the web August 30, 2006
Oketch Bitek
Gulu
Gulu
THE Lord's Resistance Army Second-in-Command, Vincent Otti, has said he will soon send some
senior commanders from his base to visit the Acholi people in Uganda as part of the trust, confidence and peace building process.
Otti was speaking on the government-owned Mega FM radio in Gulu town on Sunday.
He, however, said he would not be part of the senior LRA rebel commanders who will visit.
Otti said the visit will also be a pay back of the confidence that the acholi elders and leaders undertook to visit the LRA base recently in Garamba, DR Congo.
He further told the Acholi people that much as the peace process is going on well between the LRA and Uganda government, there are still some 'spoilers' who are opposed to the whole arrangement.
He, for example, said the recent attack in Pader in which a Ministry of Health vehicle was burnt was an act of spoilers.
Otti ordered all his forces in Uganda
to desist from forcefully grabbing civilian food items. He appealed to the fighters to request for whatever they need from the community.
"No LRA should forcefully grab foodstuff. They should ask for it to help them reach the relocation points where commanders
Dominic Ongwen and Kwoyelo are staying," he said without naming the exact location.
Otti said LRA rebels who harass people during this time of the peace struggle would be punished accordingly.
" I will deal with any LRA member who harasses people...I'm the commander of the troops," he said in Luo.
Otti said it is possible that some junior LRA commanders and fighters may not be aware of the ongoing peace process. He, however, called on the senior commanders in Uganda to dispatch their people to inform and gather all the forces in their designated areas within Uganda.
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"Some LRA commanders in Uganda may not understand that peace talks are going on and may still disturb people but I have ordered senior commanders on the ground to put them under control," Otti said.
Otti who spoke for 20 minutes on Mega FM also called on the UPDF in northern Uganda to stop mobile deployment in the bushes and return to protect IDP camps.
He called on all LRA fighters and officers roaming around northern Uganda to report to Commanders Dominic Ongwen and Kwoyelo. Otti amused listeners when he said in a situation where the rebels feel they are starving, they can harvest some little foodstuff when the owners of the gardens are not present but must only take as little as possible.
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