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Ugandan rebel leader Kony appears in public, denies atrocities
Nabanga, Sudan, Aug 1, 2006 Joseph Kony, the leader of Uganda's notoriously brutal rebel Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) and one of the world's most wanted men, on Tuesday made a rare public appearance and flatly denied he had committed any atrocities. But he did, according to witnesses, ask forgiveness for atrocities against civilians committed both by the militants under his command and Ugandan forces. Dressed in a white shirt, white trousers and black shoes, the elusive Kony emerged from the jungle on Sudan's southern border with the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to give his first news conference in nearly 20 years of war. "I cannot fight with children. There is not any children in position. There is not any abduction in the LRA," Kony told reporters in broken English. The Ugandan government and aid groups have accused the LRA of kidnapping thousands of children -- forcibly conscripting the boys as soldiers and abusing the girls as sex slaves. The United Nations children's agency UNICEF says at least 25,000 children have been abducted since the LRA started fighting the army in northern Uganda 19 years ago. Kony, who describes himself as a mystic and prophet and wishes to introduce a regime based on the Bible's Ten Commandments, blamed a lack "of good communication to the world" for the LRA's appalling reputation. But in a meeting earlier on Tuesday with a Ugandan government envoy and Sudanese mediators, Kony begged for forgiveness for the pain caused. "People were very happy when he asked for forgiveness for the atrocities that the Ugandans (LRA and Ugandan army) committed and the suffering of the people of northern Uganda and southern Sudan," Betty Achan Ogwalo, a member of the southern Sudan parliament, told AFP. Tuesday's meeting at the trading post of Nabanga on the DRC-Sudan border -- and one on Saturday between Kony, Ugandan peace negotiators and the Sudanese mediators -- are seen as major breakthroughs in peace talks on ending the civil war which are currently under way in the southern Sudanese capital, Juba. The Tuesday talks were attended by southern Sudanese vice president Riak Machar, the chief mediator in the peace talks and himself a former rebel, Ugandan officials and Sudanese elders. The two meetings are a victory for the Sudanese mediators, who have spent weeks trying to persuade Kony to join negotiations to end the 19-year civil war between the LRA and the Ugandan army in northern Uganda, which has claimed tens of thousands of lives and displaced around two million people. Until now, Kony has been loathe to appear in person. He faces an international arrest warrant for war crimes, as do four of his top commanders. After Tuesday's talks, Kony and his heavily-armed fighters returned to the bush. They are due to attend another round of meetings on Wednesday in a tent somewhere near the border between Sudan and the DRC, where the LRA leaders are based. The Juba peace talks are seen as the best chance to restore peace and stability in Uganda. The LRA has renewed its demand for a ceasefire, which was rejected by the Kampala government when peace talks began last month. "We are indeed renewing that demand that we need a ceasefire. Meaningful negotiations will not take place without a ceasefire," LRA spokesman Obonyo Olweny told AFP on Tuesday , reading from a press release. The International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague has issued arrest warrants for Kony, his deputy Vincent Otti and three other top commanders, preventing the rebel leader from joining peace talks until now. But President Yoweri Museveni has assured "total amnesty" to Kony if the talks succeed. Sudan is working with foreign governments to have The Hague's arrest warrants withdrawn in order to enable Kony to negotiate directly with the government. The United Nations says the war in northern Uganda is one of the world's worst humanitarian disasters and complains that it has largely gone unnoticed by the international community. Community Email This Article Comment On This Article Related Links Nuclear Space Technology at Space-Travel.com
Britain to agree to US arms-for-Israel stopovers
Londres, Aug 1, 2006 Britain said on Tuesday that US aircraft carrying weapons to Israel would be allowed to make stopovers at British airports if they observed the correct procedures. |
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