1 August 2006
Nabanga — Joseph Kony, the leader of Uganda's notorious Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) on Tuesday asked for forgiveness for atrocities committed by his movement against civilians.
"Generally, in a reconciliatory tone, Kony asked for forgiveness," LRA spokesman Obonyo Olweny told AFP from Nabanga, a small trading post on the border between Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
Kony spoke in the presence of Riek Machar, the vice-president of southern Sudan, as well as Ugandan government officials and Sudanese elders.
Dozens of heavily armed LRA fighters surrounded the tent where the meeting took place.
Kony, wearing a white short-sleeved shirt and white trousers, shook hands with a Ugandan government official before beginning talks with mediators in a clearing near the forested frontier.
Mediators regard his appearance as a step forward for the peace talks.
A south Sudanese lawmaker who attended the meeting said Kony was frank as he sought forgiveness "People were very happy when he asked for forgiveness for the atrocities 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.
"Kony was very frank in his talking and the people of southern Sudan agreed to let what has passed be forgotten and start a new chapter," Ogwalo added.
Journalists were not allowed to attend the discussions, which took place under a white tent with delegates seated on plastic chairs. At least 80 LRA fighters, some draped in ammunition belts, formed a cordon around the venue.
After the meeting with Machar, the elusive rebel commander addressed his first news conference in the 20 years of rebellion, calling for a ceasefire with the government.
"We wish to categorically state that no meaningful negotiations can take place without a cessation of hostilities," Kony said in a statement read out by Olweny who sat next to him before Kony took questions himself.
Asked what he would do if the government did not accept his ceasefire call, Kony said, "I will not do anything, but I will try also to talk so that we cease the fire."
Kony is wanted by the International Criminal Court for crimes against humanity. But asked if he would ever stand trial in The Hague, he said, "No, no, no... because I did not do anything."
He denied the LRA was responsible for atrocities in northern Uganda and southern Sudan, saying they were committed by the Ugandan army.
"(It is) only that I don't have means or I don't have good communication to the world which can inform the people that these things which happened, was not (by) LRA," he said.
"I am a man, I am a human being, I am a soldier, I am Joseph Kony," he said.
"Those words people say to me, that is propaganda because they spoil my name like that ... so that people do not love me as a human being," he explained
He also denied abducting children, despite the presence of several young men who looked to be in their early teens, among at least 80 LRA fighters who guarded the meeting venue.
"I cannot fight with children. As you know very well the children cannot walk 60 miles as I do."
He said he began his uprising 20 years ago, aged 23, because troops loyal to Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni, who had just taken power at the time, were oppressing his people in northern Uganda.
"Museveni came to our place or to my home and killed my fathers and killed my sisters, destroying all properties of my fathers and some other people also. That is why most of our people, they also went into the bush," he said.
Tuesday's meeting with the peace negotiators was the second time Kony has participated directly in the talks following a first meeting Saturday at the same site.
The talks began in south Sudan's capital Juba on July 14.
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