Frank Nyakairu
16 March 2008
Kampala — REBEL leader Joseph Kony has left his forested Garamba hideout in the northeast DR Congo for a new base in the Central African Republic, various sources have said.
"Kony [has] arrived in CAR and is currently camping south of Obo town," a security source said on condition of anonymity because he has no authority to speak to reporters.
Obo lies on the southeastern tip of the extremely poor and unstable CAR near the border with South Sudan.
Another source familiar with the LRA's movements said Mr Kony arrived with a small group of fighters that included some of his key commanders Abudema and Mikman Ofuk.
"They split from a bigger group on March 6 near Tonga [in eastern DR Congo] and the Kony group, which could have been aided with quicker transport, arrived in CAR on March 13," the source said without revealing who could have aided the rebel chief's group with better means of transport.
fMr Kony's change of base serves to further raise doubts as to whether he will be available to sign a final peace deal before this month ends.
The government of Uganda and the LRA have been holding peace talks in Juba in South Sudan since July 2006.
They have since reached agreement on all issues on the five-point agenda, thus paving way for the signing of a Final Peace Agreement. That accord is scheduled to be signed before March 28.
The LRA delegation, however, says that it or Mr Kony himself cannot sign the deal before the International Criminal Court (ICC) has withdrawn indictments against the rebel boss and two of his commanders for war crimes and crimes against humanity.
The Uganda government, for its part, says Mr Kony should sign and only then can he be assured of trial in Uganda and not by the ICC at The Hague.
But Mr Kony's move into CAR, farther away from Juba where the deal is planned to be inked, confuses things.
Sources report that the LRA supremo moved more than three quarters of his forces into CAR, yet those forces are supposed to be assembled at Ri-Kwang-Ba in Western Equatoria province of South Sudan as required by the Cessation of Hostilities Agreement signed in 2006.
"Kony has moved most, if not all, his troops out of Garamba," said Gulu RDC Walter Ochora, a man who has met Mr Kony several times and keeps a sharp eye on the goings-on in the world of the LRA. "He only left a teenage commander in Ri-Kwang-Ba named Lt. Okello.
This is worrying [as] it seems LRA is not for peace."
Mr Kony moved his base from South Sudan into Garamba in October 2005. His move farther away, Col. Ochora said, is not a sign that the man will be present in Juba in the next two weeks to sign the final agreement.
Bizarrely, UN and CAR authorities say, the LRA attacked Obo on March 5 and March 6 looting and abducting over 100 youth, leaving it unclear as to why the rebels would raid a town in the area where they were going to camp.
The southeastern region of CAR which the LRA is said to have entered is controlled by a rebel group - the Popular Army for the Restoration of Democracy (APRD).
CAR President Francois Bozize, who has a gentleman's agreement with President Yoweri Museveni, has accused Khartoum of supporting the APRD. Khartoum once backed the LRA, with some reports that that support has not ended, only scaled down.
The Ugandan authorities on Friday said they had confirmed the LRA presence in CAR through Gen. Bozize's government and French military authorities deployed in that country to prop up the regime there.
"The LRA is no longer only Uganda's security threat, it is [a] regional [security threat]," said International Affairs Minister Henry Okello-Oryem, who also is the deputy leader of the Uganda government delegation to the Juba talks. "It affects CAR, DRC, Sudan and many more countries."
He said a UN team is in Obo to investigate what exactly happened on March 5 and 6. As the March 28 deadline for signing the Final Peace Agreement draws closer and prospects of a deal wane, Kampala says it is preparing for the worst.
"We know the man we are dealing with," said State Minister for Defence Ruth Nankabirwa, "he is full of surprises and miracles. If he does not sign the peace agreement, we will be stupid if we don't prepare for protecting Ugandans."
In nearly two decades of war that laid to waste especially Acholiland, Mr Kony said he was fighting for government based on the Ten Commandments. He has also staked claim to mystical powers.
Sources say an intelligence evaluation meeting in Kampala last week concluded that the LRA could be "re-positioning itself to fight another war".
This was in the midst of reports suggesting that the LRA received new arms and uniforms from Obo.
"What you are telling me is total rubbish," said the rambunctious LRA peace delegation chief David Matsanga-Nyekorach. "For us we are focused on peace. Kony has told me himself that he will come and sign the Final Peace Agreement only when the ICC drops the indictments."
While in London last week, President Museveni said a peace deal would allow the LRA commanders to atone for crimes through a traditional "blood settlement", avoiding trial and prison by the ICC.
The long-running conflict has killed tens of thousands of people and uprooted close to two million in northern Uganda.
Uganda has a population of nearly 30 million.
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