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Uganda: I Am Not Dead - Joseph Kony
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New Vision (Kampala)
26 April 2008
Posted to the web 28 April 2008
Alex Odongo and Barbara Among
THE Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) leader, Joseph Kony, has dismissed rumours that he was shot dead following an internal revolt.
The Gulu Resident District Commissioner, Walter Ochora, said Kony spoke to him by satellite phone on Friday afternoon.
The rebel leader also refuted reports that he had killed his deputy, Okot Odhiambo. Earlier this month, Reuters reported that Odhiambo was killed during a disagreement over the peace process.
Odhiambo replaced Vincent Otti, who was executed on October 2 last year after Kony accused him of spying for the Government.
"Kony called me on Friday and dismissed the rumours that he was killed in an internal conflict within the rebel ranks," Ochora said. "He also dismissed claims that he killed his second-in-command, Okot Odhiambo."
Asked when he was going to sign the comprehensive peace agreement, Kony informed him that he would take everybody by surprise.
Kony on April 10 snubbed dignitaries and international observers when he failed to turn up for the signing of the final peace accord in Ri-Kwangba, the assembly point in South Sudan.
Meanwhile, security minister Amama Mbabazi has warned the LRA rebels that they face military action if they fail to return to the negotiating table.
Speaking at the closure of a five-day workshop on peace and security in the Great Lakes region in Kampala on Friday, Mbabazi said the countries in the region had agreed not to harbour any negative forces.
"We call upon them to take advantage of the opportunity to come out of their criminality through the Juba peace talks. If they don't, the price is known," he warned.
The regional conference mapped out a way to deal with armed groups such as the LRA, he added.
Mbabazi also condemned the mass abductions and attacks by the LRA in the Central African Republic (CAR), the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and South Sudan.
"We unreservedly condemn the LRA terrorist gangs for visiting their crimes on the people of CAR, Sudan and DRC," he declared.
In a separate interview with Sunday Vision, he accused the UN mission in Congo, MONUC, of failing to deal with the regional sources of insecurity.
According to Mbabazi, MONUC had been focusing on internal politics in the DRC and ignored the external forces and armed militia. Mbabazi said the Lusaka Agreement, signed by the leaders in the region, had agreed to deal with both in a bid to rid the region of militias.
He confirmed reports of infighting in the LRA, but he said Kony was alive.
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The International Conference on Peace and Security in the Great Lakes Region brings together experts from 11 countries to assess progress and map out ways to improve regional stability and security.
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