The LRA insurgency and Karamojong cattle raids are no more in north and north eastern Uganda. People are no longer in camps for protection against the LRA. Instead they are returning to their homes.

This is the message I delivered to 200 NRM leaders in Otuke County, Lira last Friday. I gave the same message on Radio Unity, Radio Wa and TV Wa on Thursday and Friday evenings. There were two schools of thought on how to deal with Kony. There were those who believed that talking to Kony would bring an end to the LRA insurgency. This was the line taken by the majority of politicians from the north.

However, the President believed that talking with Kony wouldn't end the insurgency because Kony's sponsors, the Sudan government, wanted Kony to continue destabilising Uganda. So the position of the Movement government was that in order to end the insurgency, Kony and the LRA had to be defeated militarily. For this, some politicians from the north branded President Museveni and the Movement war mongers who preferred fighting as opposed to talking to Kony. The local people bought the opposition line and when elections came, they voted for the Opposition and that's how Semogerere won in the north in 1996, Besigye in 2001 and 2006.

But the government position notwithstanding, some talks were attempted but they yield much. Kony used the talks to re-organise whenever they were in a weak position after which they continued with their terrorist acts. UPDF continued pursuing the LRA that used southern Sudan as their sanctuary. They would come and attack people and run back to Sudan until when they finally defeated in 2005 both in northern Uganda and southern Sudan. Kony ran to Garamba National Park in DR Congo. The situation in southern Sudan also changed after the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) between SPLM and the Khartoum regime in January 2005.

Southern Sudan that Kony used as a sanctuary came, following the CPA, under SPLM that is friendly to Uganda and Kony could no longer use it to destabilise Uganda. Kony in Garamba approached the South Sudan leadership asking for talks with the Uganda government. President Museveni accepted the talks on the request by President Salva Kiir. After the talks, President Museveni flew to Juba to sign the agreement but Kony never showed up. In spite that, peace in the north is now irreversible. Kony's failure to sign the agreement shows that President Museveni was right that Kony would never accept and recognise talks. So the President's position of defeating Kony militarily was the correct one as opposed to the talks.

Nonetheless, both advocates of peace talks and defeat militarily had one objective; to bring peace and security in northern Uganda which has now been achieved. This is the time for those who opposed the NRM and President Museveni on account of refusing to talk to the LRA to start working with Museveni for the development of their areas. After all, the peace they wanted has been achieved through the Museveni line of defeating Kony militarily. That's why people like Mr Omara Atubo, who was for peace talks, accepted to serve as a minister in the NRM government. In any case, what he wanted for the people of the north (peace and security) has been achieved.

Many local people are already joining the NRM in droves like in Lira where I was last week. I received 75 people who were in opposition but have now crossed to the NRM including Mr Kamara, the Olilim Sub-county chairman. The same is happening in Acholi. Recently, a politician from Pader District told me that he had opposed the NRM because it had taken a military option to end insurgency. He said now that peace had returned through the Museveni option and the people had seen that by refusing to sign the peace agreement, Kony was not committed to talks, he had decided to work with the NRM.

Mr Byaruhanga is a special presidential assistant on political affairs