Uganda President, Yoweri Museveni'sgovernment is dismissing as nonsensical demands by the Lord's Resistance Army(LRA) rebels for an immediate ceasefire. The rebels arecalling for the end to a joint regional military offensive against its forces in theDemocratic Republic of Congo, urging United Nations mediators to organize freshpeace negotiations. But the Kampala government says the only way out of thejoint military operation against the rebels would be for the leader of therebels to sign a final peace deal with the government.
Thejoint regional military force comprising troops from Southern Sudan, Rwanda,and the Democratic Republic of Congo recently launched a military offensiveagainst the LRA after rebel leader Joseph Kony repeatedly failed to sign afinal peace deal with Kampala. The final peace deal if signed by Kony wouldend more than two decades of rebel insurgency in northern Uganda. Uganda'sinformation minister Kirunda Kivejinja tells reporter Peter Clottey that it isridiculous for the rebels to be making demands after failing repeatedly to signa peace deal.
"Ourgovernment view has not changed. We reached all the agreement and all what weneed is for Kony to come and sign the final peace deal. Once he signs the peacedeal, there would be no more attacks. So we are actually directing where heshould go," Kivejinja noted.
Hecompared pressuring rebel leader Kony to sign the peace deal to how onecontrols a herd of cattle.
"Haveyou ever reared cattle? What do you do when they are straying? That is exactlywhat we are doing with Kony. We want him to move directly where he belongs andthen that would be the end of the story. When he comes and appends hissignature to the peace document, then we go by the terms of the agreement," hesaid.
Kivejinjasuggested that there would only be a halt in the military offensive against therebels if the rebel leader meets his obligations and signs the final peacedeal.
"That is what you do tocows. If it strays, you don't allow it to go and stray into other people'sgarden, and then ultimately, you would lose those cattle," Kivejinja pointedout.
He described the rebels'demand for an immediate ceasefire as useless.
"The demands are uncalledfor, baseless, and useless if you were to ask me because the journey towardspeace is already laid out in the peace negotiations," he said.
Kivejinja said the governmentwould remove the international arrest warrants against top commanders of therebels if the rebel leader signs the final peace deal according to the tenetsof the April 2008 agreement.
"As soon as he signs thefinal peace deal, then we move to the second phase of how we extricate him fromthe ICC (International Criminal Court). And we have already laid out our legalsystem to accommodate it," Kivejinja said.
He said the government wouldbe flouting the terms of the agreement if Kampala goes ahead to have the ICCarrest warrants removed before rebel leader Kony signs the final peace deal.
"How can we do that, becausethat is the terms of the agreement? It says that Kony would have to sign thepeace deal before we have the ICC-issued warrants against him and his rebels tobe removed by the International Criminal Court," he said.
Kivejinja reiterated thatthe joint military attack on rebel positions would be halted if Kony signs thefinal peace deal.
"We were even expecting himto have signed the peace deal yesterday. So if he goes back to the peace tableand signs the agreement, then all his problems of confrontations and what-notswould go away," Kivejinja said.
Some military experts say the joint military raidhas backfired. While targeting LRA campsin remote parts of the DRC, it has failed to capture or kill Kony. Additionally, they point out, the action hasprovoked retaliatory raids by the rebels against Congo's civilian population,local officials, and rights groups