Kony Seeks Post-Sudan Support

By Anne Mugisa, New Vision

BOMBO, Jan 17, 2004 — LRA rebel leader Joseph Kony is desperately looking for other contacts to supply him with arms after Sudan dumped him, defence minister Amama Mbabazi said yesterday.

Mbabazi said the Sudanese Government had also promised to punish its soldiers who were having unsanctioned deals with Kony.

Kony is holed up in Himatong mountains between Kitpale and Katile in southern Sudan.

Mbabazi said the rebel leader ordered his deputy Brig. Vincent Otti and other remaining LRA commanders to find their way back into the Sudan after intense pressure from the UPDF.

“The Government of Uganda is reasonably satisfied with the Sudanese government’s cooperation, though Kony is back there. We know that he still has some small contacts with elements in the Sudanese army, but President Omar Bashir said his government will ensure that those end too,” Mbabazi said.

Mbabazi denied freezing accounts of the UPDF officers who have been charged or are to be charged over the alleged ghost soldiers in the UPDF.

Reacting to questions from the press, Mbabazi said the army only stopped for the time being, sending salaries of all the soldiers to their bank accounts.

He said this was a measure taken in the fight against “ghosts” in the force.

On the rebels, Mbabazi said the UPDF had killed 928 LRA rebels, among them many LRA commanders. He said 791 rebels were either captured by the army or surrendered and a cache of weapons recovered.

He said the army had rescued 7,299 captives . He said 88 UPDF soldiers died in the combat, 141 were injured and four went missing.

He said the rate at which abductees were being rescued and the defections from the LRA clearly indicates demoralisation of the rebels.