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Uganda: Kony, Mother Reunion Stalls
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The Monitor (Kampala)
July 28, 2006
Posted to the web July 28, 2006
Frank Nyakairu
Juba
A DEFILEMENT case stands in the way of a major reunion between rebel Lord's Resistance Army leader, Joseph Kony and his mother Ms Nora Oting.
Dependable government sources told Daily Monitor yesterday that Kony's brother Robert Olanya, 39 , has refused to go and meet his elder brother if his 20-year old son, one Obore is not released from jail.
Sources said Obore, Kony's nephew, is being held at Lugazi Police Station for alleged defilement. Obore allegedly defiled a girl within the Lugazi Tea Estates. Both Olanya and his mother Oting live in Lugazi.
For the last three days Olanya and the girl's family have failed to reach an agreement, in effect stalling Kony's much-awaited family reunion.
Defilement is a criminal case, which warrants a maximum sentence of death.
The victim's parents do not have the authority to pardon a suspect and even if compensation were settled out of court, the act would be criminal.
It also emerged that Olanya, who was shot in the leg in an LRA attack in the late 1990s, has reportedly been bitter with his elder brother Kony.
The last time Olanya and Kony tried to make physical contact was in June 1999 but the meeting did not take place. The only contact the two brothers have made is by telephone conversation in 1999 with Kony hiding at Nisitu, Southern Sudan and Olanya at the Hilton Hotel, Khartoum.
Olanya is Kony's only surviving brother. His sister Gabriella Lakot is part of the 27 entourage of relatives eagerly awaiting a reunion with Kony.
By press time, Kony's mother had not arrived at Nyabanga 70kms from Marid on the Sudan-DR Congo border. Over 70 people are now camped at the border waiting for Sudanese Vice President Reik Machar and Kony's mother to arrive.
Machar is also the chief mediator in the on-going peace talks in the Southern Sudanese capital Juba -between the government and the LRA to end the 20 year rebel insurgency in northern Uganda.
At 2pm yesterday when the first convoy of Kony relatives, journalists, UN and Southern Sudan government officials arrived at the Sudan-DR Congo border, Vincent Otti, Kony's deputy telephoned one of the peace mediators, Dr Lensio Onek, and demanded that the entire entourage of Kony's relatives be taken directly to him at Garamba National Park, where Joseph Kony is hiding.
"They (Otti) have just called me saying that as the Vice President (Riek Marchar) (still in Marid) comes, they should be reuniting with their families.
He also said they should all go with their property," said Onek. One hour later, close to 40 armed LRA fighters, including 15 year olds, arrived at the venue. They were friendly and chatted with the team they found.
But sources within the SPLA, who are on guard at Nyabanga, said Chief Negotiator Riek Machar, only allowed Kony's wives and children to be taken to him.
There was excitement when the LRA rebels met Kony's wives and children. Some of the rebels, in a fit of delight, carried Kony's children on their backs.
Kony's four wives Cecilia Atuku, Margaret Agalo, Lilly Atong and one only identified as Evelyne and their four children, all of them below two years, were carried aboard an SPLA pickup truck and taken to Garamba.
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The government is facilitating the reunion of the LRA top commanders and their relatives as a confidence building gesture to facilitate a peaceful and lasting end to the two decade insurgency that has dogged northern Uganda, claiming the lives of thousands of people and displacing many more.
The Government of Southern Sudan, which inspired the on going peace talks, have indicated to the LRA that the rebels will have to leave its territory in case the talks break down.
Many of the LRA rebels are hiding in Southern Sudan despite Kony and his top brass taking refuge in the DR Congo.
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