Ugandan rebel leader denies atrocities, in rare interview
Joseph Kony, leader of Uganda's infamous Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), argued in a unique interview that he was not a terrorist and again proposed peace talks with the Ugandan government.
"I'm a freedom fighter who is fighting for freedom in Uganda. I am not a terrorist," Kony told The Times newspaper, in what was billed as the first-ever media interview with Africa's most wanted man.
The rebel leader gave the interview, dressed in a green Ugandan army uniform and surrounded by a band of armed guards, at his jungle camp in the neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo.
The comments come at a critical time in the two-decade rebellion waged by the LRA in northern Uganda, in which tens of thousands of people have been killed and nearly two million displaced.
After years out of sight, Kony appeared in a video in May saying he was ready for peace and making overtures for talks with Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni.
In the Times interview he repeated the call for negotiations, saying: "Peace talks are good for me.
"If Museveni can agree to talk with me it is only a very good thing, which I know will bring peace to the people of Uganda," Kony said, speaking in poor English.
The 46-year-old rebel even has a negotiating team waiting in Juba, the capital of southern Sudan, but the Ugandan authorities have so far appeared reluctant to engage in any such discussions, The Times reported.
Kony, for his part, rejected claims that the LRA brutalised civilians and abducted children.
The LRA purports to be fighting to replace Museveni's government with one based on the Biblical 10 Commandments, but has become better known for atrocities, particularly kidnapping an estimated 25,000 children, mostly girls to be sex slaves and boys as fighters.
"That is not true. Its just propaganda," he said. "Museveni went into the villages and cut off the ears of the people, telling the people that it was the work of the LRA. I cannot cut the ear of my brother, I cannot kill the eye of my brother."
"I did not kill the civilian of Uganda. I kill the soldier of Museveni."
Kony also argued that youths joined his force voluntarily rather than by force.
"I dont have acres of maize, of onion, of cabbages. I dont have food. If I abducted children like that, here in the bush, what do they eat?" he asked.
Kony and four of his top commanders have been indicted on war crimes and crimes against humanity by the International Criminal Court -- accusations the militant leader rejected.
Asked what he was fighting for, Kony replied: "We want the people of Uganda to be free. We are fighting for democracy. We want our leader to be elected -- but not a movement like the one of Museveni."
Kony, who has styled himself as a prophet and mystic leading the rebellion, told The Times he was fighting for the 10 Commandments and was guided by spirits.
"They speak to me ... They will tell us what is going to happen," he said.
"You know, we are guerrilla. We are rebel. We dont have medicine. But with the help of spirit they will tell to us: You, Mr Joseph, go and take this thing and that thing."
In the video which appeared in May, Kony is seen accepting a mediation offer by Riek Machar, the vice president of southern Sudan, who appears handing over food aid and cash to the LRA chief.
The United Nations says the war in northern Uganda is one of the world's worst humanitarian disasters and complains that it has largely gone unnoticed by the international community.
AFP
