No amnesty for LRA leaders
2003-09-17 16:56
Kampala - Leaders of the Ugandan rebel Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) will not be eligible when the government renews an amnesty for insurgents who lay down their arms, President Yoweri Museveni said.
"I will not renew the amnesty for the rebel leaders when it expires later this year," Museveni told a news conference in State House late on Tuesday.
"It will now be extended to only the misled but not the ringleaders," said Museveni.
He said LRA leader Joseph Kony, his deputy Vincent Otti and other rebel commanders would not benefit from the amnesty, announced in 1997, even if they surrendered. They will, instead, be hunted down and killed, he added.
"These are war criminals and we are assessing which others in the rebels hierarchy fall under that category," he added.
The LRA has been fighting Museveni's government since 1988 ostensibly in a bid to replace it with an administration that would enforce the biblical Ten Commandments.
But the group's campaign has been marked by brutality against civilians in the northern region of the country.
Museveni claimed that his army had defeated the rebels in the three northeastern districts of Soroti, Katakwi and Kaberamaido.
Fifty men and women said to be LRA fighters who recently surrendered were paraded before reporters in State House, Museveni's official residence.
"We have killed some of their commanders and just yesterday (Monday) Vincent Otti eluded us by an inch but we killed one of their senior commanders called Odong Mulefu," said Museveni.