Archive

10th August 2006

Northern Uganda Church
helps win peace

Bishop Nelson of Gulu, Northern Uganda shaking hands with Jospeh Kony, Leader of the Lord's Resistance Army.

Bishop Nelson Onono Onweng joyfully shakes hands with LRA Leader Joseph Kong in the Garamba forest as Kony's bodyguard looks on.

Credit: Willy Akena, Information Officer, Diocese of Gulu.

“The time has come that we should meet face to face with Kony. In a situation where there has been conflict, if we put God’s Presence to be in our faces, we will make a difference. If we see Kony’s face, we should see as if we are seeing God’s face because he is made in the image of God.”

Bishop Nelson Onono-Onweng made these remarks while meeting Kony in the Garamba Forest recently. Many people fear to see Kony because they think that he is a devil, terrorist and a monster, but the Bishop said Kony was created in the image of God and when we see him it is like we are seeing God’s face. Quoting from the Bible story of Esau and his brother Jacob “For to see your face is like seeing the face of God”.

It was on the basis of this that the team that went to meet Kony appreciated the fact that Kony is a human being like us. Kony himself said he is not a wizard who talks to spirit. “Now that you have come and seen for yourself that I am not a monster with a tail and huge eyes, you have confirmed that I am a human being. Go back and tell the people of northern Uganda that I want peace” Kony said.

The delegation that included religious, cultural, political leaders from Lango, Pader, Kitgum, Gulu, West Nile, Soroti and Bunyoro Kingdom, as well as relatives to the top Lord’s Resistance Army met Kony in the Gamaba forest.

In a memorandum that was read by the leader of the Lango delegation. Hon. Betty Among, said, they welcome the current engagement by the two parties in resolving the conflict through peace talk and fully support the process and the parties involved. State that the current talk reflects the wishes of the majority of the people of Lango which is to see the end of the war by all means, appeal to both parties to accept responsibilities for the suffering the war has inflicted on our people and to use this opportunity to design mechanism for post war reconstruction and reconciliation, pledge to mobilize the people of Lango to embrace the principles of blanket Amnesty, reconciliation and peace building and conflict resolution, implore the parties to desist from making unrealistic demands and from provoking each other into doing anything that will undermine the process and lead to its collapse, pledge to support the GOU in ensuring that the ICC suspends it’s pursuit of arresting and prosecuting the 5 LRA top leaders, undertake to work with GOU and Parliament of Uganda in amending the current legislation which restricts Amnesty to the LRA, appeal to both parties to accept total ceasefire and request the LRA leaders to direct their commanders operating in Northern Uganda to abide by the ceasefire.

A number of peace initiatives have been tried but in vain, the most recent one is the talks under a mediation arrangement spearheaded by the Government of Southern Sudan and has already registered a number of successes among them is meeting Kony himself and sharing with him in detail during the Wangoo around the fire place.

 

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