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Nairobi
15 August 2009
The chief negotiator and occasional spokesman for wanted Ugandan rebel
leader Joseph Kony of the Lord's Resistance Army has resigned his
position with the rebel group, saying he plans on running for the
Ugandan presidency in the 2011 elections.
The former negotiator for Joseph
Kony's rebel Lord's Resistance Army, David Matsanga, told VOA that he
is resigning his affiliation with the group.
"I decided to resign as the chief negotiator and leader of the LRA peace delegation," he said.
He
blamed his decision to quit on the lack of commitment to the peace
process both from Kony and Ugandan president Yoweri Museveni.
The
now-former representative of the LRA has had a long and volatile
relationship with the group. He began acting as Kony's spokesman in
1998, but publicly apologized two years later, saying that he had
looked over LRA's sins in the hope that it could be transformed to a
legitimate liberation movement.
He was then asked by Kony to serve as his representative at the peace talks in Juba, Sudan.
Matsanga
says one of the reasons for his resignation is that the LRA's new bases
in the surrounding areas of eastern Congo, southern Sudan, and
southeastern Central African Republic lie outside his mandate as a
Ugandan peace negotiator.
He urged President Museveni to
implement the conditions of the unsigned agreement that call for
further development of the northern Uganda area, which had been the
LRA's main base for most of its 23-year campaign of terror.
Matsanga, a long-time critic of the Ugandan leader, says that he will run against Museveni in the next elections.
"I
will go back and stand for presidency in 2011," he said. "I will take
my stake for president of the Republic of Uganda as an independent
candidate."
Kony has been described as messianic-type of figure
in his leadership over the Lord's Resistance Army. The LRA is notorious
for its tactic of replenishing the ranks of its fighters by abducting
children and brainwashing them as rebel soldiers.
The group is
reported to have carried over its tactics of attacks and abductions
against the local population to its new areas of operations.
The
Juba Peace Talks, which ran from 2006 to 2008, produced a final
agreement, but Kony has failed to show up to formally sign the peace
deal. The rebel leader has been indicted by the International Criminal
Court on 12 counts of crimes against humanity and 21 counts of war
crimes.
The resigning negotiator expressed exasperation about
Kony's no-shows, saying that it is not his job to chase the leader
around central Africa.
The former spokesman for Kony said that he could not explain what the LRA is fighting for in the neighboring countries.
Matsanga has lived in exile since the beginning of President Museveni's time in power.
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