By Robert Egwea in London, February 8, 2009
In reaction to the determination of UPDF to capture LRA leader Joseph Kony alive, David Nyekorach Matsanga (pictured) contacted us a short while ago and refuted the claim that Kony is in DRC.
“I have an official letter as the leader of the peace delegation from President Kabila on this issue. What is in the letter from President Kabila whom I spoke to on Thursday is different from what NRM propagandists in Kampala are saying”, said Matsanga
The LRA peace delegation leader stressed that Joseph Kony is not in DRC. “The UPDF can continue cutting down teak timber for export but as far as I am know Kony and the bulk of LRA are not in DRC”.
“I have also explained to President Kabila all facts regarding UPDF. Let us push for peace. A military solution will never bring peace to northern Uganda. Our people have suffered a lot and 23 years of deadline politics must be brought to an end through dialogue”
Matsanga added that our country needs peace not militarism and stressed that the global trends are in for dialogue not confrontation. “I value total peace, not half peace through the barrel of the gun”, he added.
The LRA peace negotiations leader concluded by saying: “Let us give our people the dignity that they have lost. Military option leads to more violence which I have condemned on both sides as LRA peace negotiator”.
Filed under: LRA
First blog I read after wakeup from sleep today!
—————————-
Are you tension? panic?
MJPC blames the Congolese Government for the Deteriorating Situation in East Congo(DRC)
“There is no excuse for missing to pay salaries to soldiers in a lawless eastern Congo for six months”
Following the deteriorating situation in east Congo, the MJPC called today for the Congolese Government to urgently pay the salaries to thousands of soldiers who have not been paid for over six months in eastern Congo, take swift action to enforce the International Criminal Court’s (ICC) warrant against Bosco Ntaganda and to hold accountable perpetrators of sexual violence against women for their acts.
“Failing to hold accountable individuals who commit war crimes and crimes against humunity continues to be the leading cause of widespread and systematic sexual violence acts against girls and women in the easten Congo” said Makuba Sekombo, Community Affairs Director of the Mobilization for Justice and Peace in the DR Congo (MJPC).
Mr. Sekombo again criticized the government of Congo for not only the continuing failure to protect women and young girls from sexual violence, but also for “encouraging conditions that create opportunities for sexual violence to occur”. “There is no excuse for missing to pay salaries to soldiers in a lawless eastern Congo for six months” said Sekombo.
The MJPC has also renewed its call for the Congolese government to take urgent needed action to end human rights abuses in east Congo, hold perpetrators accountable and ensure reparation for the victims of sexual violence.
The MJPC has been urging the Congolese government to compensate the victims of sexual violence in order to also help combat impunity in eastern part of Congo where sexual violence against women and children has been widely used as weapon of war for more than decade. The MJPC online petition calling for for help to put pressure on Congolese Government to compensate victims of sexual siolence in Eastern DRC can be signed at http://www.gopetition.com.au/online/26180.html
About MJPC
MJPC works to add a voice in advocating for justice and peace in the DRC particulary in the east of DRC where thousands innocent civilian including children and women continue to suffer massive human rights violations while armed groups responsible for these crimes go unpunished
For more information about the MJPC and its activities, visit http://www.mjpcongo.org. or call Makuba Sekombo @ 1-408-8063-644 or e-mail: info@mjpcongo.org. The online petition calling on the Congolese Government to put urgently in place a comprehensive program of compensation for the victims of sexual violence in eastern Congo can be signed at http://www.gopetition.com.au/online/26180.html