{UAH} UNTOLD QUOTE: THE SPLM/A VIEW ON KONY (2006).

In Africa there is always an ethnic component to most conflicts. In regards to the LRA war, that aspect is seldom discussed by European observers. Only a few comprehend the tribal subtilities behind that war. And even then, they can hardly place it in the ethnically motivated chain of events in Uganda's history since 1966, the time when Obote first went into direct confrontation with the Buganda King Muteesa.
However Africans are generally far more aware of the sectarian/tribal aspects of their conflicts. Though Ugandans have intricate knowledge about the LRA insurgency, this awareness remains colloquial/sub-historic, and has significant differences from what the outside world knows and writes bout the conflict.

I discovered another example of little known ethnic implications during the LRA Peace Talks (known as the Juba Talks, 2006).

A South Sudan SPLM legislator agreed to be interviewed anonymously by UN Radio as he wasn't authorised to speak. As a UN senior specialist producer within the UNMISS mission back then, it was my duty to support peace efforts through public information & media. To that end, I worked very closely with the military component coordinating mission information, including with UPDF officers/peacekeepers deployed as military observers within UNMISS.
I took a brilliant local journalist called Emmanuel Levai (RIP) to interview the South Sudanese lawmaker. And this is the statement that the legislator made:

"No matter what, we cannot hand over Joseph Kony to Museveni. Don't you know that Kony is our relative? We the Dinka's and the Nuers are the same people [ethnic group] with Kony. And blood is thicker than water."

Since peace talks were ongoing, this was a possibly inflammatory statement. I therefore refused that part to be aired publicly on UN media. However it did provide an invaluable perspective about how differently some highly placed South Sudanese government officials were seeing their role. Basically, and unknown to everyone, they seemed to be secretely protecting Joseph Kony.

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