Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
07KAMPALA1743
2007-11-09 12:35:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Kampala
Cable title:  

NORTHERN UGANDA: LRA REPORTEDLY SPLINTERING

Tags:  PHUM PREL PGOV UG SU 
pdf how-to read a cable
VZCZCXRO2855
RR RUEHRN RUEHROV
DE RUEHKM #1743/01 3131235
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
R 091235Z NOV 07
FM AMEMBASSY KAMPALA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 9617
INFO RUCNIAD/IGAD COLLECTIVE
RUEHXR/RWANDA COLLECTIVE
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 KAMPALA 001743 

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/05/2017
TAGS: PHUM PREL PGOV UG SU
SUBJECT: NORTHERN UGANDA: LRA REPORTEDLY SPLINTERING

REF: KAMPALA 1722

Classified By: P/E Chief Kathleen FitzGibbon for reasons 1.4(b) and (d)
.

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 KAMPALA 001743

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/05/2017
TAGS: PHUM PREL PGOV UG SU
SUBJECT: NORTHERN UGANDA: LRA REPORTEDLY SPLINTERING

REF: KAMPALA 1722

Classified By: P/E Chief Kathleen FitzGibbon for reasons 1.4(b) and (d)
.


1. (C) Summary: In a phone call to a northern Ugandan
politician, Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) leader Joseph Kony
confirmed a rupture within the LRA, and claimed that Vincent
Otti was under arrest for plotting against him. GOU
officials are convinced that Otti is dead. On November 7,
GOU intelligence officials reported that a group of 100-150
LRA, including senior officers, deserted or splintered off
from Kony. The GOU's chief negotiators expressed their
concerns about the splintering of the LRA, which they believe
could undermine an expeditious resolution to the LRA
conflict. End Comment.

KONY CLAIMS OTTI UNDER HOUSE ARREST
--------------


2. (C) During the ongoing LRA Juba delegation consultations,
some northern Ugandans have demanded that LRA leader Joseph
Kony appear on the radio and explain Otti's whereabouts.
Kony did telephone Gulu Local District Chairman Norbert Mao
on November 8 and said that "Otti was under arrest, pending
investigations. He is accused of conspiring against the
interests of the LRA. There was no shoot out. I have not
killed anybody." Kony said that he would not be pressured
into allowing Otti to talk to the national media because "a
prisoner is a prisoner." Kony accused five other commanders
of plotting a rebellion against him, i.e., Okema, Odong-Lau,
Pak-Pala, Otto, and defector Opio Makasi. Kony claimed that
the GOU had infiltrated the LRA through Otto. Kony said the
four others "have been discharged" and that they might "reach
there anytime." LDC Chairman Mao told P/E Chief on November
7 that he had heard a recording of Kony discussing Otti's
killing and was 90 percent sure that Otti was dead. Mao and
other northern Ugandan officials speculate that Kony is lying
to prevent more dissension in the LRA ranks, and that Kony
chose a private call to Mao, rather than a radio broadcast,
which would have been picked up by LRA in Garamba.

SPLINTERING OR MORE DEFECTIONS?
--------------


3. (C) On November 7, Emmy Allio, a Deputy Director at the

External Security Organization (ESO),told P/E chief that one
of the LRA's senior commanders, General Abudema, had deserted
with 100-150 soldiers. The group was apparently trying to
escape in the wake of Otti's reported death on November 1.
Ugandan intelligence indicated that the group was headed
toward southern Sudan, but could not cross near RiKwangba,
which Allio said was full of Kony loyalists. Ugandan and
Southern Sudanese security officials reportedly met on
November 6 and have sent a seasoned officer to solidify plans
to receive and/or help the LRA splinter should they be found.
Uganda did not want the group to fall into Khartoum's hands,
according to Allio.


4. (C) Ugandan intelligence speculates that the desertion
has paralyzed Kony. He has not moved his camps, despite
knowing that Makasi had likely given away the locations.
Allio speculated that Kony was preoccupied with damage
control over Otti's death. (Note: Uganda Government reports
indicate that Otti died of multiple gunshot wounds received
in the ambush set by Okot Odhiambo, on Kony's orders, at the
beginning of October. End Note.) Allio said that sources
within the LRA have said that Kony decided to arrest Otti
over money issues which had raised questions about Otti's
loyalty. Kony was allegedly told by Onen Powell (aka Ladit
Bolgara),an alleged London-based LRA financier, that
Museveni's brother, Minister for Microfinance General Salim
Saleh, had given Otti "USD 20,000 from the Americans to give
up." Various intelligence operatives are currently trying to
contact Kony to persuade him to give up. Allio said that the
GOU would likely try to make the case to Congo to give the
UPDF permission to encircle the LRA and/or to pursue a
military strike against its leadership, before the situation
deteriorated further.

GOU NEGOTIATORS WORRIED ABOUT LRA SPLINTERING
--------------


5. (C) The leaders of the GOU's negotiating team, Minister
of Internal Affairs Ruhakana Rugunda and Minister of State
for International Relations Henry Okello Oryem told Senior
Advisor for Conflict Resolution Tim Shortley that the
splintering of the LRA leadership would make the situation
more dangerous. In separate meetings with Shortley, Charge,
and P/E Chief on November 8, Oryem and Rugunda said that the
GOU was "not jubilating" over Otti's death. Oryem explained
that Kony's and Otti's rise to power was the result of the

KAMPALA 00001743 002 OF 002


splintering of Alice Lakwena's Holy Spirit movement. The GOU
does not want to sign an agreement with only one part of the
LRA. Oryem said that any splinter groups must be dealt with
immediately to salvage the progress made to date.


6. (C) Senior Adviser Shortley asked Oryem if there was
anything the GOU and U.S. could do to deal with the apparent
rupture in the LRA leadership. Oryem said that Government of
South Sudan mediator, Riek Machar, needed to be kept out of
the equation. He feared that if the defectors or splinter
group fell into Machar's hands, Machar would pay to keep them
around. Other GOU officials have expressed similar concerns
about Machar, i.e., that he might take actions that could
thwart the dissident LRA group from surrendering. Oryem said
that the GOU was closer to GOSS President Salva Kiir than
Machar. The GOU has recalled Major Richard Otal from a
leadership course, and sent him to Juba to work with the
Sudan Peoples' Liberation Army (SPLA) on a plan to identify,
find, and assist the LRA who are on the run.


7. (C) Shortley encouraged Oryem to share intelligence and
information on the potential dissidents with the U.S. and
U.K., countries which might be able to help locate the group
if identities and satellite telephone numbers were provided.
Oryem said he would ask fellow negotiator, Captain Okello, to
get in touch with Otal and U.S. intelligence officials with
any relevant information.


8. (C) Oryem told Shortley that the cause of the rift
between Kony and Otti was money. He said that Kony heard
that Otti was receiving funds being provided to the LRA's
Juba delegates, and that Otti was buying property in northern
Uganda through his relative, LRA delegation chief Martin
Ojul. The infighting allegedly intensified and created
misunderstandings about the USD 600,000 in donor funds for
the consultations on accountability and reconciliation. Ojul
received an initial installment of the donor-provided funds,
approximately USD 106,000. Kony was tipped off that Ojul
received funds, which he assumed were for Otti.


9. (C) Rugunda said the GOU believed that Otti was dead.
The Government wanted the entire LRA group to surrender,
which Rugunda said was more urgent than ever. The U.S.
message to the LRA should be that it should take advantage of
the peace process to come out of the bush. The GOU wanted an
expeditious peace process because the longer it went on, the
more divisions there would be with outsiders taking advantage
of the situation, according to Rugunda. He acknowledged,
diplomatically, that the GOU had previously discussed with
Machar some of his questionable actions.

LRA NEGOTIATING TEAM DEMORALIZED
--------------


10. (C) The uncertainty over Otti's reported death has
dominated the LRA delegation's public consultations in
northern Uganda. Reportedly, Kony, through his new deputy
Okot Odhiambo, has designated James Obita to lead the LRA
delegation. Ojul would depart Uganda in the coming days to
lead LRA consultations elsewhere in the region. The African
Observers, who are traveling with the LRA on its tour, report
that the LRA negotiating team has virtually no/no way of
communicating with Kony, who calls them, but they cannot call
him. Oryem said that the links between Garamba and the
negotiators were now broken because Otti had been the one to
recruit many of them.


11. (C) DROC official Andre Kapanga told P/E chief on
November 9 that the LRA delegation was demoralized and did
not have marching orders from Garamba. One member of the LRA
delegation had confided to Kapanga his feeling that Otti was
dead because. when the LRA delegation met with Okot Ohdiambo,
just prior to its arrival in Kampala on November 1, Odhiambo
was wearing Otti's expensive suit. The delegate had had the
suit specially tailored for Otti in Nairobi. The delegate
claimed that this was evidence that Ohdiambo had confiscated
Otti's possessions, which signaled to him that Otti was dead.

COMMENT
--------------


12. (C) The Government's concerns about the dangers of the
LRA splintering are based on past experience, and have
injected a sense of urgency into the GOU. Senior Advisor
Shortley advised Rugunda and Oryem that we would assist the
GOU in securing the cooperation of neighbors, if reports of a
large LRA defectors turns out to be true.
CHRITTON