Ribo Wat i Kin Acholi ki Kaki Mukene
(Unity Between the Acholi and Other Tribes)

Charles OTTO OLAK

Thank you Mr chairman, fellow participants of the Kacoke Madit especially our dignitaries from Uganda, Ladies and gentlemen.

As you heard a moment ago, my name is Charles Otto-Olak. In Uganda our home is Padibe.In fact I want to proudly state that I am one of the descendants of Rwot Ogwok of Padibe.

I am also a member of the LOC and it is in the spirit of the Kacoke Madit that I want to proceed with my presentation.

Before I do so, please allow me to read to you some recently published material.

On the day when gun men tried to assassinate the then President of Uganda Apollo Milton Obote on the 19th Dec 1969, the army commander who was general Idi Amin took off to Bombo where he went to hide among his tribes mates, the Nubians, who lived in a small community there. The deputy army commander summoned his senior army colleagues to try to respond to the impending crisis but it was immediately found that the army commander was absent. The suspicion of the plot was immediately turned on him.

The deputy army commander Brigadier Pierino Okoya an Acoli quarrelled violently with Amin on the subject of army discipline as it related to Amin's behaviour after the attempted assassination. Among other things Okoya accused Amin of desertion. A few days afterwards on the 25th Jan 1970 Okoya and his wife were shot dead in his home town of GuIu. Although the finger of suspicion was firmly pointing on Idi Amin, there was no enquiry carried out to eliminate Amin on suspicion of carrying out the murders (The state of Blood, Henry Kyemba). It was not the first time that a gallant Acoli had stood up to be counted when it mattered, and as the subsequent events were to show, this act of heroism, if the Amin was sorted out straight away, would have saved the entire Uganda from heart ache and brutality of a kind never before witnessed in the African Continent by a tribe so few in number.

This incident and several other incidents like the failure of the government to investigate Amin's alleged misappropriation of funds as stated by the late Daudi Ochieng and other incidents have been blamed for the blood shed which has eventually engulfed the entire country with the Acoli bearing the brunt. This paper will try to assess the causes of the suffering of the Acoli people starting from the pre-colonial time to the present day. It will attempt to explain why events followed the pattern that they did and in so doing will propose the likely solutions to these problems, without the Acoli tribe as a whole surrendering their much valued dignity vis-à-vis that of the rest of the tribes in Uganda.

This paper will not boast to have the answers to the problems of the suffering Acoli but rather it is intended to highlight the sham of the witch hunt by the NRM government on the Acoli people and to suggest ways by which the Acoli can survive as a tribe free from the intimation and torture which they suffer in the hands of Museveni and his henchmen.

The war situation in Uganda is not an Acoli problem. It has never been one. It was not started by them, so how can they be to blame? In any case, how can the entire tribe be taken as war mongers? Think about the children, the women, the law abiding citizens and the tax payers and every one. They can not all share blame for something they know nothing about. I think the real problem is those people who label the Acoli tribe. They are the ones with the cynicism which they must be called upon to explain.

I want to categorically state here and now that the problem in Acoli today is not even Joseph Kony's LRAIM, but Museveni himself personally. Let me give you an e.g., if you are a cancer patient it is possible that you will also have a string of other problems. You may probably have trouble paying your bills and buying essential commodities. When you go to your doctor it will be absurd to dwell on the consequences of the cancer rather than the cancer itself. This in my view is how we should look at the problems facing us.

Most of us have been away from home for quite some time and may be ill informed about what is happening, but there is a lot of information flowing out from relatives and friends and other sources who constantly care to communicate with us. All these pieces of information point to the fact that there is genocide of the people of Acoli at the hands of Museveni. What is disturbing is that there is no one protecting our people. What we need at this point in time is someone with Acoli's interest at heart or a group of people to bring pressure to bear on Museveni so that the genocide in Acoli is stopped. The question is how?, and sadly this is what divides many of our people both at home and in the Diaspora.

The Acoli people told Museveni quite clearly through the ballot that they did not want or trust him to represent their interest (details of the election results available for information). Museveni responded by saying that those people who did not vote for the movement system would not have a share of the national developmental projects. Is this how to solve the problem in Acoli, please tell me? What else do we the Acoli want Museveni to do to realise that these people do not want us as a tribe or race?

Museveni has deliberately been using Acoli land to undermine and destabilise the neighbouring countries through an act of support for the guerrillas of John Garang's SPLA and Kabila's Banyamulenge. This support has taken many forms namely the supply of arms and ammunition to the army and various logistical supports. I have no doubt that our visitors from Kitgum will want to confirm to us that pager bridge has been damaged due to the heavy weaponry transported to the SPLA mostly under the cover of darkness and Museveni is squarely to blame for this. This act of supporting occupying foreign troops has caused the decay of civil order in Acoli, undermined the good relations with Sudan and Zaire and caused untold suffering on our people. Due to the complex composition of the war zone in Acoli how can the government of all people start pointing the finger of blame on the LRA or any one else for the atrocities being committed? Do not look at this remark as a support for the LRA which I will discuss later, if time permits me.

As in the Pierino Okoya case when the government of Obote knew what the problem was and that was, (Amin), and did nothing to solve it, so in this case Museveni knows where the problem of Acoli is, and therefore he should be called upon to account, if not to solve it. If he does not then history will repeat itself to his detriment.

Museveni has made many remarks about the Acoli tribe mainly referring to them as criminals. Wouldn't this remark also apply to Aliker, who is Minister of State for Foreign Affairs in his government, Owiny Dollo, Minister for Pacification of Acoli is also a criminal which I understand has been changed to Minister of state in the Prime Minister's office. This remark would also refer to countless sons and daughters of Acoli in the NRA/UPDF. Of course Museveni knows that his view is garbage and it is merely an attempt to smear the names of the Acoli tribe in whom he has untold envy. You are a criminal when you have been tried in a Court of law and found to be guilty of the offence with which you were charged. I am not a criminal and most Acholis are not criminals. If the Achilles are criminals then how is it the case that he has appointed quite a few of them in his government? I want to suggest that he who works with a criminal is probably himself a criminal.

Some causes of our present misery in Acoli can be traced back to the pre-colonial era, when Missionaries went travelling around the world in their attempt to spread Christianity. On their arrival in Uganda from the south, they were welcome by the Baganda who were a powerful kingdom at the time with its respected kings. The missionaries were astonished by the ceremonies organised for their welcome and the friendly and customary gesture by the monarchs. By contrast, when Sir Samuel Baker arrived in northern Uganda on his way to the Sudan, he passed through Acholiland where he came across some of the most free spirited people he had ever seen any where in the world. In a book they wrote about the Acoli, it was remarked, "these people took me as though I was their equal" This is a symbol of a people who are intelligent, full of humour, peaceful, free from intimidation, and above all willing to lead a life of their own choosing.

Later on when Uganda was colonised by the British it is this same view which they had embedded in their minds. As a consequence, the southern tribes were mostly recruited into the civil service and encouraged to undertake business practices, whereas the northern tribes were considered more suited to the nation's army, police and manual work force. This led directly to a lack of qualified and professional man power in the north and the deprivation of much needed developmental and other projects compared with in the south. Unfortunately, successive governments carried on with this policy instead of applying corrective action in order to improve the infrastructure of the north and build more schools to increase the qualified man power of this region. An activity which would have meant that people develop themselves and increase their standard of living and the GDP of the entire nation.

Turning to the APG (the Acoli Parliamentary group), which is a group of the Acoli members of Parliament, I want to say that when you were first elected to Parliament there was and in some cases still is, a lot of hope which the entire Acoli had in what you had set out to do. One of your members has even been visiting the Acoli in Diaspora in an attempt to strengthen the bond with the Acolis at home. This Of course is something which we all thank him most sincerely for, and I personally encourage others to follow this example. On the other hand, there are other members of the APG who we understand to be supporters of the movement system of the NRM while other members of the APG are government Cabinet Ministers and may also be members of Museveni's various security apparatus. In (New Vision, uRebels: Agitation for Multi-Party Blamed", Jan 31, 1997, author John Katende), it was reported that under article 271(2) of the constitution, the supporters of Multi-party politics were the ones to blame for the rebel activities in the country and it was further reported that National Military training programmes be urgently launched in the country. This will further undermine attempts to bring peace to Acholi and must be resisted very vigorously.

I understand that Martin Aliker recently made a comment when he was touring some parts of Acoli that Museveni has decided to give Kony's LRA amnesty if they will stop fighting his government and come out of the bush. My question to Martin Aliker is first of all that is this true and if so then why does Kony have to go and seek Political asylum in another country? Will this apply to those people he is with? Why does Museveni not go public with this offer as stated earlier yesterday? First of all, if it is true that Museveni entrusted Aliker to communicate this policy to Kony, then both he (Museveni) and Aliker are to be severely reprimanded by the Acoli for their act of double standards. And secondly, Aliker must be reminded that since he does not represent any Acoli except, may be himself and his family, he must stop messing around with the lives of other Acoli. Only legitimate Acoli leaders can act as mediators and I would urge that they keep their fingers on the pulse of the Acoli's demands so that there is no conflict of interest.

The APG can play a vital role in stopping the atrocities of the Museveni government if they can clarify in whose interest they are working. And as long as the doubt will remain about where their interest lies, whether Musevenis or the Acoli, they will be lame duck MPs whose real purpose will only be the same as of those corrupt people who we have seen in the past and have since disregarded their contribution towards our welfare and development.

In conclusion, I propose to move a resolution to be adopted by the conference as one of a list to be sent to the international world bodies so that our problems in Acoli may begin taking centre stage in international politics. We must make sure that the few people who have stood firm in the face of Musevenis aggression will continue to receive our undisputed support and prevent more Okoyas from becoming easy targets of the state sponsored terrorism.

My Ten Point Resolution are listed below

Removal of NRA and foreign forces (SPLA & Banyamulenge) from Acoli. Stop human and civil rights violation in Acoli. Abolish concentration camps in Acoli. Stop using the policy of structural adjustments and retrenchment programme as excuse for not giving the Acoli employment. Allow the press to report the suffering problem of the Acoli To engage in dialogue with Joseph Kony's SPLA and others to eradicate insecurity from Acoli. To encourage good neighbourliness with our strategic allies of Sudan, Zaire and Kenya. To weed out corruption in the army which has been blamed for the continuing insecurity in Acoli. To stop foreign super powers from using Acoli land for their military adventurism. To restore Multi-Party democracy in Ugandan Politics.