Rwot Acana to head talks to repatriate ex-Lakwena fighters stuck in Kenya
The Acholi Paramount Chief Rwot David Onen Acana II. Photo | File
What you need to know:
- The fighters, who are close to 1,000, are reportedly stranded in Kenya and want to return home after more than three decades.
Acholi Paramount Chief David Onen Acana II is set to lead talks to repatriate ex-combatants of the defunct Holy Spirit Movement (HSM) of Alice Auma ‘Lakwena’, who are reportedly stranded in neighbouring Kenya.
About 1,000 former rebel fighters are reportedly staying in Dadaab Camp, located about 600km northeast of the Kenyan capital, Nairobi. The fighters fled to the East African country in 1987 after failing to capture Kampala and suffering heavy defeats at Magamaga, Mayuge District.
At the weekend, Rwot Acana told Monitor that he had received information that some of the Holy Spirit Movement fighters wanted to come back home.
“We will do everything to ensure they are safely repatriated to Uganda. I, therefore, implore the government, cultural and religious leaders to work together to see that these individuals are brought back to Uganda,” he said last Thursday. Rwot Acana was presiding over the Acholi tradition ritual ceremony of stepping on eggs (nyono-tongweno) to purify a group of LRA fighters who had denounced rebellion and defected from the Central African Republic.
“I received the report of the willingness of a section of Lakwena’s fighters to come back home. The information is still scanty but I will dig deeper and find out the truth,” the paramount chief added.
However, he expressed willingness to facilitate the return of the ex-rebel fighters to the country. The Acholi Religious Leaders’ Peace Initiative (ARLPI), an interfaith organisation working for peace in Northern Uganda, welcomed the initiative, stating that it was willing to facilitate the process.
Mr Musa Khalil, the chairperson of the peace advocacy group, said as religious leaders working in the former war-ravaged sub-region, they join hands with government and cultural leaders to bring former rebel fighters home so that they are reintegrated in the communities.
Meanwhile, the Gulu City Woman MP, Ms Betty Aol Ocan, said the government should only repatriate those who are willing. She explained that some former rebel fighters could be comfortable with life in Kenya and shouldn’t be forced to return to Uganda.
Mr Christopher Opiyo Ateker, the Gulu District chairperson, said some people who have been in contact with the Holy Spirit Movement fighters have also approached him and asked him for support so that they return to Uganda. “There are at least 1,000 former Lakwena fighters who are willing to return home. Some are sick while others are weak. So, there is a need for our religious and cultural leaders, and the government to work out a process of how this can be done,” he said.
At the gathering at his palace in Gulu City, Rwot Acana also presided over the cleansing ceremony for 23 ex-Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) fighters whose reintegration into their communities starts next week. Of the 23 was LRA rebel leader Joseph Kony’s daughter Betty Akidi who returned to Uganda from Central Africa two months ago.
About lakwena
Alice Auma ‘Lakwena’ the leader of the movement reportedly took advantage of the disagreements within the Uganda People’s Democratic Movement/Army rebel force to lure hundreds of fighters to form the ‘Holy Spirit Movement’ to wage a brutal war against President Museveni’s government between August 1986 and November 1987.
However, she retreated to Kenya through Busia with 150 fighters after suffering heavy defeats in Magamaga, Mayuge District in eastern Uganda. She died in January 2007 in Kenya where she had sought refuge. Her body was repatriated and buried at their ancestral home in Laroo-Pece Division in present-day Gulu City.
