Cablegate: Kony Sees His Wives, Agrees to Meet the Press

VZCZCXRO0066
OO RUEHROV
DE RUEHKH #1836 2131148
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 011148Z AUG 06
FM AMEMBASSY KHARTOUM
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 3970
INFO RUCNIAD/IGAD COLLECTIVE
RUEHKI/AMEMBASSY KINSHASA 0052
RUEHROV/AMEMBASSY VATICAN 0022

UNCLAS KHARTOUM 001836

SIPDIS

SIPDIS
SENSITIVE

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV PHUM PREL SCUL UG SU
SUBJECT: KONY SEES HIS WIVES, AGREES TO MEET THE PRESS

REF: Khartoum 01780

1. (SBU) CG spoke with a journalist presently in Nbanga, a Sudanese
village south of Maridi near the border with the Democratic Republic
of Congo. The journalist said that Lord's Resistance Army (LRA)
leader Joseph Kony has been in Nbanga for several days. The
journalist thought that Kony had seen his mother and reported that
yesterday Kony met with four of his wives who had arrived from
Uganda. The local SPLM Commissioner initially sought to block the
meeting unless the LRA returned six women abducted from the area in
LRA raids before the peace talks began, but Police and Security
Commissioner Daniel Awet intervened to ensure that Kony saw his
wives.

2. (SBU) The journalist said that Kony is scheduled to meet a
delegation of Acholi elders and church and civil society leaders
from Northern Uganda on July 29. The source did not know if there
had been any contact between LRA leaders and Ugandan Consul General
Busho. Busho did not return to the Ugandan delegation so that he
could travel to Nbanga with Government of southern Sudan Vice
President Riak Machar. CG will seek out Busho when the latter
returns to Juba on July 30.

STEINFELD

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