Ugandan rebel leader says innocent of war crimes

LONDON, June 28 (Reuters) Ugandan rebel leader Joseph Kony says in a rare interview that he is a freedom fighter, not a terrorist, and declares he is innocent of war crimes, a British newspaper reported today.

Kony, the leader of the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) who is wanted by the International Criminal Court, denies being responsible for killings, abductions and mutilations perpetrated in his name, The Times said.

The interview with Sam Farmar, which The Times said was his first with a journalist, is to be screened on the BBC's Newsnight programme on Wednesday evening.

''I'm a freedom fighter who is fighting for freedom in Uganda,'' Kony said. ''I am not a terrorist.'' Kony has recently called for an end to his two-decade-old war with President Yoweri Museveni's government.

''Peace talks are good for me,'' Kony was quoted as saying.

''If Museveni can agree to talk with me it is only a very good thing, which I know will bring peace to the people of Uganda.'' Kony does not explain why he is seeking peace, The Times said. He says he has 3,000 fighters but the Uganda government says the LRA is a broken force, it added.

''I am not guilty,'' he said when asked about the international court's charges against him and four of his commanders. The prosecutors ''just hear from what Museveni stated to them,'' he said.

Asked what he was fighting for, Kony replied: ''We want the people of Uganda to be free. We are fighting for democracy. We want our leader to be elected -- but not a movement like the one of Museveni.'' The shadowy LRA guerrilla group is notorious for massacring villagers, mutilating survivors by slicing off lips and ears, and for kidnapping thousands of children. The conflict has killed tens of thousands and displaced two million.

''I am a human being like you,'' Kony told the interviewer. ''I have eyes, a brain and wear clothes, but they are saying 'we don't talk with people, we eat people. We are killer'. That is not true. Why do you meet me if I am a killer?'' Reports of killings, abductions and mutilations carried out in his name were just propaganda, he said. ''Museveni went into the villages and cut off the ears of the people, telling the people that it was the work of the LRA.'' ''I cannot cut the ear of my brother, I cannot kill the eye of my brother,'' he said.

''Our wealth, our property, was destroyed by Museveni,'' he said. ''I did not kill the civilian of Uganda. I kill the soldier of Museveni.'' Kony said youths joined the LRA voluntarily and were never abducted. ''I don't have acres of maize, of onion, of cabbages. I don't have food. If I abducted children like that, here in the bush, what do they eat?'' Kony met southern Sudanese officials in May and June, his first known meeting with mediators in years.

Sudan's southern regional government says it wants to broker an end to the conflict. Museveni has given Kony until July 31 to surrender and receive amnesty.

Reuters SK VP0730