Northern Uganda: Seizing the Opportunity for Peace
Kampala/Nairobi/Brussels, 26 April 2007: The peace talks which resume today in Juba (southern Sudan) may well be able to end the brutal twenty-year insurrection in northern Uganda but they need more robust international support.
Northern Uganda: Seizing the Opportunity for Peace,* the latest International Crisis Group report, examines the ten-month-old peace process between the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) and the Ugandan government. Both sides have agreed to renew their cessation of hostilities agreement and restart the Juba negotiation that stalled early this year. However, to achieve lasting peace, a more comprehensive strategy is needed both to address the conditions that have created a cycle of conflict in northern Uganda and guard against destabilisation in neighbouring Congo and Sudan.
“The peace talks have improved security and begun to allow a few of the 1.4 million internally-displaced northern Ugandans to return home”, says Adam O’Brien, Crisis Group analyst, “but some of the wrong issues are on the table, the wrong LRA negotiators are present, and UN Special Envoy and ex-Mozambique President Joaquim Chissano does not yet have sufficient leverage to overcome the mutual mistrust. Simply resuming the talks under the current structure would be a recipe for failure”.
A solution to one of Africa’s longest and most brutal conflicts requires two-tracks. The first, the Juba talks, should focus on ending the LRA security threat. Chissano needs more help, especially from the U.S. and UK, and he needs to be empowered to present a package of security and livelihood guarantees directly to the reclusive LRA leader, Joseph Kony. The second track should focus on a follow-up national reconciliation forum, with much wider participation, that addresses the north’s political, economic and social alienation and includes a plan for northern Ugandans to redevelop their communities and reintegrate returning rebels.
The investigation of the International Criminal Court (ICC) has increased pressure on the LRA’s indicted leaders to negotiate and should continue. Finally, contingency planning on a regional security strategy for use against the LRA if Juba fails should begin now and include military and political cooperation between Uganda, the Government of Southern Sudan, Congo and the UN missions in Sudan and Congo.
“The LRA’s commitment to peace cannot be taken for granted”, says Francois Grignon, Crisis Group Africa Director. “Khartoum has long supported the rebels, and its role as a spoiler is a continued concern. There is evidence the LRA is still getting arms from Khartoum, by a new route through insurgent areas in the Central African Republic, and is recruiting former fighters in northern Uganda to rebuild its depleted ranks. The moment to act is now”.
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Kimberly Abbott (Washington) +1 202 785 1601
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*Read the full Crisis Group report on our website: http://www.crisisgroup.org
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