ACCOUNTABILITY: Trumpets of peace drowning out drums of war in the north

By Nobert Mao

Taken from http://www.newvision.co.ug/D/8/20/586052

THE last Uganda North America Association (UNAA) Convention I attended was in 2003 in Boston. Being based in New Haven (Connecticut) at that time, Boston was just a train rideaway. This time the journey from Gulu to San Francisco was almost half a globe away.

Like all large gatherings, the UNAA attempts to cater for all needs! it can be a forum for political networking and agenda-setting, but it is also a mammoth social gathering where long lost pals touch base. Other people hope to draw attention to some issues they consider important while others see it as a captive market to which various wares can be sold.

Mr. Nobert Mao

One floor was devoted to a category referred to in UNAA-speak as vendors. These are the people who have something to sell. The stalls ranged from those manned by agents of musicians selling low cost CDs and DVDs to those offering luxury apartments in Kampala. There were also fabrics. But I am jumping the gun.

Getting through airport security in Amsterdam before the eleventh hour flight is a reminder that the world has changed irreversibly. Indeed, history is now divided into pre- and post-September 11 eras. The elusive Osama bin Laden seems to hover in the air of every airport terminal since September 11. Even a bottle of mineral water is suspect just in case a team of terrorists sneak in with dangerous liquids and turn the plane into a flying laboratory for creating an explosive concoction! Belts, shoes and jackets have to be removed.

One time a colleague from New Zealand had to pass through the metal detector about half a dozen times. "I hate Osama!" he spat out after he was finally cleared. A few months ago, I was travelling with Gulu resident district commissioner Walter Ochora when he jokingly resisted removing his belt.

"You must be joking," he teased. My trousers will fall.

"No problem. This is Amsterdam," the security officer said, suggesting that the sight of nakedness is no big deal in the city, which is home to the notorious red light district.

This year the convention organisers invited me to speak at the Forum on Northern Uganda. For about five years in a row, Dr. Ben Omara Abe has been convening this forum with a view of drawing attention to the war in northern Uganda and its devastating effects.

He told us that it was an uphill task to get some people to accept that the problem of northern Uganda required special attention. In one of the previous conventions, a rather smug participant interrupted a forum on northern Uganda with an announcement that there were other "more serious issues" being discussed in another meeting room!

This year the forum was well attended. It also became less of a blame game than previous sessions, which usually degenerated into name calling sessions. I thought the forum this year was more solution oriented than problem oriented. Some of the topics given to some of the panelists also did not give a lot of room for politicking. How can one be too political while talking about epidemiology or nutrition?

I was probably the only one who exercised a measure of political licence by asserting that it is wrong for us to pretend to be giving answers to questions we have not asked. Diagnosis must precede prescription before one can have any expectation of a healing.

On the whole, an air of optimism prevailed. This is because since the Juba talks started, the trumpets of peace seem to be drowning out the drums of war. Still there was caution.

It is one thing to sign a peace agreement. It is a totally different thing to successfully implement a truce. The lessons of history were kept alive throughout the session. In addition, the complex classification and formation of the various actors ensured that we all left knowing that there was still a lot of work to do to avoid a miscarriage in Juba.

But if the session convened by Dr. Abe was moderate, a more radical session awaited. Some of us decided to forego the luxury boat cruise in the evening in order to attend the session on Northern Uganda titled "Other Voices". It was organised by the "Campaign to End Genocide in Uganda."

This one was clearly like a trial of the Uganda Government. Even the literature distributed would give one a picture that the situation in Northern Uganda has not improved despite the peace talks. Naturally, it fell on the shoulders of the delegation from Uganda to acknowledge that while the suffering is still intense, the situation is not as hopeless as the conveners of the forum portrayed.

Together with Minister Okello Oryem, Richard Todwong, Jacob Oulanyah and Owiny Dollo, we asked them to update their information to record some of the milestones towards peace. Many of the panelists were very pessimistic about prospects for peace.

There were other high points of the convention. Vice President Gilbert Bukenya's speech was very informative to Ugandans in the Diaspora. He was also honest enough to admit that despite some scores at the macro level, at the micro level, the Ugandan economy has not delivered.

There was also a political forum a sort of kimeeza, which brought together representatives of political parties. I understand that the Movement, Democratic Party, Uganda Peoples' Congress and Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) argued out their cases to a full house.

The only leader of a party present was FDC's Kizza Besigye who must have had a field day as FDC envoy Anne Mugisha had amply advertised his presence.
During the closing evening gala, I sat next to Besigye as we listened to information technology minister Ham Mulira speak on information communication technology. He made an interesting speech, but most of the audience seemed more eager for the partying to follow.

Worse still Bukenya made his entry in the middle of his speech causing even more disruption. That was not the only discourtesy. The organisers decided to introduce Besigye long after he had left the gala!

The next day, Monday September 3, was the American Labour Day. I joined Besigye for breakfast after which we retreated to his suite for about three hours to discuss the state of politics in Uganda.

Clearly, San Francisco offered fewer distractions, so it was easier to set up a serious meeting. I understand that over 1,000 people attended the UNAA convention. The convention offered a rich menu and I think UNAA has the potential to become a strong voice for our people in the diaspora.The writer is the LC5 chairman of Gulu

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Further reading:

Uganda Conflict Watch | Resolve Uganda

Washington Post story on Betty Bigombe: "the woman behind Uganda's peace talks"

July 11th, 2007 in: Prospects for Peace

The Washington Post today has an article on Betty Bigombe, "the woman behind Uganda's peace talks." The feature story describes how Bigombe's initiative in 1993-1994 and then 2004-2006 was critical to establishing the groundwork for the current peace talks. Read the article at The Washington Post.

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