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Monday, September 18, 2006
Uganda LRA in Final Steps to Peace Senior Researcher, GLCC Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) fighters move to disarmament assembly areas as the Ugandan government drops deadline for further talks. However, the International Criminal Court’s (ICC) indictment of top LRA leaders remains an obstacle. LRA fighters are moving towards the two assembly areas in South Sudan as a first step towards ending the 19-year rebellion. According to Ugandan military sources the LRA fighters have taken the first step to comply with the 29 August 2006 Cessation of Hostilities Agreement (CHA). ‘’About 400 rebels have arrived at the assembly points in South Sudan,’’ reported Ugandan Army spokesman Major Felix Kulayigye, confirming that a substantial number of rebels are heading to Rii-Kwangba assembly area. According to most reports the LRA leaders—Joseph Kony and Vincent Otti—have not moved towards the assembly areas because of concerns over their ICC indictments for violations of International Humanitarian Law. ‘’They are still in Garamba National Park in the DRC,’’ Kulayigye continued, referring to rebel leader, Joseph Kony and his second in command, Vincent Otti. ‘’The LRA negotiations team is trying to convince Otti to join the LRA team in Juba so that we may continue,’’ he added, while talking about the present break in the talks, which are scheduled to resume on 18 September. Kulayigye stressed that both Kony and Otti are still in the DRC and have demanded that the ICC indictments be dropped before they move to the assembly areas. Kulayigye’s statement dispelled recent media reports quoting the Chief Mediator and South Sudan Vice President Dr. Riek Machar as having said that the rebels including their deputy commander have gathered at the two locations as part of a truce signed with the government three weeks ago. As reported in previous GLCSS Weekly News and Analysis, the success of the CHA depends on the compliance of Kony and his three remaining deputies to all terms of the agreement, which includes moving to the assembly areas. The government of Uganda has stressed that it views the LRA as a whole and does not exempt the leaders from the terms of the agreement, and it maintains it will only contact the ICC to discuss a review of the indictments after it is satisfied with the outcome of the peace process. The Ugandan government offered amnesty to the rebels and promised to ask the ICC to drop the indictments in favor of Mato Oput, .a traditional justice and reconciliation system, Uganda maintains that the indictments should remain in place until the LRA agrees to the peace terms. ‘’ We are still in talks with the ICC, once the peace talks succeed, then the arrest warrants will not be necessary,’’ Kulayigye emphasized, referring to the ICC’s indictments and President Museveni’s amnesty offer, “and, in that case, Mato Oput will address the issue.’’ Kulayigye however did not want to speculate on what would happen if Kony and Otti refused to come to the peace talks. According to GLCSS Weekly News and Analysis 25 August, the signed truce among other things stipulated that the LRA rebels would assemble within three weeks of the declaration of the CHA. The Agreement came into force on 29 August and is expected to last till 19 September; however, this date is subject to review if all the LRA fighters have not assembled. In a recent development, The Monitor, on 14 September, reported that Otti did not respect the idea of an expiry date for the peace talks, and this remark in response to a comment by President Museveni. “If he [President Museveni] says the talks are expiring, I don’t know what he is saying, it may be expiring on their side but not on our side,” Otti said. “I don’t know the meaning of expiry of talks. We should continue talking peace, even one year, even two, even three, or even one month from now.” Considering the remaining issue of the ICC indictments, GLCSS believes that the government of Uganda will extend the talks, which are scheduled to resume on Monday 18 September. The Great Lakes Centre for Strategic Studies is a London-based think tank. Blogger News Network is advertiser-supported, and your visits to our advertisers help BNN to meet its expenses. Help keep us afloat! posted by GLCSS at 6:26 AM |
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