11th
August 2005
No 106
Items
in this Issue
1. Unicef boss to put north on world agenda
By
Our Staff Writer
WEEKLY OBSERVER
4th August
2005
GULU - The executive
Director of the UN Children's Fund, Anne Veneman,
has said lack of communication with the Lord's Resistance Army rebels threatens
to scuttle efforts to end the 19-year conflict through peace talks.
"Betty [Bigombe,
the mediator in the conflict] is very committed to dialogue. She is, however,
cautious about it because it is difficult to communicate with the rebel group
[LRA]," Veneman told reporters after a two-day visit
to the war-ravaged region last week.
According to
the UN news agency IRIN, Veneman said she had earlier
held "a good meeting" with President Museveni at
a military base in Gulu.
"The President
indicated to me that there is progress. The rebels" force is weakening, with
attacks on the population, abduction of children, all going down," she said.
"I told him we
must do everything we can to end the war for the sake of the children on whom
the war has had a particularly devastating impact," Veneman added.
The notoriously
brutal LRA has fought Museveni's government from
bases in the Sudan
since 1988 and is better known for its abduction of young children to serve
as rebel fighters or sex slaves. According to Unicef and other aid groups, the rebels have abducted
around 20,000 children so far.
Another 40,000
children have been forced by the war to become "night commuters" - a term
describing those who stream into towns every evening to sleep because their
villages are too dangerous after dark. Of the 1.4 million displaced, 80 percent
are women and children.
"The circumstances
that children are facing here are disgraceful and outrageous," Veneman said during a visit to a shelter for displaced people
in Kitgum district.
She told local
officials in Gulu: "We will work, as Unicef and the international community, to raise the
profile of the situation in Uganda;
we need to put pressure on those causing this terrible suffering of children
- it is disgraceful; it must stop, and we will tell the world so."
Gulu LC-V chairman,
Walter Ochora, told Veneman that he is beginning to doubt that dialogue with the
LRA can succeed because the rebels have failed to co-operate. "I don"t
guarantee the children's safety as long as Kony
is still alive," he said
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2. Bigombe
wants govt to do more
By
Our Staff Writer
WEEKLY OBSERVER
4th August
2005
Listening to
Betty Bigombe, probably the most qualified person
to speak on the protracted peace efforts in northern Uganda, leaves everyone with the grim conclusion that there is no
end in sight to the 20-year-old conflict.
With 1.6 million people stuck in appalling conditions in displaced people's
camps, the need for peace in northern Uganda couldn"t be more urgent.
But speaking
before launching a study titled The Torturous Peace Process in Northern Uganda
in Kampala last week, Bigombe, who has been trying
to broker peace between the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) and the Ugandan government,
said Kampala's policy of "talk and fight" was proving to be a stumbling block
to her efforts.
'since the LRA
lost their satellite phone, we have to communicate over mobile phones. This
means the rebels have to move into an MTN network area to communicate with
us, but then they get attacked [by the UPDF]," Bigombe
explained.
She said that in one recent incident, the LRA had promised to call back with
details of a place and time for a meeting with her but before they could do
that, they were attacked, aborting the planned meeting in the process.
Another challenge
to the peace efforts, Bigombe said, was LRA leader
Joseph Kony's lack of a political agenda.
"Kony himself has told me that he has no political
demands. He has even said to me: "Tell the President I can support the third
term."" This, Bigombe said, makes it all the more
difficult to negotiate with the LRA.
Despite his lack
of a political ideology and unpredictable behaviour, Kony can sometimes appear to be quite reasonable, Bigombe added.
"For example,
he has told me that he has only three options - death, exile and prison."
With the International Criminal Court on his trail, Kony's
sense of being cornered could only have grown, making him all the more reluctant
to talk peace.
Bigombe said the media have not been very helpful either, citing a
recent New Vision report that President Museveni
had bought Kony a satellite phone.
"As a result,
the rebels rejected the phone, saying it could be carrying listening devices
or even a bomb. Now we have to find another satellite phone, which is very
expensive," she said, calling for responsible reporting.
Bigombe said there was need for confidence building on both sides
to move the peace process forward.
"The government occupies the higher ground, it should therefore show more
commitment to peace," she said, while acknowledging government efforts to
reach out to the rebels.
Speaking at the
same event, the vice chairman of the Acholi Religious Peace Initiative, Bishop
Baker Ochola, made the chilling revelation that
10 out of every 10,000 children were dying everyday in the north. He described
the situation as a disaster that is not yet receiving the attention it deserves.
The study, which
analyses the various peace efforts since the start of the conflict, was undertaken
by local NGO Advocates Coalition for Development and Environment in partnership
with Makerere, Mbarara and Bradford (UK) universities.
It recommends building the ability of the LRA to negotiate, massive economic
and social investment in northern Uganda, and opening up of the political space,
as some of the measures that may help end the conflict.
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3. Museveni
remarks upset Sudan
New
Vision.Sunday, 7th August, 2005
By Steven Candia and Agencies
THE Sudan
government is upset with President Yoweri Museveni's Friday remarks on the death of John Garang. It has urged Uganda
to stop making "baseless statements" over the death of Garang,
the Sudanese Vice-President, when investigations into the cause of the crash
are still on going. Museveni told thousands of
mourners in the southern Sudanese town of Yei on Friday that the helicopter crash that
killed Garang and 13 others may not have been an
accident, contrary to official explanations.
Shortly after Museveni's remarks, Sudanese Information
Minister Abdulbaset Sebdarat
said the Khartoum government was
"very upset" by Museveni's remarks. Garang
was killed in a July 31 helicopter crash, less than a month after becoming
Sudan's new First Vice-President
under a landmark January peace deal that ended a 22-year north-south civil
war.
The Sudanese minister said that Khartoum was bothered
by Museveni's statements because the Ugandan authorities
had alerted Khartoum that the helicopter
went missing "more than 12 hours later". "He knows that the
plane was Ugandan, its staff was also Ugandan and it departed from his country,"
the Kuwait News Agency (KUNA) quoted the minister as saying.
"The Ugandan President also knows that the government had formed a fact-finding
committee to investigate the crash incident with the participation of Sudan
People's Liberation Movement (SPLM)", he said.
The committee was due to kick off investigations on Saturday after Garang's burial, he added. "We urge the Ugandan government
to give us any available information immediately," Sebdarat
said. Earlier in the day, the Sudanese Acting Foreign Minister Mustafa, Othman
Ismail, said neither the Sudanese government nor
SPLM were accusing anyone of involvement in any foul play that led to the
crash.
'some people say accident, it may be an accident, it may be something else,"
Museveni said, suggesting for the first time that the crash
of his presidential helicopter, in which Garang
was riding, may have been the result of foul play.
"I am looking at all options," he told a crowd of thousands of mourning
southern Sudanese in Yei where Garang's
body was brought as part of a funeral procession before his burial in Juba.
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4. Farewell Garang
New
Vision Sunday, 7th August, 2005
AUTHORITATIVE
Sudanese leader and former rebel commander Lt. Gen. John Garang
had a vision of a secular and democratic Sudan. His death puts the new Sudan and its unity in jeopardy.
Garang, who has died in a helicopter crash, aged
60, was first vice-president of Sudan for just three weeks,
and the first southerner to hold such a high office. His death is a blow to
the painstakingly negotiated and still fragile peace agreement that ended
Africa's longest civil war seven months ago. It has robbed
Sudan's
marginalised non-Arab communities of a man who, even if they opposed him,
stood as a symbol of dignity and hope of change.
Ever since Garang signed the comprehensive peace
agreement with President Omar Bashir in Nairobi on January 9, officially ending a conflict
that killed at least two million people, southerners had feared he would be
assassinated. Peace was illusory, they said; the hardline
Islamists at the core of Bashir's regime had no intention of sharing either power or
wealth.
That the first word of Garang's death came from
Bashir's office will only have hardened their suspicions
even though the incident happened in southern Sudan, on a flight back from a weekend meeting
with the Ugandan President, Yoweri Museveni. All the indications so far suggest it was due to
bad weather or a lack of fuel not to sabotage.
Urbane and eloquent, fluent in Arabic and with an exquisite command of English,
Garang was born in Buk,
a tiny Dinka village in Bor
county, on the east bank of the Nile. No one in Buk,
he once said, was able to even read.
By the age of 10, he was orphaned, and might have stayed in Bor
for the rest of his life, becoming a cattle herder like his father and grandfather,
had a relative not sent him to school, first in nearby Wau, then across the Nile in Rumbek.
In 1962, at the age of 17, Garang attempted to join
the Anyanya uprising in southern Sudan, but was encouraged by its leaders to continue
his secondary education in Tanzania. He went on to win a scholarship to Grinnell
College, in Iowa, and, in
1969, took a BSc in economics.
He was offered a graduate fellowship at the University
of California in Berkeley, but
chose to return to Tanzania
as a research fellow at Dar
es Salaam University. There, he
met a future ally, Museveni, but was soon back in
Sudan,
with Anyanya.
When the Addis Ababa agreement of 1972 ended Sudan's first civil war, many
rebels, Garang among them, were incorporated into
the Sudanese armed forces. After that, during 11 years as a career soldier,
he rose from captain to colonel, completed an advanced course at the US
army infantry school in Fort Benning,
Georgia, and took a four-year
break to study for a Masters in Agricultural Economics and a PhD in Economics
at Iowa State
University.
On returning to Sudan
in 1981, he found great change. President Jaafar
Nimeiri, formerly close to the Communist party, was leaning
towards the Islamists, who favoured the introduction of sharia
law, even in the predominantly Christian south. Garang
realised that the peace agreement was doomed, even before Nimeiri
abrogated it in 1983 and imposed sharia throughout
the country.
In May 1983, Garang was sent to his old command
in Bor to quell a mutiny of 500 southern troops commanded by
officers absorbed from Anyanya who were resisting
orders to move north. He vanished.
More than two months later, he reappeared in Ethiopia, where Mengistu Haile Mariam enthroned him as head of the new Sudan People's Liberation
Army (SPLA), with the rebellious Bor garrison as
its nucleus.
Early military successes were followed by lengthy stalemates and crippling
splits within the SPLA, often along tribal lines and exacerbated by the arrogant,
authoritarian leadership of Garang and his Bor Dinka inner circle. When Mengistu's
regime collapsed in 1991, and the SPLA lost its chief financial backer, Garang looked west, stressing the Christian character of much
of the Sudanese south and Khartoum's
efforts to impose sharia upon it.
In its early years, the SPLA was, in the words of an internal critic, "a
militarist instrument intolerant and averse to democratic methods and principles",
hostile to politicians and intellectuals. Many southerners were killed; others
were imprisoned and tortured.
But the SPLA evolved slowly, and not always surely from its origins as
a brutal, Soviet-supported insurgency towards a movement more genuinely representative
of all Sudanese who craved Garang's "new Sudan"
a secular, pluralist, democratic nation dominated by southerners and marginalised
northerners. His agreement to negotiated humanitarian access for the UN's
Operation Lifeline Sudan was a first for a rebel
movement, and set an example many now follow.
Garang never deviated from his vision of the new
Sudan. He knew that most southerners,
even within the SPLA, wanted a separate state and, left to his own devices,
would not have agreed to the referendum on self-determination that the peace
agreement requires be held in six years" time. His death puts the new
Sudan, and its unity, in jeopardy.
It also casts a shadow over prospects for peace in Darfur. Garang
enjoyed considerable influence with the largest rebel group there, the Sudan
Liberation Army, and his authoritative, energetic presence in a national unity
government would have been a powerful force against continued government-sponsored
aggression. Garang is survived by his wife, Rebecca,
two sons and three daughters. John Garang de Mabior, soldier and politician
was born on June 23, 1945 and died on July 31, 2005.
The Guardian
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5.
"Garang death will not escalate northern war"
GRACE MATSIKO
Monitor News Headlines August 11, 2005
THE death of Sudan'ss First Vice-President John Garang will not lead to the escalation of the Joseph Kony-led insurgency in northern Uganda, President Yoweri Museveni has said. 'some
people have been saying that the death of Garang
is going to escalate Kony'ss banditry; that is rubbish," Museveni
said yesterday at the national mourning ceremony for Garang,
his entourage and the Ugandans who perished with him. The function was held
at Kololo airstrip.
The last time Garang, who was also leader of the
Sudan People'ss Liberation Movement/Army, visited Gulu with Museveni, he assured people
there that he would help end the Kony insurgency.
He said SPLA would not allow the rebel Lord'ss Resistance Army (LRA) to operate
in southern Sudan.
Under the Comprehensive Peace Agreement with the Khartoum
government in January, the SPLM will have autonomous control of southern Sudan.
Museveni said even after Garang'ss
death, the LRA is in much weaker position after having been decimated by the
UPDF and the surrender of some of its commanders. "The Kony
problem is almost over," the President declared. "And when the SPLA
takes over southern Sudan,
the cooperation (on LRA) is going to be much stronger."
Museveni said that for the two days Garang visited him at his country home in Rwakitura, Mbarara, just before
he died, they had discussed the security situation in southern Sudan now that they are taking
over the area.
In an interview with The New Vision the day before his death, Garang warned Kony to leave southern
Sudan,
and promised to deal with all destabilising militia there.
"Kony won'st be hiding there for long,"
he said. "It is not only Kony, but also all
the militias who have been operating in the area. We need to provide peace,
security and stability."
The UN'ss Intergrated Regional News (IRIN) this
week quoted commentators as saying Garang'ss death
could have an adverse effect on efforts to bring peace to war-torn northern
Uganda. "He was committed
to joining hands with us to end terrorism in northern Uganda.
That is lost now," Lt. Col. Shaban Bantariza, the UPDF spokesman told IRIN. "I only hope
that the SPLA will pick up the pieces and proceed from where Garang left off."
Aswa county (Gulu) MP Reagan
Okumu told IRIN the people of northern Uganda had great faith in
Garang'ss ability to restore peace in the region.
"It [Garang'ss death] is definitely a blow to the peace process
in northern Uganda.
Garang had a personal attachment with the people
in northern Uganda and
it was hoped that if he took firm control over southern Sudan, this LRA menace would cease,"he said. The region, which borders southern Sudan
, has been ravaged by two decades of
a war that pits the Ugandan government against the LRA, a brutal group accused
of committing widespread atrocities against civilians in the north and east
of the country.
"I understand from contacts that the LRA is rejoicing because a key enemy
has been removed," John Prendergast, a special adviser to the global
think-tank, the International Crisis Group, was quoted by IRIN as saying on
Monday.
"This could have a serious negative impact for the northern Uganda situation," he told IRIN from Kampala. The LRA has launched many of its attacks
from rear bases in government-controlled areas of southern Sudan. Its leader, Kony,
is widely believed to inhabit the Imatong mountain range in southern Sudan.
In the past Kampala accused Khartoum
of arming the LRA in retaliation for Uganda'ss alleged support of the SPLM/A.
6. TB on the rise in Gulu
By
Cornes Lubangakene
New Vision. Saturday, 6th August, 2005
THERE is a high
rate of tuberculosis (TB) in Gulu with an average of 150 cases registered
in a month, the district TB and leprosy supervisor, John Opwonya, has said.
Opwonya was on Wednesday presenting a paper on TB
at a workshop for 30 journalists and radio presenters at Rainbow Inn in Gulu
town.
The workshop,
organised by Waloko-Kwo support organisation, a
local NGO sensitising the community about HIV/AIDS in the district, was aimed
at sensitising the different media houses in the district about HIV/AIDS and
related illnesses.
Opwonya attributed the high rate of TB infections
to over crowding in the displaced people's camps, poor nutrition and the high
HIV prevalence in the district. "It is estimated that about 50 to 60
percent of TB patients in the district are HIV positive," Opwonya
said.
He said more TB cases were reported among children, adding that the district
was reporting the highest number of children with the disease to the ministry
of health headquarters in Kampala.
Opwonya said people should be careful about treating
TB patients in their homes. "We recorded 1,624 cases in 2002, 1,878
in 2003, 1,920 in 2004 and between January and June this year we have already
received 1,068 cases. "This increase reflects that the disease is not
being taken seriously despite sensitisation of the community," he said.
He added that the district health office had made arrangement with the World
Food Organisation to distribute food to the TB patients in the district to
give them strength to fight the disease.
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7. Dealing with horror that will not
go away
Wendy
Glauser & Rosebell Kagumire
Monitor
Features August 9, 2005
Richard Opio
was 13 when he was abducted from his Lagoli village by Lord'ss Resistance Army (LRA) rebels. The
rebels forced him to tie each of his parents to a tree and beat them to death.
If he didn'st follow the order, he would be killed. His mother told him to
do what he had been told to save his life. His father stood quiet.
Opio escaped from the bush when he was 15. After
spending two months at the Gulu Save the Children Organisation (GUSCO) rehabilitation
centre in Gulu, Opio moved into an Internally Displaced
People'ss camp with his aunt, three younger siblings, and his cousins. He has
not received any counselling since he left Gusco'ss centre two years ago.
He tries to talk to his aunt about the murders he committed while fighting
as an LRA soldier, but she always tells him the same thing: Don'st think about
what you'sve done. You shouldn'st worry about it. It wasn'st your fault. 'she
doesn'st want to hear about it," he says.
Meanwhile, Opio continues to fight the urge to kill,
which often comes up when he'ss teased for being a former rebel. And he still
has nightmares. He sees himself cutting off legs and arms. He hears people
screaming. Soldiers's orders echo in his mind: "Hit him! Hit him!"
He wakes up in the middle of the night and lies awake in bed praying for dawn
to come.
Richard Opio is not alone. The LRA has kidnapped
more than 20,000 children since 1988. And although Uganda has promised, by signing the UN Convention
on the Rights of Children, to facilitate psychological recovery and social
reintegration of child victims of conflict, the needs of countless former
child soldiers are not being addressed.
Through the Amnesty Commission, the government provides former child soldiers
with monetary support, but the child counselling and community training is
left largely to non-government rehabilitation centres. These centres do not
have the space or the staff to support most children for more than a few months,
and due to security and communication difficulties, the centres cannot follow
up all of them once they go back to their communities. Likewise, while the
rehabilitation centres are working to train communities about how to treat
and monitor former child soldiers, they are not reaching everyone. As a result,
former soldiers are being stigmatised, silenced, and ignored - which will
take its toll on the peace process.
"The war will end and everyone will be caught off guard because these
children will still want to kill," explains Peter Olowo,
a World Bank consultant with the Amnesty commission.
Far from
forgiven
Stigmatisation by the community is creating anger and distrust among former
child soldiers. Opio said that when he went to school
after GUSCO (he has since dropped out), the other children would refuse to
sit beside him.
Similarly, Joseph Okot, an 18-year-old former soldier
says he was told by a villager, "that I was the reason she was in the
camp and the only reason I came back was so I could kill her sons."
The children are told they are forgiven and welcomed back, but as soon as
they are called a name, they realise they are not accepted. It is a major
blow for child soldiers, who already have trust difficulties. "They'sve
lost hope in everybody. They think, 'sWhere were you when the soldiers abducted
me?'s" explains Christine Langol, centre administrator
at Gusco. The bullying and name-calling also make
it difficult for children to move on with their lives. "You'sre trying
to build a future for yourself and when you'sre always being reminded that
you'sre a soldier, it'ss a major setback," Olowo
says.
Liesbeth Speelman, a child
psychologist who has worked with former LRA soldiers says those who feel ostracised
are responding by going back to the bush and even committing suicide, though
no studies have yet been done to measure how many children are reacting in
these ways. Another problem slowing reintegration of child soldiers is that
many families don'st know how to recognise or address signs of Post Traumatic
Stress Disorder. When a child is traumatised, the incident reoccurs in the
mind. The reoccurrences happen when the child is sleeping - Ilavia,
a 15-year-old girl who killed four people, says she often has nightmares where
she is sitting on the dead bodies of her victims - as well as during the day.
Sights, smells or sounds that trigger the memory of a traumatising event bring
back feelings the child experienced at the time of the trauma.
Such subconscious reactions can take months to heal, years if untreated. Speelman remembers a girl who wanted to kill every time she
saw the colour red because it reminded her of blood. So when the girl saw
red, she was told to talk to a staff member at her rehabilitation centre or
to do something that made her happy, in her case, playing with her baby. "Over
time we were able to break that association," Speelman
said.
The most effective way of addressing these subconscious psychological effects,
however, is to bring the trauma to the conscious level, by encouraging children
to talk about their experiences.
Parents
traumatised
Many child soldiers feel they cannot express themselves
when they are back in their communities. Children are encouraged to tell their
stories to the counsellors at rehabilitation centres, but family members do
not want to hear about a child'ss killings - often because their relatives
were the victims. It'ss an impasse some Acholi cultural leaders are dealing
with using rituals like "Mato Oput," in which the child soldier confesses to the victimised
family and then each party communally drinks a liquid made of oput, a bitter root, to symbolise the act of taking each other'ss
remaining bitterness away.
Speelman adds that when children tell their stories,
parents and caregivers should express their feelings as well. "Many
parents feel so guilty that they were unable to protect their child, and children
still feel angry that they were not protected. Talking about it allows them
to reach an understanding."
Ilavia says she was relieved to hear the stories
of others. "I realised I wasn'st the only one to go through this, and
other people had even bigger problems than I did. There were girls who had
their legs broken, and people who had lost their parents," she said.
But the best way to help child soldiers recover from the chaos and violence
of war is to provide structure and stability. The routine of classes, games,
and meals that children follow at rehabilitation camps needs to continue in
their communities - which is difficult when many former soldiers are living
in IDP camps. Food is scarce, school fees are impossible to pay and there
is constant fear of an attack. All this does not make it conducive for the
children to adjust to feelings of comfort and permanence. Severely affected
children should be taken out of these camps, according to Olowo.
"If they'sre constantly worried they'sre going to have to go back and
fight, it'ss going to take them a longer time to get over it," Olowo
explains.
Of course, there remains a large gap between what children need and what war-ravaged
communities are able to provide.
"The communities themselves are traumatised," Olowo
says. "The child is telling the story and you'sre the one shedding the
tears. It'ss a very complex puzzle."
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8. Garang
death cause LRA war to escalate?
Emmanuel
Gyezaho
Monitor Inside Politics August 10 - 16, 2005
While thousands
sat back and wailed in anguish after the demise of Lt Gen John Garang, a few heartless souls leaned forward with glee and
made merry in his death.
Devilish delight
According to radio intercepts by military intelligence, news of the helicopter
crash that claimed Sudan'ss
Vice President and 13 others including seven Ugandans sparked wild celebrations
when it trickled through to the Lord Resistance Army (LRA).
Should it come as a surprise that Joseph Kony and
his terror outfit are in sheer delight?
John Prendergast, Special Advisor to the President of the influential US based
International Crisis Group, a man who has spent most of his 20-year career
on conflict resolution in Africa can explain why the LRA jumped up in jubilation.
"Garang was the LRA'ss second enemy
after Museveni. Garang
ensured the SPLA had a strong policy focused on containing the LRA militarily
and so his death makes that agenda less certain," he says.
Peace in
the balance
Would the demise of Lt Gen Garang
as result spell doom for the peace efforts in Northern
Uganda?
Uganda'ss military is very
optimistic that Garang'ss death will not jeopardise
combined military efforts to rout the LRA off the surface of the earth especially
from Southern Sudan and Northern Uganda. "We don'st
expect any difference because we were dealing with the SPLM leadership as
a team.
"Of course we have lost a great comrade but we have to continue with those
who have taken his mantle," UPDF Spokesman Lt Col Shaban
Bantariza says.
However Prendergast believes "because of the diversion of energy related
to succession within the SPLM, the effort to counter the LRA militarily will
inevitably be harmed in the short run".
This is despite the belief that Commander Salvar
Kiir-Sudan'ss new Vice President-shares Garang'ss
commitment in eliminating the LRA as a threat to the people of Southern Sudan
and Northern Uganda.
Government
efforts
Surprisingly, Government now believes there is need to sit down with Garang'ss successors and iron out ways of flushing Kony out of Southern Sudan. "We are inviting the new
leadership for a meeting on the 20th of this month," International Affairs
Minister Okello Oryem says.
While Khartoum'ss support for the LRA was widely seen as retaliation for extensive
Ugandan backing for Garang and his SPLA fighters,
a few sceptical pundits like Prendergast believes Khartoum may backtrack and
begin re-supplying the LRA with weapons. "Elements within the ruling
National Congress Party have an agenda that seeks to keep Southern Sudan divided
and boiling so that the referendum will never be held for self determination,"
Prendergast says and adds, "The LRA is an integral part of that strategy
of destabilising the South, so they will try to keep it alive."
However Samia Bugwe North
MP Aggrey Awori says,
"I am doubtful. The Islamists who would want the South destabilised would
look for more indigenous groups in the SPLM to use unlike the foreign LRA."
Western interference
Awori is also fearful that interests from the West
and Asia as a direct result of Southern Sudan'ss black
gold mines, may injure the prospects of stability
in the region.
"You cannot underestimate the role of the Americans now, or the role
of the Chinese and French because of oil in the region.
"The American presence at Garang'ss funeral was quite
remarkable- quite a number showed up from Washington," Awori observes.
America has always treated
Sudan with an iron hand due
to its terror hubs and will definitely try and consolidate itself in the South
to wade off Islamic fundamentalism up North.
What would the advent of a destabilised Southern Sudan spell for peace in
Northern Uganda?
LRA could
thrive
Prendergast says, "If Southern Sudan is unstable,
the LRA has a better chance of hiding and forming alliances that will ensure
its survival."
Such a scenario definitely frights Julius Mucunguzi,
Senior Communications Officer at World Vision who says, "Of course that
would put the people of northern Uganda who have suffered the brunt of war for
19 years into a much more complicated situation and any hopes of peace would
be dashed. Children would be put more at risk of abduction, maiming, rape,
murder and torture."
In retrospect, the stabilisation of Southern Sudan is a very integral factor
in the stabilisation of Northern Uganda.
Does the LRA now have a chance of re-grouping and waging terror against innocent
civilians in Northern Uganda? Yes it does.
US support crucial
Prendergast argues that peace in the region may be a far cry from reality
unless "the United
States gives strong support to the peace process and
to the effort to put military pressure on the LRA so that it participates
in the peace process. The US is the key factor and will play the most important
role going forward."
Lt Col Bantariza however maintains that the "the
war is ending progressively." "When we went to Sudan
there were 8,000 LRA fighters excluding their families, so if you add their
families they were about 12,000. As I talk now, they are remaining about 200
or so. In 2002 they had about 4,000 rifles now they have less than 200. Even
by that measure alone I don'st have to tell you what is obvious," Bantariza says.
Minister Okello Oryem
is certain that "Kony'ss days are numbered and
all of us will soon be celebrating his death. And may he burn in hell,"
he says.
egyezaho@kfm.co.ug
9. Will the world ever resolve the
Kony war?
Monitor Opinions August 10, 2005
Samuel Olara
LONDON
Negligence as
a human weakness has many causes, some scholars argue that it is simply out
of laziness or inaptitude, while others contend that it is mainly due to interests,
be it personal, regional, national or international, but more specifically
when it comes to nations, it is the so-called strategic national interests.
When one talks and writes about neglected violent conflicts in our century,
then it is the conflict in Northern Uganda - dubbed the
"World'ss most neglected humanitarian crisis of our time".
Heads of non-governmental organisations, country diplomats, and United Nations
envoys have time after time referred to the conditions in Northern
Uganda as "the world'ss worst humanitarian crisis."
In October of 2004, Jan Egeland, the United Nations
Under-Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator
admitted that the war in northern Uganda is the "worst human tragedy";
infact worse than Darfur
(Sudan)." He described this conflict as a "moral outrage".
After briefing the United Nations Security Council in New
York, Mr Egeland said: "Northern Uganda to me remains the biggest neglected humanitarian emergency
in the world."
Even after these routine addresses and wonderful speeches, little has changed
for the better for the people of Northern Uganda, as
borne out by recent reports.
In her assessment and report to the Congressional Human Rights Caucus on April
14, 2005 entitled "Testimony: An Update on the Conflict in Northern Uganda",
the International Rescue Committee (IRC) Vice President Anne Richard told
the Caucus that "the situation in northern Uganda is worse than Darfur".
She said "The number of those displaced from their homes has almost tripled
in the last two years. Human rights abuses-including forced abduction, murder,
rape, and the use of children as combatants by both sides-are
pervasive."
Later on in May 2005, the World Food Programme Country Representative, Ken
Davies called the humanitarian situation in Northern Uganda, "worse than
the Tsunami disaster" in Southeast Asia (see "Northern
Disaster worse than tsunami, says WFP", Daily Monitor, June 1, 2005).
While commending the response to the Tsunami disaster, Davies wondered why
such action could not be attained in northern Uganda. He said, "The response of the international
community to the Tsunami disaster was great.
"But in northern Uganda
we have a situation that has affected a lot more people than the Tsunami";
concluding that "we are going to see an already horrible situation get
a lot worse."
The US congressionally-mandated Task Force on the United Nations recommended
on July 15, 2005 that: the United States government endorses and calls upon
the United Nations and its members to "affirm a responsibility of every
sovereign government to protect its own citizenry and those within its borders
from genocide, mass killings, and massive and sustained human rights violations."
Under the leadership of George Mitchell (a former senator) and Newt Gingrich
(former House Speaker), the group agreed that in certain circumstances, "a
government'ss abnegation of its responsibilities to its own people is so severe
that the collective responsibility of nations to take action cannot be denied."
In spite of the various reports and political pleas, the horrors of northern
Uganda; in its nineteenth
year and still counting, little has been done to put this brutal conflict
targeting mostly children and women at the top of the global agenda; if the
recommendations of the Mitchell/Gingrich Task Force were to be implemented
by the United Nations.
It appears that the Uited Nations Organisation is
about as capable and interested in protecting the people of northern Uganda as the Museveni regime is of writing and passing legislation.
If the UN had any real leadership and its representatives actually desired
to have a peaceful northern Uganda instead of echoing empty promises to the
women and children in the region, it would have done long ago. Considering
the longitivity, the situation is indeed "worse than Darfur", "the worst human tragedy",
"a moral outrage" and "worse than
the Tsunami disaster".
The suffering of the innocent civilians is undeserved and unnecessary, and
the onslaught has been continous; better still the
horrors are muddied, complex, devoid of human compassion and raises questions
about complicity and responsibility that the Museveni
government and Ugandans do not want to face.
Peace in northern Uganda
is attainable, if Museveni is willing to declare
the region a disaster zone, or if the international community is prepared
to act, however, both choose not to. It is in this light that some observers
have quite rightly pointed out that, whether we want it or not, the northern
Uganda horrors; which has refused to find its way into our human consciuosness
will no doubt come back to haunt not only Ugandans but the so called "global
village", in years to come.
olarasamuel@hotmail.com
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10. Victims of the LRA war speak out
on treatment of rebels
Monitor Features August 10, 2005
PETER NYANZI
For the last
19 years, the Lord'ss Resistance Army (LRA) has waged a war against the people
of Northern Uganda. Known for its extreme brutality,
LRA fighters have killed and mutilated countless civilians and abducted tens
of thousands of children and adults to serve as soldiers and sex slaves for
its commanders.
Unfortunately, the conflict has received little international attention, even
though as many as 1.6 million civilians have been displaced and now languish
in dozens of squalid camps scattered all over the region.
The Ugandan government has pursued a dual approach of military action and
mediation to bring peace to the region. So far, neither initiative has succeeded
in yielding a lasting solution to the problem.
Between April and May this year, researchers from the Human
Rights Centre (HRC) in partnership with the International Centre for Transitional
Justice (ICTJ) and Makerere University Institute
of Public Health, conducted a study in the war-ravaged region.
The study sought to measure the overall exposure to violence in the region,
understand the immediate needs and concerns of the people, and to capture
opinions and attitudes about specific mechanisms for justice.
At least 2,585 residents of the four northern districts of Gulu, Kitgum, Lira
and Soroti were interviewed.
The report titled, "Forgotten Voice: A population-based survey on attitude
about Peace and Justice in Northern Uganda," published
last month, makes interesting revelations.
Amnesty
for LRA
It shows that most people in war ravaged northern
Uganda want conditional amnesty
to be extended to the rebels of the Lord'ss Resistance Army (LRA).
According to the report, 65 percent of respondents supported the amnesty process
for LRA members. However, only 4 percent said that amnesties should be granted
unconditionally, and the vast majority said some form of acknowledgement and/or
retribution should be required of all those granted amnesty. The report indicates
that levels of exposure to violence in Northern Uganda are "extremely high."
Of the 2,585 respondents, 40 percent had been abducted by the LRA, 45 percent
had witnessed the killing of a family member, while 23 percent had been physically
mutilated at some point during the conflict.
It says the extent
and nature of the violence would require a variety of mechanisms to be implemented
as part of a transitional justice strategy for Northern Uganda. For example, a majority of respondents (8 in 10) said
they wanted to speak publicly about what had happened to them, and many supported
reparations measures for victims.
The most immediate needs and concerns of the people include peace and food.
Survey respondents named the availability of food (34 percent) and a sustained
peace (31 percent) as their top priorities.
Respondents viewed peace and justice as a complex relationship that was not
necessarily mutually exclusive.
Indeed, given the opportunity, many would like to have both. More than three-quarters
(76 percent) of the respondents said those responsible for abuses should be
held accountable for their actions.
But when asked whether they would accept amnesty if it were the only road
to peace, only 29 percent said no.
Accountability for crimes committed by all sides was also cited as a priority.
When asked how they wanted to deal with the LRA, respondents fell along a
spectrum, favouring options ranging from punishment, trial, imprisonment
and killing (66 percent), to forgiveness, reconciliation, and reintegration
(22 percent), to confronting and/or confessing to the community (2 percent)
and granting compensation to victims (1 percent).
Most respondents (76 percent) said that UPDF members should also be held accountable
for their crimes. 36 percent of respondents said that the national court system
was the most appropriate institution to deal with human rights abuses in Northern
Uganda.
Knowledge of traditional justice ceremonies was markedly higher in Acholi
areas (Gulu and Kitgum at 55 percent than in non-Acholi areas (19 percent).
The majority of respondents (73 percent) knew nothing or very little about
the ICC'ss existence and work. Of those who had heard of the Court,
a majority attached high expectations to it, believing that the ICC would
contribute both to peace (91 percent) and justice (89 percent). "Peace
and justice will be achieved in Northern Uganda only through an inclusive process that involves a wide
range of stakeholders, including victims, bystanders, and perpetrators. "This
requires consulting widely and broadly on the feasibility and applicability
of transitional justice measures and, most of all, giving those most affected
by the violence a voice in the process," the report reads in part.
Danger
of division
As part of their recommendations, the researchers
say that the International Community should facilitate a series of meetings
involving local, national, and international stakeholders to develop an integrated
and comprehensive strategy for peace and justice in Northern Uganda.
It warns that a real danger exists that the current debate of peace versus
justice will revert into one of competing, alternative options that divide
talents and resources, rather than uniting them around a set of common goals.
It says there is also a need to conduct further population-based surveys in
Northern Uganda to determine how attitudes about peace and justice evolve
over time. The international community should support further initiati ves.
It further recommends that the government should reform the amnesty process
so that it is more inclusive and meets victims's expectations better.
The report said respondents expressed a level of support for the work of the
Amnesty Commission, but they also said some form of acknowledgement and/or
retribution - confessing wrongdoing, apologising to the victims and the community,
punishment, and/or compensation to victims - should be required of those granted
amnesty. "These elements are key to successfully
reintegrating former LRA members into the community. The amnesty process could
be expanded to include truth-telling mechanisms, measures for commemoration
of victims, and reparations for harm suffered," it says.
To the International
Criminal Court (ICC), the report says the court should implement an outreach
strategy that fosters greater awareness among Ugandans of the court'ss mandate
and mode of operations.
It says this effort should aim to disseminate more information about the Court
and engage the public in dialogue.
It says such a strategy should also seek to manage the expectations of victims
and that it should establish a presence in the North so that people will have
regular access to ICC staff.
Finally, the ICC should consider holding trials in public to increase public
access to its proceedings. In December 2003, President Yoweri
Museveni sparked off controversy when he referred
the situation in Northern Uganda to the ICC, which is
due to issue indictments shortly, against several top LRA commanders.
On one side, it was argued that the ICC'ss intervention
would prolong the conflict and undermine peace talks between the LRA and the
government as well as other local initiatives, such as the work of the Amnesty
Commission or the exploration of using traditional methods to deal with past
crimes.
On the other side, proponents of the ICC argued that pursuing peace at the
expense of justice is not a viable long-term option, and that the ICC'ss activities in Uganda have already drawn greater international
and regional attention to the conflict and put pressure on both sides to resolve
it.
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11. A STORY WITHOUT HOPE?
Alvaro Ybarra, a journalist from Spain's
leading daily ABC and a renowned photographer, toured parts of Gulu and Kitgum
districts from 8th to 16th June. The excellent pictures
that feature in this July issue are his courtesy. His professional practice
has taken him over the years to some other conflict areas of the world like
Colombia, Chechnya, Bosnia, Sudan (Darfur), DR Congo
and Kashmir. Before leaving Uganda
he agreed to write this very personal piece for us.
Being quite familiar
with some other world's hot spots, like Chechnya, Colombia,
or Sudan,
I must say that at least in these conflicts there are some economic, strategic
or simply ideological issues lying underneath. However, Northern
Uganda's most outstanding characteristic is its sheer lack of logic. This
absence of reason continues to feed the meaningless conflict that has been
killing human beings in this strikingly beautiful land for the last 19 years.
This is the only conclusion I have reached after days of having a close look
at this humanitarian disaster, which continues to make its way down a path
of non-return.
One cannot but
be puzzled by the one and a half million internally displaced persons packed
in camps which remind us of the "gulags" of the time of Stalin; or by the
30,000 children abducted by a terrorist group led by a sick mind who has deprived
Acholi of a generation of souls. To top it all, it is hard to understand the
international community's neglect and indifference for so many years, which
has relegated this conflict to a nameless forgotten corner.
As a foreign
journalist, I feel like looking into all these persons" eyes and simply ask
them their forgiveness for having abandoned them, nay, for not having considered
them important enough to feature in the world news. Our immediate job of writing
or broadcasting the latest news often makes us forget the essence of our profession
as journalists, which should make us look at these innocent persons not just
as mere stories, but as real human beings. Unfortunately, that is what so
often we have presented to the world: stories written in simplistic and sensationalistic
fashions. During the last two years, for instance, we have directed our attention
almost exclusively to the "night commuter" children, a topic which has fed
many stories on Northern Uganda, at the expense of sidelining
the reality of 1.5 million displaced whom we seem to have decided of late
that they are no longer important news.
Before leaving
Uganda,
a friend of mine asked me to write my thoughts about this war. I must say
that I feel overwhelmed by my thoughts and that, for the first time in my
career, I have felt ashamed while using my camera, not only because of the
international community's neglect, but also because so often we journalists
have oversimplified this war, making it appear just as a story without hope.
Source: Gulu. Justice and Peace Newsletter
for July 2005.
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12. UN insists 17 bodies were recovered
KHARTOUM, Thursday, 11th
August, 2005
The United Nations
said on Wednesday 17 bodies had been recovered from the site of a helicopter
crash that killed southern Sudanese leader John Garang. "The figures that we have, and these are the
last figures I saw, we are talking about 17," U.N. spokeswoman Radhia
Achouri told reporters in Khartoum.
On Tuesday Uganda's Internal Affairs Minister Dr Ruhakana
Rugunda issued what was described as a statement
of preliminary investigations on the crash, saying experts and families had
determined that there were 13 bodies recovered from the crash site, which
included six Sudanese and Seven Ugandans. The statement was signed also by
Maj. General Gier Chuang
from the SPLM/SPLA and Dennis Jones heading the US team. The reason for the discrepancy was not
immediately clear, although a member of the southern
Sudanese leadership council had earlier also said 17 bodies had been recovered.
Khartoum has previously said six
of Garang's companions and a crew of seven also
died in the crash near the Sudan-Uganda border.
A joint commission between the government and Garang's
Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM) was formed this week to investigate
the causes of the crash and officials have said they welcome any input from
the U.N. or other international experts.
The commission, headed by SPLM official and former Vice President Abel Alier, is to offer a preliminary report within four weeks
of starting work.
Achouri said a U.N. team was deployed near the crash
site ready to assist, but she added the final composition of the investigation
team had not yet been confirmed. Ugandan President Yoweri
Museveni has said he could not rule out the possibility
that the crash was not an accident.
Both the Sudanese government and SPLM officials have played down any possibility
of foul play. News of Garang's death sparked the worst riots in the Sudanese capital
for decades.
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13. News In
Brief:
(a) Kiir hails Uganda
By Vision
Reporter
New
Vision Sunday, 7th August, 2005
THE death
of Sudanese Vice-President John Garang will not
affect relations between Uganda
and the people of southern Sudan.
Speaking during the funeral procession at Yei on Friday, Garang's successor,
Salva Kiir, reiterated
that the people's good relations would continue. Kiir
thanked President Yoweri Museveni
for his support during the SPLA/M's long struggle for justice. "Without President
Museveni, SPLA would have been crushed long time
ago," he said.
Uganda backed the southern
Sudan rebel group, providing it with logistical
and military support in its campaign against the Sudan government. The new SPLA leader warned
the Ugandan rebel Lord's Resistance Army to explore avenues for peace or vacate
southern Sudan from where its
currently operating. "The war against LRA is our war," Kiir warned. Garang's widow, Rebecca, described Museveni
as a longtime friend of the people of southern Sudan. Museveni
promised to stand by the people of southern Sudan and called on them to remain calm.
(b) Uganda
is losing out on the Sudan cake
New
Vision Sunday, 7th August, 2005
THE death of
the Sudanese First Vice-President Lt. Gen. John Garang
de Mabior,
has left our foreign affairs functionaries with a minor headache. That the
fallen leader of the Sudan Peoples" Liberation Movement and President Yoweri
Museveni had great chemistry between them cannot be overstated.
In Museveni's own words, "Garang was one of the most visionary and incisive revolutionary
thinkers." The headache lies in this relationship. Word on the street is
that there is no guarantee that Uganda
can count on the same chemistry with Garang's replacement
Gen. Salva Kiir Mayardit
who is seen as too close to the Kenyan establishment.
This is part of a bigger fear. While Ugandans are proud of their contribution
to the cause of southern Sudan
and the Sudanese rightly consider Uganda
as their second home, Uganda
is losing out on the peace dividend.
(c) Districts fail to account for sh30b NUSAF funds
New
Vision.Tuesday, 9th August, 2005
By
Joseph Orisa
DISTRICTS
benefiting from the Northern Uganda Social Action Fund (NUSAF) have failed to account for sh30b advanced to them for community
projects. According to James Longole, a NUSAF justification officer, districts have only
accounted for sh5b out of the over sh30b advanced to them in 2004 and 2005
for classroom and road construction, water provision and conflict resolution
among others. "Districts have outstanding accountabilities worth sh30b and
that explains the delay in funding new projects," Longole
said.
Longole was last week meeting Moroto
LC5 chairman Terence Achia and the district executive
committee at Moroto district chambers. He said
the overdue accountability had almost stalled NUSAF activities, since the
World Bank cannot release more funds unless 14% of the already disbursed funds
are fully accounted for. "NUMU (Northern Uganda Management Unit) has no money
and I appeal to districts to submit their outstanding accountabilities or
allocate an accountant to help communities account for the money so that they
can access more funds," he said. Rita Mwase, a
NUSAF official, said they would publicise the districts whose accountability
was pending.
(d) "Museveni hinders peace"By
Justin Moro
New
Vision Tuesday, 9th August, 2005
PRESIDENT Yoweri Museveni
must be voted out of office in the 2006 general elections if the Acholi are
to leave the camps, the Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) acting national
chairperson has said. Salaamu Musumba told a rally at
Pajule on Saturday that the Acholi would continue to die in
the camps as long as Museveni remains in power because
he has no will of ending the war.
(e) 8 rebels
killed
New Vision Friday, 5th August, 2005
By
Chris Ochowun
THE army
has killed eight LRA rebels, including a lieutenant, in Kitgum district, northern-based
army spokesman Capt. Paddy Ankunda said on Wednesday.
He said the troops rescued a captive when they attacked the LRA hideout at
Lacic village in Padibe sub-county.
Ankunda said they recovered 25 gumboots and 315
guns.
(f) Garang
death won"t benefit LRA army
KAMPALA,
New
vision Friday, 5th August, 2005
Tuesday The
death of ex-rebel leader and First vice-president of Sudan
Dr. John Garang will not make it easier for the
Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) to continue fighting, army spokesperson Lt. Colonel
Shaban Bantariza has said. "The
unfortunate incident in Sudan does not favour them
at all," Bantariza told AFP.
While acknowledging an impact on the LRA rebellion, Bantariza
said, "He was committed to joining hands with us to stop this rural terrorism.
But all this is lost now, we only hope that others
will continue from where he ended." However, MP Reagan Okumu
voiced fears on Tuesday that Garang's death may
further prolong the war with the LRA.
"To me, this is a blow to our peace process," he said.
(g) Army
foils LRA attack
By
Chris Ochowun
New Vision.Thursday, 11th August, 2005
THE army has
said it foiled an attempted LRA attack on the outskirts of Zambia IDP camp
in Kamdini, Aber sub-county
in Apac district where they had abducted four people
and killed one UPDF soldier on Tuesday. The regional army spokesman, Capt.
Paddy Ankunda, said the soldier died during gunfire exchange with
the rebels. He said three captives were rescued, adding that one was still
missing.
(h) SPLM/A
hail Uganda
By
Alfred Wasike
New
Vision Thursday, 11th August, 2005
THE Sudan People
People's Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A) has hailed Uganda as their best ally
in the struggle for the emancipation of their war-torn country. "As
we prepare for the swearing in of our new leader, Commander Salva
Kiir tomorrow (today) in Khartoum,
I not only bring you condolences and greetings from Sudan but I also bring you a special message from
my people," a top SPLM/A Commander, Samuel Abu John Kabashi, said.
Kabashi described himself as a professional soldier
who joined the armed forces in 1952. He said, "These tragedies have strengthened
our relationship. We are now more family than ever
before. SPLA is very grateful to Uganda for the help we have received all these
years. It is a bond sealed by blood." He said, "This fate has brought
us closer. We are also burying our other brothers today in Juba.
I promise you that these people and others who have died in the struggle will
not die in vain."
The new Sudan envoy to
Uganda, Hassan Ibrahim Godkarim, said Sudan commended President
Museveni for his peace efforts in the region.
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14. KM e-Newsletter
11th/08/2005
| HUMAN COST |
FACTORS |
TOTAL |
| LRA+ |
UPDF++ |
Wk |
Mth.
August |
Cum |
| G |
K |
P |
O |
G |
K |
P |
O |
| Killed |
|
|
|
|
|
11 |
|
1 |
12 |
12 |
1462 |
| Abducted |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
11 |
|
11 |
118 |
| Injured |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
270 |
| Tortured |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
24 |
| Displaced |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
9000 |
| "Freed"/Surrender |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
1047 |
| Arson (hut/MVeh) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
10962 |
| Cholera. Killed |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
59 |
| - infected |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
449 |
Sources: New Vision, Monitor, BBC, IRIN, Rupiny,
MEGA FM, Simba FM, The
Uganda Weekly Observer
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