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Items In this Issue

1	Spot Message
2	Suspected LRA rebels kill nine in southern Sudan camp
3	Poor communication mars peace talks
4	Kony must die
5	LRA victims want truth commission
6	Ex-rebels, Amnesty chiefs clash in Gulu
7	I won't give up - Bigombe
8	Africa's hotspots seek peace pact
9	News In Brief
10	Human Cost

1.  Spot Message (click to listen to English Version) (click to listen to Acholi/Luo Version)

The following is a message to the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) leadership from the Governments of the Netherlands, Norway, United Kingdom and the United States of America.

As you are aware we have, since late last year, provided support to efforts led by Mrs Betty Bigombe to initiate talks between you and the Government of Uganda.  During this period important discussions and meetings took place bringing real hope that peace might be realised so that the suffering of the people of northern Uganda may end.

We still support these efforts but this is a window of opportunity that may be closing rapidly.  We are in discussion with the Ugandan Government about the peace effort but we would also like to impress upon you that it is absolutely vital that you re-establish contact so that the opportunity for peace talks is not lost.

Your concerns can and should be issues for discussion - but it is impossible to do this if you do not re-establish contact - and we urge you to do so without delay.   

In case it is not possible for you to re-establish contact through any of the usual means a listening watch is being maintained on radio frequency 6,435 on lower side band.  That is six four three five kilohertz on lower side band.  If you call station Golf Base on this frequency between 8am and 9am on any day Monday - Saturday a United Nations radio operator will answer your call and put you in contact with Mrs Betty Bigombe.     

This message will be repeated.

That was a message to the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) from the Government of the Netherlands, Norway, United Kingdom and the United States of America.

Dissemination

MEGA FM.  Spot message in Luo - on the hour immediately after news bulletin.  Repeated in English on the half hour.

Duration:7 days - 18 times daily.

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2. SUDAN-UGANDA: Suspected LRA rebels kill nine in southern Sudan camp
[ This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations]

NAIROBI, 28 Jul 2005 (IRIN) -

At least nine internally displaced people were killed on Monday night when suspected Ugandan insurgents of the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) attacked their camp near the southern Sudanese town of Juba, a UN official said.  "We have confirmed that nine people died in the attack by suspected LRA rebels," Radhia Achouri, spokeswoman for the UN Mission in Sudan, said. "We are investigating the incident."

The LRA, which has waged a war against the Ugandan government for 19 years, operates from bases in northern Uganda and southern Sudan. It is widely thought that the LRA's leader, the elusive Joseph Kony, ventures into Uganda to launch attacks on civilian targets then retreats to his southern Sudanese base.  "The LRA are active in southern Sudan, but it is very difficult to get to them, as this [southern Sudan] is a very vast and difficult terrain," Achouri said.

She noted, however, that with the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) between Khartoum and John Garang's southern Sudanese Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A), the effort to defeat the notoriously brutal rebel group would be much stronger.  "Now that the Sudan government, the SPL[M/]A and the Ugandan government are working together to defeat the LRA, we hope they can plan a strategy that will tackle the rebels in a decisive manner, but one that will not affect the CPA or the security in southern Sudan," Achouri said.

Meanwhile, the Ugandan army has said it killed seven LRA rebels on Monday in Kitgum district near the Uganda-Sudan border, as they attempted to cross over to Sudan.  "We intercepted a group destined for southern Sudan. They had supplies such as gum boots, which we believe they were taking to Kony in southern Sudan," Capt Paddy Ankunda, deputy spokesman for the Uganda People's Defence Forces, said on Wednesday from Gulu district in northern Uganda.

He said the army had rescued eight out of 12 civilians who were abducted in a weekend raid on Apala village in nearby Lira district. The rebels, he added, were still holding four abductees.  Frequent LRA attacks on southern Sudanese targets have, since January, forced at least 9,000 southern Sudanese to flee across the border to northwestern Uganda, according to UNHCR.

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3.  Poor communication mars peace talks

New Vision. Wednesday, 27th July, 2005

GULU, Monday - Lack of communication with LRA rebels threatens to ruin efforts to end the 19-year war through peace talks, Ann Veneman, executive director of the UN children's agency, UNICEF, said on Saturday.  "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 rebels," Veneman told reporters after a two-day visit to the north.

Speaking at Gulu airstrip, Veneman said she had "a good meeting" with President Yoweri Museveni in Gulu town, 380km north of the capital, Kampala.  "I told him (Museveni) that we must do everything we can to end the war for the sake of the children on whom the war has had a devastating impact," she said.

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4.  Kony must die - Ochora
By Justin Moro

NewVision.  Tuesday, 26th July, 2005

JOSEPH Kony, the leader of the Lord's Resistance army (LRA) rebels, has to be killed if total peace is to be realised in northern Uganda and southern Sudan, Gulu LC5 Chairman Rtd. Col. Walter Ochora said.  Ochora ruled out any possibility of dialogue with the LRA chief, saying Kony will never talk peace.  "As long as Kony is still alive, we shall not have peace in northern Uganda and the children here will have no future. I have doubts in the possibility of Kony talking to Betty Bigombe (chief peace broker)," Ochora said. 
He was meeting the UNICEF executive director, Ann Veneman, on Friday at his office in Gulu town.  Veneman and the UNICEF country director, Martin Mogwanja, had called on district officials.

The UNICEF chief visited Gulu to witness the impact of the 19-year conflict on children and families of the displaced population. The UNICEF team later visited Gulu save the children organisation, where formerly abducted children are rehabilitated and integrated into the community.  Veneman said UNICEF, together with all the other organisations, would do everything possible to end the conflict so that the children once again live a normal life.

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5.  LRA victims want truth commission
By Jude Etyang and Anouk Batard

Published on: Wednesday, 27th July, 2005

VICTIMS of the LRA war in the north support the establishment of a Truth and Reconciliation Commission as a transitional justice mechanism to resolve the 18-year-long-conflict, a report released yesterday said. 
It said peace and justice were not mutually exclusive, adding that three-quarters of the respondents said those responsible for abuse should be held accountable for their actions.  "majority of the respondents said people in the north should remember the legacy of past abuses," the report launched at the Hotel Africana said. 
The respondents said truth-telling would honour the victims, prevent violence and establish a historical record.

The report entitled, "Forgotten Voices: A population-based survey on attitudes about peace and justice in northern Uganda" was published by the US-based International Centre for Transitional Justice and the Human Rights Centre at the University of California, Berkley. 

Of 2,585 respondents from Gulu, Kitgum, Lira and Soroti districts, 80% said they wanted to speak publicly about the abuses.

A researcher, Eric Stover, said people in the north were exposed to an extremely high level of violence.  The report found 40% of the respondents had been abducted by the LRA, 45% had witnessed the killing of a family member and 23% had been physically mutilated during the conflict.

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6.  Ex-rebels, Amnesty chiefs clash in Gulu
By Alex Odongo

Published on: Friday, 22nd July, 2005

Over 600 former LRA rebels, who were invited for documentation turned rowdy, accusing the Amnesty officials of insulting them and using abusive language.

UPDF and Police forces were called in to quell the situation at the Amnesty offices in Gulu on Wednesday.
District Police commander Richard Mivule and Gulu Police Station chief Justo Ovuru, with armed Anti-riot Police rushed to the Amnesty office after the army informed them of the confusion.

The former rebels cited James Owuno, an amnesty official, whom they accused of saying, "I am not the one who took you to the bush. Don't disturb me. I need nothing from you useless people."

Owuno said some former fighters had forged introductory letters that portrayed them as former LRA captives.
"After screening those who forged introductory letters, those not registered ganged up and became rowdy, prompting us to call the UPDF and Police," Owuno said.

Mivule said it was wrong for the Amnesty officials to use abusive language against the former rebels.
"The confusion was caused by the way the former rebels were handled by the Amnesty officials. The officials should have known that they were handling traumatised people," Mivule said.  The situation cooled down after the UPDF and Police intervention.
Through Mega FM Radio, the Amnesty commission had invited former rebels who surrendered between 2001 and 2004, to report for documentation.

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7.  I won't give up - Bigombe
By Josephine Maseruka

Friday, 29th July, 2005

LRA rebels have brutalised civilians right before her face. Betty Bigombe, the chief negotiator with LRA leader Joseph Kony, on Sunday gave a moving testimony of the challenges she faced in an attempt to end the 18-year-long northern insurgency.  "I saw land mines blow people. I saw people mutilated, women raped, children defiled and brutally murdered. But faced with all these challenges, I never gave up," she said.

Testifying as an old student of Gayaza High School, at the climax of the school's centenary activities at Namirembe Cathedral, Bigombe said the school motto, never give up, inspired her.  "We shall continue to pursue the rebels until peace returns to the north," she said.
Bigombe, however, said it was challenging to look at human disfigurement.  "How do you sit with people who mutilated, raped, defiled and made young girls pregnant? How do you deal with the perpetrators of such brutality? How can child-mothers forget that they have children from men they never loved? 
What will they tell their children to make them feel loved?" Bigombe asked.

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8. Africa's hotspots seek peace pact
Wairagala Wakabi

Lusaka, July 21, 2005

Zambia's Mulungushi International Conference Centre this week hosted intricate negotiations between some of the continent's most conflict-affected countries, which are edging closer to signing a pact to promote regional peace and development.

The talks, which were to begin Monday and were to end on Saturday, brought to the negotiating table countries like Angola, Burundi, Uganda, Rwanda, Congo and Sudan, some of which were at war with each other just over two years ago.

Top of the agenda was a proposed pact of non-aggression and good-neighbourliness, establishment of mechanisms for joint border security, and for ensuring that no state loots another's resources. Understandably, the meeting - like similar others before it aimed at achieving the same complex objectives - was marked by intense lobbying and strained nerves, and sometimes ended late in the night after delegates failed to agree on the wording of some seemingly insignificant clauses of a pact which 11 heads of state are expected to sign in Nairobi, Kenya, this November.

Chaperoned by the United Nations, the African Union and the rich states referred to as the 'Group of Friends' that have since last year bankrolled the process leading up to the anticipated pact this November, 11 states in what is known as Africa's Great Lakes Region are already agreed on key aspects of the proposed protocols.

As part of this process, whose overall objective is to end conflict and instead promote joint regional development and security, the heads of state of Angola, Burundi, Central African Republic, DR Congo, Republic of Congo, Kenya, Rwanda, Sudan, Uganda, Tanzania and Zambia last November signed the Dar es Declaration on peace, security, stability and development.

Kofi Annan, the UN chief who mooted the idea of an International Conference on the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR) in the aftermath of Rwanda's 1994 genocide and the outbreak of war in DR Congo, was at hand to witness the signing of the declaration in the Tanzanian capital.

But that was only the first phase of the ICGLR. George Ola-Davies, spokesman for Annan's Special Envoy in the region, says since then the parties to the declaration have been working to identify joint projects and to draw up protocols to form part of the pact the presidents will endorse in Nairobi.  Among suggested priority projects, there will be joint border security management in the region, a Regional Centre for Democracy and Good Governance, and establishment of a regional mechanism for the certification of natural resources. The latter endeavour was expected to help resolve the persistent accusations that Uganda and Rwanda were looting DR Congo's resources.

Until 2002 Uganda and Rwanda had troops inside DR Congo supporting rebels fighting President Joseph Kabila. The two countries' involvement in that country remains a key source of frustration for pact negotiators.

UN officials say at the end of June a meeting similar to the one at Mulungushi, which was held in Nairobi, lasted up to 3.00 am, partly because Uganda and Rwanda were opposed to Congo's preference for use of the term "illicit" in reference to their alleged exploitation of Congo's resources by its neighbours. They preferred the word "illegal".

After consulting the Webster and Oxford dictionaries, it was resolved that the protocols should refer to both illegal and illicit.

Besides, Uganda and Rwanda were unhappy that they were persistently being fingered for plundering Congo's resources yet the European buyers of those goods were never mentioned.

Ibrahima Fall, Annan's Special Envoy in the region, says projects and protocols aimed at disarmament and demobilisation, and non-aggression and joint defence have been identified as priorities. The region is also seeking to be declared a "Specific Reconstruction and Development Zone", with a Fund to boot. Several joint projects from extensive railway lines to an oil pipeline to fertiliser plants have been drawn up.  But for now the donors do not seem too eager to commit funds to these projects. Last Monday they reminded the Lusaka meeting that in 2003 - the last year for which latest figures are available - OECD (Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development) members of the 'Group of Friends' gave $10 billion in development assistance alone to the 11 countries of the region. The allocation for peace, security, governance and humanitarian issues was $1.6 billion.

Said the donors' statement: "Care must be taken that the Special Reconstruction Area and Fund do not in themselves become the defining feature of the conference and do not obscure the fact that the region's partners have for years been providing billions of dollars in all kinds of security and development support to the region."

In the meantime, countries are jostling to host some of the proposed projects. During discussions on the proposed 'Regional Centre for Democracy and Good Governance' Zambia offered its Ecumenical centre in Kitwe town to play host, but Uganda interjected saying its Nkozi university is better suited since it teaches governance issues and even has accommodation facilities to match a three-star hotel.

Tanzania then pushed for its northern town of Arusha, which it reminded delegates is the headquarters of the East African Community secretariat for Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda.

But as the jostling continued, the region was indisputably agreed one thing: disarmament, demobilisation and resettlement (DDR) of combatants in the area around Eastern Congo, many of whom are Ugandans and Rwandans, must be top on the cards. 
While it was estimated three years ago that 350,000 former fighters in Angola, Burundi, CAR, DR Congo, Republic of Congo, Rwanda and Uganda would need to be demobilised, current figures show the figure is actually 450,000.  "Recent statistics regarding the number of ex-combatants already demobilised show 175,000, which is some 36 percent of the caseload after a bit more than midway through the implementation period," an official of the World Bank-run 'Multi-Country Demobilisation and Reintegration Programme' (MDRP) said.

Angola has since 2002 only demobilised 84,618 of its 138,000 combatants lined up for retirement, Burundi 9,250 out of 55,000 over the last year and a half, and the CAR 220 of its 7,500 combatants. DR Congo has a caseload of 148,000, Republic of Congo 24,500, Rwanda 12,000 and Uganda 15,000.

The Dar es Salaam Declaration signed last November by 11 heads of state bound the region to implement DDR programmes, and "ensure regional coordination for repatriation and resettlement components, taking into account the special needs of former child soldiers and female ex-combatants".

Canadian diplomat Anne Leahy told the Lusaka meeting that donors believe resolving problems directly linked to conflicts in the immediate Great Lakes Region must be the conference's top concern. "The most pressing of these is the peaceful conclusion of the transition processes in DR Congo and Burundi," she said on behalf of 22 countries that fund the process.  She added that donors agreed with the decision in Nairobi last month by the 11 countries to prioritise DDR in Eastern Congo. That area has an estimated 41,000 combatants, some belonging to the Interahamwe, a Rwandan militia group and the former Rwanda army; while others are Ugandan rebels and Congolese militias.

Hamuli Tabaruka, head of Congo's delegation, said disarmament and demobilisation of fighters was the main unfulfilled aspect among the key provisions of the Lusaka peace accord that helped end fighting and formation of a unity government in Congo.

"This is the main issue remaining and we need to deal with these armed groups once and for all," he said. In the last 10-15 years, war has led to the death of an estimated seven million people in the region.

"An end to violence, disarming negative forces, the security of refugees and displaced persons and respect for women will be some of the outcomes of the ICGLR by which success will be measured locally and by our public opinion," Leahy told the delegates.

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9.  News In Brief

(i).  Museveni apologises to ex-rebel captives

New Vision. Thursday, 28th July, 2005

PRESIDENT Yoweri Museveni has apologised to children formerly abducted by Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) rebels for their suffering in captivity, reports Ali Mao.  Commissioning Rachelle centre in Gulu, which receives and rehabilitates former captives and was funded by the Belgian government, Museveni said the army now had the capacity to protect Ugandans and their property.  "I feel touched when my people, especially the innocent children, suffer at the hands of the terrorists of Joseph Kony," Museveni said.  He said the war in the north took long to end because of the rebels' ties with the Sudan and reduction in defence spending.  Museveni, flanked by his wife, Janet, thanked Aboke Girls author Els De Temmerman, her husband and the Belgian government for their support.  Temmerman said the centre had received 2,288 former abducted and 226 children born in captivity.

(ii)  Rebels abduct scores in Lira raid
Hudson Apunyo

LIRA   News Monitor July 27, 2005

The Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) rebels on Saturday night abducted several people from Apala in Moroto county.  President Yoweri Museveni was in Lira district on Sunday to campaign for the "YES" side in the Thursday referendum.

Local sources said up to 20 people were abducted from Apala, 17 miles east of Lira town.
The District Police Commander, Mr Taire Idhwege, confirmed the raid but said he had no details. "I got reports that two people were abducted by seven rebels, five of them were armed but you can crosscheck with the army," he said.

He said the rebels wanted to loot food and they used the abducted people as porters.  Army spokesman in Gulu Lt. Tabaro Kiconco said he was not aware of the attack as he was away in Kampala.  Early last year, about 50 people were massacred by LRA rebels in Abia parish in the same sub-copunty.

(iii)  Army seizes LRA arms in Sudan
By Chris Ochowun

New Vision. Friday, 22nd July, 2005

THE UPDF troops that are hunting LRA leader Joseph Kony and his fighters have discovered a rebel armoury in southern Sudan, with 30 rifles and 100 tins with 75,000 bullets.  The northern-based army spokesman, Capt. Paddy Ankunda, yesterday said the arms cache found on Wednesday in Kit valley, south of Lubanga-Tek, near Kony's former base, was a record success by the UPDF mobile troops.

In a related incident, the army attacked a group of rebels at Luboye village, Aruu county in Pader district and killed Capt. Owach-giu, who in 2002 commanded the LRA attack on Achol-Pii internally displaced people's camp in which many Sudanese refugees, soldiers and policemen were killed. "We stalked, cornered and killed him and three fighters and recovered three rifles," Ankunda said.  The attack on the Achol-Pii Sudanese refugees' camp in Pader district led to the transfer of the refugees to Kiryandongo in Masindi district. Ankunda said Owach-Giu was commanding about eight rebels.

He said the operations against the LRA rebels were heightened both in southern Sudan and northern Uganda, adding that the public should give the army moral support.

(iv)  Former rebels to get sh340m project
By Odwong W'Ayo

Thursday, 28th July, 2005. New Vision

OVER 500 former LRA rebels and child mothers are to benefit from a sh340m project funded by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Gulu.  The project is meant to help them resettle in their communities, disaster preparedness coordinator Philip Okin said during an interview on Friday.  He said the one-year pilot project worth over $200,000 would be implemented in partnership with the Amnesty Commission and the Acholi Private Sector. 

Okin said over 17,000 former fighters had surrendered and needed assistance in resettling in the communities

(v)  Gulu killer soldier shot dead
OKETCH BITEK

News | July 27, 2005

Monitor GULU

A soldier, who killed a resident in Alero Internally Displaced People's camp in Gulu, was also shot dead by the UPDF as he tried to flee.  The incident occurred on July 21. The deceased trader was identified as Samuel Oyo, but identities of the soldier were not established. Northern Region Army Spokesman Capt. Paddy Ankunda confirmed the incident, but declined to comment further.

(vi)  Norway donates $1m to Unicef
Article Published on:21st July 2005

By Shifa Mwesigye
WEEKLY OBSERVER

The UN Children's Fund (Unicef) has received U.S. $1 million from the Norwegian government. Norway donated the money to the United Nations Consolidated Inter-agency Emergency Appeal for 2005, according to a press release issued by Unicef communications officer in Kampala, Chulho Hyun.

"Norway's contribution indicated the shared affirmation of childhood as a distinct period when children have a right to grow in health and safety," said Unicef Resident Representative Martin Mogwanja.  According to the release, the contribution, to fund health and nutrition, water and sanitation, education and child protection assistance, will be used to support populations affected by the conflict in northern Uganda.  Mogwanja appealed to other organisations for more contributions.  "We must all continue to remember the hundreds of thousands of Ugandan children and women still waking up each morning to violence, displacement and poverty, which conspire to create a back-breaking burden of vulnerabilities," he said.

(vii)  World Vision aids IDPs
By Cornes Lubangakene

New Vision.Tuesday, 26th July, 2005

WORLD Vision Gulu Area Development Project (ADP) has handed over relief items worth about sh350m to three displaced people's camps in the district.
The assorted non-food items were handed over to Coo-Pe camp in Bungatira sub-county, Aswa county and Parabongo camp in Kilak county on Friday.
Koch Goma camp in Nwoya county will receive its consignment this week.  The items included toys, scholastic materials, bibles, clothes, shoes and blankets.  ADP area manager Jackson Omona said the items were from World Vision USA.

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10. Human Cost

KM e-Newsletter 29^th July 2005

HUMAN COST	FACTORS								TOTAL
	LRA+				UPDF++				Wk	Mth. July	Cum
	G	K	P	O	G	K	P	O
Killed		1	4			2			7	157	1450
Abducted				20					20	73	107
Injured										99	270
Tortured											24
Displaced											9000
Freed'/Surrender									68	105	1047
Arson (hut/MVeh)										1668	10962
Cholera. Killed										5	5
- infected										449	449

Sources: New Vision, Monitor, BBC, IRIN, Rupiny, MEGA FM, Simba FM, The Uganda Weekly Observer

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