Uganda, rebels savour truce, rocky road to peace beckons

JUBA, Sudan – Uganda and the rebel Lord’s Resistance Army yesterday savoured a historic truce, but mediators warned of much hard work ahead if a deal to end nearly 20 years of brutal civil war is to be reached.

The conclusion of a “cessation of hostilities” agreement on Saturday injected new momentum and high hopes into what had been halting peace talks here but the two sides remain far apart on other even more contentious issues. “This is just the completion of the first of five topics,” said chief mediator Riek Machar, Vice President of autonomous southern Sudan, noting much remains to be done quickly to meet a September 12 deadline for a deal.Machar would know.Peace talks between his ex-rebel Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-Army (SPLM) and Khartoum yielded a deal to end what was then Africa’s longest-running war in 2005, three years after a truce.The Uganda-LRA truce takes effect tomorrow but marks only the beginning of a long, difficult and dangerous process, which must first see rebels come out of hiding and move to two camps in southern Sudan within three weeks.But getting word to those fighters – variously estimated to number between 500 and 5 000, many of them illiterate, hungry and desperate children – will be a difficult task as many are in remote locations in the bush.And, although the Ugandan government has guaranteed the rebels safe passage to the camps, the fighters must still travel through largely hostile territory where civilians have borne the brunt of the conflict for the past 19 years.Tens of thousands have been killed and nearly two million displaced in northern Uganda since the LRA took leadership of a regional rebellion among the Acholi ethnic minority in what has become one of the world’s worst and most-forgotten humanitarian crises, according to the United Nations.Just ensuring the safe arrival and presence of LRA fighters in the camps, where they will be supervised by the SPLM-A, will be a significant achievement, but one that must then be followed up on by negotiators in Juba.While they beamed and slapped each other on the back at the truce signing on Saturday, their elation came only after marathon talks on a compromise offered by Kampala, which had previously rejected a ceasefire outside a final deal.The difficulties in getting to Saturday revealed huge gulfs in the positions of the two sides, with Kampala scoffing at a series of LRA demands for huge cuts in the military and total autonomy for the north.When the talks resume on Thursday, negotiators will start to consider matters perhaps even more divisive than a temporary halt to the fighting: wealth- and power-sharing as well as economic and social development.A major issue will be the fate of northern Uganda’s estimated 1,7 million internally displaced people, most of whom are now living in squalid refugee camps that dot the region and have known no life other than conflict.If all goes to according to Machar’s plan, the two sides will discuss reconciliation and accountability, and only then, a formal ceasefire agreement.Lastly, the talks will tackle the demobilisation, disarmament and reintegration of LRA fighters into northern Uganda’s war-shattered society.Nampa-AFP”This is just the completion of the first of five topics,” said chief mediator Riek Machar, Vice President of autonomous southern Sudan, noting much remains to be done quickly to meet a September 12 deadline for a deal.Machar would know.Peace talks between his ex-rebel Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-Army (SPLM) and Khartoum yielded a deal to end what was then Africa’s longest-running war in 2005, three years after a truce.The Uganda-LRA truce takes effect tomorrow but marks only the beginning of a long, difficult and dangerous process, which must first see rebels come out of hiding and move to two camps in southern Sudan within three weeks.But getting word to those fighters – variously estimated to number between 500 and 5 000, many of them illiterate, hungry and desperate children – will be a difficult task as many are in remote locations in the bush.And, although the Ugandan government has guaranteed the rebels safe passage to the camps, the fighters must still travel through largely hostile territory where civilians have borne the brunt of the conflict for the past 19 years.Tens of thousands have been killed and nearly two million displaced in northern Uganda since the LRA took leadership of a regional rebellion among the Acholi ethnic minority in what has become one of the world’s worst and most-forgotten humanitarian crises, according to the United Nations.Just ensuring the safe arrival and presence of LRA fighters in the camps, where they will be supervised by the SPLM-A, will be a significant achievement, but one that must then be followed up on by negotiators in Juba.While they beamed and slapped each other on the back at the truce signing on Saturday, their elation came only after marathon talks on a compromise offered by Kampala, which had previously rejected a ceasefire outside a final deal.The difficulties in getting to Saturday revealed huge gulfs in the positions of the two sides, with Kampala scoffing at a series of LRA demands for huge cuts in the military and total autonomy for the north.When the talks resume on Thursday, negotiators will start to consider matters perhaps even more divisive than a temporary halt to the fighting: wealth- and power-sharing as well as economic and social development.A major issue will be the fate of northern Uganda’s estimated 1,7 million internally displaced people, most of whom are now living in squalid refugee camps that dot the region and have known no life other than conflict.If all goes to according to Machar’s plan, the two sides will discuss reconciliation and accountability, and only then, a formal ceasefire agreement.Lastly, the talks will tackle the demobilisation, disarmament and reintegration of LRA fighters into northern Uganda’s war-shattered society.Nampa-AFP