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Growing up is good, I can not believe that this
posting has come from Opiyo Oloya. May God keep us alive one day Lutimba Matovu
will write it as well. Who knows !.
Em
The Mulindwas communication
group
"With Yoweri Museveni, Uganda is in anarchy"
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Thursday, February 13, 2003 12:25
AM
Subject: [Ugandacom] Don't Rebuild Pabbo
Camp!
Don't Rebuild Pabbo Camp!
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New
Vision (Kampala)
February 12, 2003
Posted to the web February
12, 2003
Kampala
-- A suggestion about the way out of the
quagmire in northern Uganda
Letter from Toronto By Opiyo
Oloya
THE fire that burned down Pabbo Protected Camp did more than just
destroy homes and lives. It also destroyed whatever credibility was left in
the Government's argument that the camps are necessary while the war continues
against the LRA led by Joseph Kony. When President Yoweri Museveni announced
to the Parliamentary Committee on Presidential and Foreign Affairs the
creation of protected camps on September 27, 1996, nobody asked the thousands
currently wasting away in the 43 decrepit camps whether they wanted to live in
such quarters. The ultimatum to move to the camps was enforced by the army
starting in early October 1996. Once in the camps, residents were told that
the inconvenience of living in dreadful, cramped and unsanitary conditions was
the price for winning long-term peace when the LRA was defeated. So, with no
gainful economic, educational and social activities, the residents sat and
waited for peace to come. The longest they expected to be in the camps was
until the next rain fell for cultivation.
That was six and half years
ago. Despite President Museveni's personal commitment to see through a
successful military campaign against the marauding Lord Resistance Army, weeks
turned into months into years. Under Operation Iron Fist, the UPDF continues
to press hard on the rag-tag rebels, killing many, yet quite unable to deliver
the final blow. While it clearly dislodged the LRA from its traditional
security in southern Sudan, OIF has so far failed to silence the pesky
rebels.
The problem, and this has never been appreciated by the
government, is not that the UPDF lacks the tools and will to finish off the
LRA. Rather, it's that the LRA is conducting a relatively low budget warfare,
which requires minimum weaponry to keep the conflict going into the next
decade. It's the same slow-burn tactics employed by the Hezbollah against the
Israelis, the FARC against Colombia, IRA against the British government and
the Basque Separatists in Spain. With this kind of war, no one can honestly
place a timetable on the end of the fighting.
The obsession with
military campaign has wholly blinded the government to one simple truth,
namely, that securing the welfare of thousands of Ugandans is really the most
important thing and not the military victory over the LRA. To date, that
mandate is not being met. As many independent reports have indicated, the
wretched residents are not merely losing lives, but also a lifestyle and a
culture. Reports of rapes, brutality, malnutrition and lack of proper
educational facilities cannot be brushed aside as mere inconveniences to be
endured while the government battle the LRA. In fact UPDF victory against the
rebel has become irrelevant in the face of the massive humanitarian
catastrophe unfolding in the camps. What would it matter if the UPDF wins this
war, and yet there is nobody left to savour the victory? What would it matter
if the LRA is destroyed, and yet a whole generation of children in northern
Uganda grows up into illiterate thugs with absolutely no moral compass in
society?
With that in mind, there are no rational arguments left for
the continued existence of the camps since they were short-term security
arrangements that have outlived their usefulness. To regain this original
mission, the Government must now move to a unilateral ceasefire. The pause is
necessary for the Government's and the Church's peace emissaries to begin
their work. It will also provide opportunity to assess whether or not the LRA
is serious about wanting to lay down arms. Right now, the LRA claims that the
Government's relentless pursuit has made it difficult to talk
peace.
Furthermore, it will allow government to begin to refocus on the
plight of thousands now stranded in the protected villages.
Rebuilding
Pabbo so that people can remain in the same abject poverty and dire situation
is no longer an option. The time has come for Ugandans living in camps to
prepare for the journey home to start the major task of
rebuilding
their shattered lives. For that matter, the argument to keep on banging away
at the LRA no longer serves
the people, but perhaps only generals who
want to prove a point.
In other words, Uganda citizens should remain in
the camps on the solid
understanding that
demobilisation will
begin within eight weeks. This is the deadline everyone ought to pay attention
to.
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