Machar, reliance on individual consultation is dangerous for peace
Dear Editor,
I
will be grateful if you would publish my concerns about a phenomenon unfolding at the Juba talks. This phenomenon has been developing for quite sometime and it has reached a dangerous point. The concern is that Dr. Riek Machar is relying too much on individual consultation or observers of the peace process. While many individuals are in Juba to advocate for the public good, namely negotiation of a peaceful resolution of the war, there are many others who are there for selfish reasons. First, some people are driven by the opportunity to make money as consultant. They have no interest in the outcome of the negotiation so long as they continue to make money. In fact the longer the negotiation drags on, the better for them. Second, there are individuals who see Juba as an opportunity to bolster their individual leadership statuses as
leaders whether they are political, religious, business or others. Third, some of the people are government intelligence agents. Of course, all of these individuals claim to be representing civil society. Unfortunately, as individuals such people are not accountable to civil society or anybody else.
Who is responsible for the development of this so-called civil society representation? While individuals are responsible for their acts, part of the responsibility goes to elected leaders who have failed to organize a unified front. In the absence of a unified front, individual representation became the order of the day. Additionally, the peace mediator is partly to blame because he has relied on individuals or small groups. The rationale for this is that it is easier for the mediator to control who to invite, when
they can come to Juba, for how long or on what topic they will be consulted. There are no checks an balances.
The lack of a strong organized civil society representation at the Juba talks has inevitably led to some people asking about who should speak on behalf of the victims of the war. By default, the LRA has assumed to role of spokesperson for civil society in spite of its soiled hands in the war. Of course, the government has not even made as little as a feeble attempt to speak on behalf of civil society knowing that it has effectively locked up almost 2 million people in concentration camps where they continue to die from preventable causes while running a risk of losing their only possession, land. Individual representation also has allowed the government to plant confusing agents to dissuade the Juba
dialogues from addressing issues which are important for civil society. To arrest this dangerous trend, the mediator should encourage a unified representation of civil society instead of individual representation. In turn civil society is also challenged to put its house in order before it goes to Juba, particularly in terms of creating structures that will ensure accountability.
Okello Togang, Gulu
Cheap Talk? Check out Yahoo! Messenger's low PC-to-Phone call rates.
_______________________________________________ Ugandanet mailing list [email protected] http://kym.net/mailman/listinfo/ugandanet % UGANDANET is generously hosted by INFOCOM http://www.infocom.co.ug/
The above comments and data are owned by whoever posted them (including attachments if any). The List's Host is not responsible for them in any way. ---------------------------------------
