Reacting to THE EAST AFRICAN ARTICLE BELOW , MANY POLITICAL OBSERVERS WOULD SAY That LRA demands , which includes the call for federalism in Uganda , are genuine and must be addressed if any agreement will be reached in the so called Juba peace talks. Refusing to address those demands in Ernest is indeed a recipe for more wars and more Human Suffering.
Matek
Uganda: LRA Demands Hold Truce to Ransom
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The East African (Nairobi)
November 14, 2006
Posted to the web November 14, 2006
Posted to the web November 14, 2006
BARBARA AMONG
Nairobi
Nairobi
Lopsided demands and dis-agreement over the terms of a revised truce accord between the Ugandan government and the rebel Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) have held up peace talks between the two sides in the southern Sudanese city of Juba, officials said last week.
Talks aimed at ending the two-decade-old war in northern Uganda between the government and Lords Resistance Army rebels have
now dragged on for three months with no achievement on any of the five agreed-upon agenda items.
Rapidly unfolding events, especially the reported killing of more than 40 civilians by LRA rebels, the ambush of an SPLA truck by the Uganda army, continuous ferrying of food to the rebels by the Government of Southern Sudan, suggest that an outbreak of renewed hostilities is imminent.
The two sides renewed the truce two weeks ago, giving the rebels a month to assemble, but the LRA rebels are yet to show up in the two assembly areas of Owiny-Kibul and Ri-kwangba in Southern Sudan.
Further hurting the talks is the constant stream of new demands raised by the rebel political wing (LRM) in the talks. The team last week presented a new set of refined demands, including special protection for its fighters and the establishment of a fully-fledged ministry in
which the rebels would have a stake, a proposal the government has flatly rejected.
The Uganda government has said it is fast growing impatient with the talks and has within a period of three weeks, written twice to the mediator and Government of Southern Sudan (GoSS) expressing its disappointment at the pace of the talks.
GoSS is hosting the stop-start peace talks between the Uganda government and the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) rebels who have long been accused of committing atrocities against villagers across the two border regions.
Unlike past talks, where the perceived reluctance of both the government and the LRA rebels to engage with one another in political dialogue emerged consistently, this time round, the peace talks started in high gear and the two sides had shown increased commitment.
However, the often-articulated government view that the LRA
lack a comprehensive political objective and is therefore a "common criminal" seems to be coming back on the table.
The repeated argument by the government that the rebels are using the talks to reorganise is quickly resurfacing. The army has on five occasions in the past month engaged rebels trying to cross the Nile into Garamba in Congo.
While the rebel political wing constantly raise new demands, leaving old ones unresolved, LRA leader Joseph Kony and his top lieutenants have consistently focused on the withdrawal of the International Criminal Court (ICC) indictment.
The 26-page document, spelling out fresh LRA demands, surfaced after the LRM was joined by a fresh team from the US and UK. Okidi Jaramogi, now based in Southern Sudan, and Onen Ostraco, based in Nairobi, have brought a new twist to the talks by introducing it.
The rebel political wing is
known for squandering past international peace talks, most notably the 1997 Rome peace talks, initiated by the Sant'Egidio group.
The LRA delegation presented the 26-page document to the chief mediator, Dr Riek Machar, on Monday night at the Juba Raha Hotel, containing demands 80 percent of which Kampala has rejected.
The parties have since August been debating comprehensive solutions to the conflict, a path that could lead to the signing of a comprehensive peace agreement.
The document demands that the parties adopt special security measures including a designated assembly area in Northern Uganda, to be elaborated in subsequent agreements.
The LRA also wants Masindi district in western Uganda included in districts affected by the war, which should then be declared "disaster areas."
The LRA also demands that a referendum be held
in 12 months after signing the agreement, a move the rebels say will show that there is genuine demand for a federal form of government as the only way for guaranteeing the political stability of the country.
The Uganda government has rejected the above demands, maintaining that it is only offering a "soft landing" for the rebels.
The government also argues that the new demands were not raised by the rebels when presenting earlier papers for discussion on the five agreed upon agenda items nor were they presented during the reviewing of the Cessation of Hostilities agreement.
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The visit by Uganda's President, Yoweri Museveni, to Juba last month has not boosted the talks as was earlier expected.
The Juba talks, the latest in many attempts to end the LRA insurgency, have been plagued from the start by profound mistrust on both sides, which spiked earlier last month with the military and
rebels both accusing the other of initiating hostilities.
Because of this mistrust, the LRA moved out of the two assembly points and are now heading towards Garamba forest in DR Congo.
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