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Uganda: Amnesty Could Well Be the Solution to War Between LRA And the Govt
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East African (Nairobi)
19 June 2007
Posted to the web 19 June 2007
Kevin J Kelley
Nairobi
An offer of amnesty for Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) leader Joseph Kony could
help achieve lasting peace in northern Uganda, mediator Betty Bigombe suggests
in a new report issued by a Washington-based advocacy group.
The International Criminal Court's indictments of Joseph Kony and four other
LRA commanders could be circumvented by giving them asylum in a country that
has no extradition treaty with the ICC, says the paper co-authored by Bigombe
and American researcher John Prendergast. "The UN Security Council can suspend
the ICC's case for a year at a time in the interests of peace," notes the study
commissioned by Enough, an NGO working to end mass atrocities in Africa.
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Such an amnesty/asylum deal, which would probably ignite controversy,
need not entail impunity for "perpetrators of atrocities," the paper adds.
A truth and reconciliation commission could be established for northern Uganda
to help ensure accountability for LRA war crimes, Bigombe and Prendergast
suggest. They further urge support for "traditional justice processes" in which
the accused would accept responsibility for their crimes, ask for forgiveness
and pay compensation rather than face imprisonment.
In addition, the paper says, "LRA supporters around the world need to be
subjected to targeted sanctions. There is a significant network of global
support through extremist Diaspora elements. This is a sophisticated group that
raises funds in Germany, the UK, the US and elsewhere" for the LRA.
Assurances of security for LRA leaders could be offered through talks between
the "messianic" Kony and "charismatic" Uganda President Yoweri Museveni, the
study says. Until these two decision-makers negotiate via a mediator they both
respect, "a war that already has expanded into three neighbouring countries
will keep spreading like a virus," the authors argue.
They say Museveni is "more willing than ever to strike a deal to end the war."
The Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting scheduled for Kampala in November
provides an incentive for the Ugandan leader to showcase his country as "the
success story of Africa," Bigombe and Prendergast reason. "Legacy issues also
enter his calculations," they add. "Museveni wants to be perceived (and
remembered) as a constructive force for regional peace and stability and as an
engine for the development of East and Central Africa." Kony is also motivated
to end the conflict, the paper suggests.
It describes the LRA as "a predatory militia-for-hire" that is "diminished but
not defeated." A strong international push for peace led by the United States
could prove decisive, the study adds, because Kony fears US power. "The LRA is
clearly unnerved by being on a US government terrorist list and wants to be
taken off of it," Bigombe and Prendergast assert.
At present, however, "neither the Ugandan government nor the LRA feel any
pressure from the US to focus more seriously on the end of the war," the
authors say. They quote an unnamed religious leader in northern Uganda as
observing, "If the US wanted this war to come to an end, it would have ended."
Bigombe and Prendergast urge the Bush administration to dispatch a senior
official to work in direct support of the Juba peace process.
"There is an unprecedented opportunity now to build on the positive momentum
generated by United Nations envoy and former Mozambican president Joaquim
Chissano's mid-April brokering of a return to the Juba peace talks and
extension of the cessation of hostilities agreement with additional
monitoring," the paper states. The truce between the LRA and the Uganda
government has remained largely intact for the past 10 months. "But the
relative progress is fragile," Bigombe and Prendergast observe.
Noting that the Sudan government has in the past used the LRA to advance its
own interests, the study warns that the same dynamics could be set in motion
ahead of elections scheduled in Southern Sudan in 2009. "Khartoum may also use
the LRA to destabilise the Central African Republic and further regionalise the
crisis in Darfur and Chad," the authors add.
Relevant Links East Africa
Uganda
Conflict, Peace and Security
Putting a definitive end to "what may be the least
complicated war in the world to resolve" would yield enormous benefits not only
for northern Uganda, but much of East Africa, the paper notes.
Some 1.5 million displaced Ugandans would be permitted to return home.
Moreover, an end to the Kony war would "greatly increase the prospects of
implementation of the north-south peace deal in Sudan," Bigombe and Prendergast
notes.
"As always with Africa," they add, "the only missing ingredient is political
will."
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