Africa, Headlines, Human Rights

POLITICS-UGANDA: Rebels’ Shrinking List of Peace Mediators, Venues

Moyiga Nduru

JOHANNESBURG, Feb 5 2007 (IPS) - The focus is now on South Africa, after Kenya turned down a request from a Ugandan rebel group to host the stalled peace talks with the government of President Yoweri Museveni.

The rebels of the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) have fallen out with the mediation of Southern Sudan, the venue of Uganda’s peace talks since early last year. They are now searching for a new venue and a new mediator.

The talks in Juba, the capital of the semi-autonomous Southern Sudan, broke off for Christmas and the New Year holidays. They are scheduled to resume Feb. 28.

But the LRA say their delegation is not returning to Juba. The rebels complain that they are not welcomed in Sudan following the Jan. 9 speech in which President Omar al Bashir urged them to talk peace, or face the wrath of the Sudanese army. Most of the LRA troops are based in Southern Sudan, from where they have been crossing into Uganda to carry out attacks since 1986.

“While Kenya will be ready to play a positive role in the resolution of this problem, we have no reason to cast doubt on the process currently going on in Juba,” Kenya’s Foreign Minister Raphael Tuju said in a statement at the weekend.

“We have therefore decided that we will not be offering to host these talks so that the current momentum already set in Juba may proceed unimpeded,” he said.

This has shifted the focus on South Africa, which the LRA has on its “shopping list” as a neutral venue, along with Kenya, to mediate the 21-year conflict in northern Uganda.

But Ronnie Mamoepa, South African foreign affairs spokesman, told IPS by phone from the capital Pretoria: “I am not aware of any request (by the LRA to South Africa) to facilitate the talks (with Uganda government).”

“It will be unfair to take away (the mediation) from the SPLM,” said Siphamandra Zondi, programme director for Africa at the Johannesburg-based Institute for Global Dialogue. He was referring to the ruling Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) party in Southern Sudan.

“Unless the SPLM decides to withdraw or lobby other countries to take over, I don’t see any reason why the talks should move out of Juba,” he told IPS in an interview.

“There is no indication that the SPLM mediation was not working. The SPLM has done a good job. Its leadership had travelled in the bush to meet with the LRA leadership to initiate the Ugandan peace talks. I don’t see any country that can do that. The SPLM understands the LRA language, the terrain in which the rebels operate and the anguish the LRA is going through now. They have been there before,” Zondi said.

The SPLM reached a peace agreement with the Sudan government in 2005, ending 21 years of north-south conflict that human rights groups, including Amnesty International, say resulted in the death of two million people.

During the Sudanese war, the Islamic regime in Khartoum backed the LRA in retaliation against Uganda’s alleged support for the SPLM. After the 2005 deal, the government of Southern Sudan gave the LRA three options: engage peace talks with the Ugandan government, quit Southern Sudan, or face military confrontation with the military wing of the SPLM.

The LRA, which has been accused of committing atrocities in Southern Sudan, has opted for talks. “I think it is part of the negotiation ploy. Usually if one is not doing well in the negotiations, one resorts to such ploys. I think they will return to talks in Juba,” Zondi said.

Charles Kisanga, a former rebel commander, said the LRA were leaving Southern Sudan and moving towards the Central African Republic. “They are moving in two groups consisting of LRA fighters and their families. Yesterday they looted Zakure Payam (east of Yambio town) as they continue towards the Central Africa Republic… Villagers are being left to the mercy of the LRA as they loot at will with nobody stopping them,” he wrote in a South Sudanese discussion forum.

Zondi said: “Kenya and South Africa can play a role in supporting the SPLM in its mediation ability. They can provide logistical, financial and political support. They can provide linkages with the United Nations and the International Criminal Court.”

Elusive LRA leader Joseph Kony, along with four of his commanders, has been indicted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague for crimes against humanity. The LRA, known for chopping off suspects’ mouths, ears and limbs and using girls as sex slaves, also want the ICC arrest warrant to be withdrawn before they can resume talks.

Last week LRA chief negotiator Martin Ojur said his group had lost trust in Southern Sudan mediation.

But President Museveni said Kampala had confidence in Juba and in mediator Riek Machar, who is also the vice president of Southern Sudan. He said it would take time for Kenya and South Africa to understand Uganda’s problems.

“Dr. Machar didn’t know the problems of Uganda. He took time to understand them. He has now educated himself. If Kony wants more assurance, we shall bring more people from Kenya, South Africa and any other country they want to reinforce Dr. Machar,” Museveni was quoted as saying on Mega FM radio in the northern town of Gulu on Feb. 3.