Editorial
Jan 4, 2004
President Yoweri Museveni in his New Year message declared that the war in Teso is over and the remaining pockets of rebel activity in Acholi and Lango will soon be ended and their leaders, Mr Vincent Otti and Mr Joseph Kony, killed.
The presidentâs statement is definitely reassuring; especially for the people in the rebel-affected areas who have endured the mayhem of the rebels. Indeed during the Christmas and New Year week, no rebel attacks were recorded in Teso and Lango, giving residents much reprieve.
However, like the many Teso leaders have said, it is too early to declare the war over as the âinactionâ in the last few weeks might just be the lull before the storm.
And this pessimism is not misplaced. Over the past many years, the LRA rebels have demonstrated an uncanny ability to return and continue their murderous ways. They have done so in Acholi and Lango; they could do the same in Teso.
Besides, it might be overly optimistic to say the war is over in Teso where more than 300,000 people spent a miserable Christmas in the many displaced peopleâs camps sprawled all over the region with hardly enough food to go round. And that is not to count the hundreds of thousands more displaced in Lango and Acholi.
In the end, the war will only be seen to be over once the last person has left the squalor of the displaced peopleâs camps and returned home to tend their gardens, look after their children and generally lead a normal life like in the rest of the country.
And that will only come when government reaches a permanent and negotiated settlement with the warring parties in the north. That will be the real victory over rebellion, not the several military victories that have not lasted beyond the next dry season.
 2003 The Monitor Publications
