[Ugnet] Kaguta's peace jokes continue...

Museveni and the NRM are not serious in conducting any meaningful dialougue with the so called "rebels". This is so in spite of pronoiucement on the contrary by the Military dictatorship in Kampala. Acholi people in Notrhern Uganda, and the Iteso/karamojong in Eastern Uganda, will just have to continue suffer in camps; there is absolutely no way out that the people of this region will enjoy any peace while Museveni and his movement continue to propagate the politics of the gun and gun violence. The Abe's of this world can cry all they want..Kaguta is not going to listen to your pleas or mournings!!

THAT'S GOOD FOR YOU: Omara standing behind one of the Opiyo Oloya - PERSPECTIVE OF A UGANDAN IN CANADA

THE current ceasefire and resumption of peace talks between the LRA and the government of Uganda has generated a lot of high hopes for Ugandans. This, therefore, is the time to remind all parties to the conflict, especially the Lord's Resistance Army of the suffering of the thousands of men, women and children currently wasting away in the protected camps. Joseph Kony, this is your chance to show responsibility to the general population of Acholi by stepping forward to talk with Betty Bigombe. Here is why.

When I visited Pagak Protected Camp in March 2000, I was struck by the singular devastation of the community living in the camp. In fact, as I remember it, there was really no community as everyone desperately tried to survive the best way possible. The two-roomed school house was crammed with children under the care of a single teacher who shuttled between the two classes. Adults who looked like zombies littered the verandahs - I recall using the phrase, the "walking dead". Everywhere, there was a deep sense of despair. Farmers who once proud landowners were reduced to hopeless beggars, waiting for the food ration from the World Food Programme. It was a pretty tough life, and many of the camp residents seemed perpetually depressed. I never could imagine the situation getting any harsher than it already was.

Fast forward four-and-half years later, and things are much worse, according to Dr Ben Omara Abe, professor of Anthropology at North Seattle Community College, who visited the camp as part of a delegation from the United States. The trip organised by the Rotary Club, took wheel chairs to the victims of polio and landmines in the camp.

From his home in Seattle, Dr Abe described his visit to Pagak camp on October 26. The 17-person team, including a former secretary of state for the State of Washington and other Rotarians, left Gulu in the morning for Pagak Camp. Except for pedestrians that seemed wary as they walked along the road, the journey was uneventful.

As the bus approached Pagak Camp, the delegation was struck by the cluster of densely-packed homes. "It was amazing that such a small camp, with abundant vacant land around it, was the home to over 10,000 people," said Abe.

Once inside the camp, the team was dumbfounded by what they saw. There were men staggering around drunkenly. The school house that I saw four years earlier was still much in operation. Now, there seemed as many children in it as there were outside running around with nothing to do. A feeling of malaise was palpable in the camp: people waiting for something, but not quite knowing what it was. The general sense of hopelessness hung thick like a stubborn morning fog that refused to clear.

Many of the team members were moved to tears. They had read so much about Darfur in Sudan, but what they were witnessing seemed much more desperate. When asked which village they came from, many in the camp could only vaguely point in a faraway direction- "We came from over there". When pressed to be more specific, few could remember or seemed to care to remember where they came from.

As for those children who arrived as toddlers or who were born in the camp, there was absolutely no recollection of their roots, where their parents came from.

The team set up the distribution centre in the school as people gathered around- the Rotarian had become the event. Though the team was donating 30 wheelchairs for recipients identified earlier by Gulu Rotary Club, children, men, women stood aimlessly with expectant faces. Even after the chairs were handed out, they stood there waiting, hoping.

One incident stood clearly in Abe's mind. After the wheelchairs were distributed, the empty boxes were now given away to the camp residents. After the first few boxes were given away, the rest were set upon by young children fighting viciously to gain possession. Abe was reminded of Alvin Toffler's book Future Shock where people fought over meager resources. "It was unbelievable to see so much desperation in the eyes of children so young, and the unwarranted violence as they tore and shredded the boxes", he said. Abe however remained hopeful especially after meeting many former abducted children eager to return to school. "That gave me hope that the future generation is not completely lost", said Abe.

In other words, when we think of what we have lost and will lose, the responsibility for the peace process cannot be left to the Government alone. The LRA must now come clean with a clear commitment to talk peace. This is your moment Mr Joseph Kony. Take it.

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[Ugnet] Kaguta's peace jokes continue...

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