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Hello Mr. President
By David Ouma Balikowa |
Cry, hope for the bleeding country Jan 8, 2005
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Ugandans ushered in the New Year on yet another false start. A week before, they had come close to peace in northern Uganda only to elude them, courtesy of stubborn wills both on the rebel and government sides.
But all is not lost yet. Both the rebels and government seem to have come to a conviction that war will not deliver the desired results for either party. War will not beget the LRA power. Neither will government deliver peace to the bleeding region through military means.
Last year when the Sudanese rebels, the SPLA reached an understanding with the Khartoum regime, there was a sense of relief on the Ugandan side of the border. The feeling was that the Ugandan rebels, the LRA would lose their supply lines and hence their ability to wage war.
The optimism kicked post-war plans into motion. The donor community saw their next challenge as how to help the war-torn
north recover from the scars of war.
Business people too have been busy laying plans on how to make money in post war Uganda and Sudan.
I recall sounding some caution to some of the parties above. Even if the peace deal materialised, it would take some time and hard work before peace reigned fully in the region. It would take a lot of good will and patience on both sides to allow peace to hold.
I also warned that signing peace agreements is the easiest thing for an African president or rebel leader to do. Even before the ink on their signatures dries, they will have resumed hostilities. It is often better to get to the heart of hostilities than rushing to appendage signatures on peace agreements.
To this extent, the LRA perhaps did the right thing not to sign a peace deal they were not prepared to respect soon after. It was better to iron out the stinging issues
instead of hoodwinking the world by signing a deal they would have violated the next day.
So as the country sobs over the missed peace opportunity, chances are that war would still have resumed even after signing the peace deal.
Some opposition politicians have been quick to remind the country of how in 1985 President Museveni, then a rebel, signed a peace agreement with then president, the late Gen Tito Okello Lutwa even when he was not ready to abide by it.
President Okello addressing the nation soon after his return from signing the peace agreement in Nairobi, proudly announced -- to the disbelief of everyone -- that government had de-fanged the snake (the Museveni's NRA).
It turned out too that Museveni had simply used the cover of peace talks to put final plans on his push to capture Kampala.
The history above teaches us that it is not so much the
signing of peace agreements as the spirit behind that matters. If the latest peace efforts failed, it could be because the spirit to end the war is still lacking.
Failure by the rebels to sign the peace agreement as scheduled was for example not enough reason for government to resume hostilities. What is a month or two of waiting where 18 years of fighting has failed to achieve peace?
The war might have resumed but all is not yet lost. The recent peace attempts were a major stride in the right direction. It softened the ground between both sides for yet another attempt.
Who would have ever imagined a senior government minister like Dr Ruhakana Rugunda going to the bush to meet LRA top rebels? Or legislators and civic leaders rubbing shoulders with the much feared rebel commanders? It demonstrates that peace could be achieved if both parties are genuine and made
realistic demands.
Government should for example not insist so much on rebels assembling in any designated area prior to signing the peace agreement. That should instead be one of the peace outcomes, not a precondition. In the real world, no rebel would do that unless they want to surrender. The LRA did not certainly send all their fighters to the designated assembling peace zone. Any claim by the LRA to that effect is hot air.
In order to sustain the peace initiative, confidence building must be stepped up.
Government is proposing joint monitoring teams between the LRA and UPDF. This is a commendable suggestion the rebels should seize since it is them that are most wary of being tricked.
The international community should also seize the opportunity to engage the LRA in dialogue. The rebels need external encouragement and talking to sections of the donor community would help them gain recognition and confidence.
Contact: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
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� 2005 The Monitor Publications
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