| JUBA/KAMPALA
THE rebel Lord's Resistance Army has said it will never sign a peace
deal with the government until international arrest warrants for its top
commanders are dropped.
The announcement complicates a peace process
already stuck in an unpredictable negotiation process.
Although
LRA deputy commander Vincent Otti had previously hinted that rebel leader
Joseph Kony would sign a deal from his hideout without going to the South
Sudan capital of Juba, it emerged yesterday that the rebels want the
International Criminal Court's (ICC) warrants of arrest rescinded before
any deal is signed.
The ICC wants Kony, Otti, Dominic Ongwen and Okot
Odhiambo for war crimes and crimes against humanity.
In an
interview with Daily Monitor yesterday, Otti said the ICC indictments are
the "only obstacle" to the success of the talks. With arrest warrants
still valid, Otti said, signing a peace agreement "would not be a correct"
decision.
![]() |
| THE PERFECT BALANCE: Burundi cultural
dancers entertain guests at the 44th Independence Day celebrations
at Kololo yesterday. Photo by Geofrey
Sseruyange |
Otti was corroborating earlier comments by the LRA's Juba delegation.
"They should not expect us to sign an agreement and later cage our leaders
in The Hague; our leaders are not fools.
"We want a guarantee that
nobody is going to pounce, to jump on them immediately after we have
signed a treaty, when they no longer have arms," said Godfrey Ayo, the
spokesman for the LRA delegation.
"But we all want peace to return
to northern Uganda and as a good gesture we need the ICC to say, well, if
that be the case, then we drop this case."
Though President
Museveni has offered blanket amnesty to the LRA if they sign a
comprehensive peace deal, he insists he will only contact the ICC for a
review of the indictments after Kony has signed a peace deal.
Kony
and Otti have said they will not make an appearance in Juba for fear of
being arrested. The LRA leaders now say they will not sign any agreement
without documentary evidence of the dropped charges, according to Ayo.
ICC Chief Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo recently said the LRA's
war crimes would not go unpunished. And on September 15, the ICC ordered
an urgent report into Uganda's efforts to arrest and hand over wanted LRA
leaders, stressing that the arrest of Kony and his deputies was vital for
their effective prosecution and the prevention of further crimes.
In Juba, the parties are still stuck on the LRA's proposal that
there be two armies, one of which would be under their control. Kampala
has, however, dismissed the demand as "utopian".
President
Museveni hinted from the outset that he would not give away too much in
Juba, because the talks are only intended to give Kony and his lieutenants
"a soft landing".
Yesterday, during celebrations to mark the 44th
independence anniversary, the President said there would be peace in
northern Uganda whether or not the Juba "conversations" succeed.
"Those conversations are to enable Kony not to go to the
International Criminal CourtÂ….I still hope that Kony will take this
[opportunity]," Mr Museveni said at Kololo Independence Grounds. "In case,
however, they do not do so, UPDF has got all the means to sustain and
deepen the victories we had already achieved by July this year."
A
report by the Cessation of Hostilities Monitoring Team (CHMT) shows that
both the UPDF and the LRA have violated the truce. The report also accuses
the Government of South Sudan of "failure to protect the assembly points".
The report found a botched Media Centre-organized trip to South Sudan
to be in violation of the truce.
It said the troupe, which
featured armoured vehicles and UPDF soldiers, illegally "went too close to
the LRA," an official involved in the mediation told Daily Monitor on
condition of anonymity. The other alleged violations include UPDF
deployments and movements in the areas of Magwe and Palotaka. It is still
unclear how many rebels have been counted at both assembly points.
The report, which pins the LRA for not assembling in the
designated points, says most of the rebels in Owiny-ki-Bul have over the
last weeks been attempting to cross to Western Equatoria to join Kony's
group. But the LRA denied this, saying the movement from Owiny-ki-Bul was
largely due to the UPDF's deployment.
"Regardless of what the UPDF
had gone to do in those areas, it was a violation and our soldiers moved
away to avoid confrontation," said Ayo.
Otti said yesterday that he
wanted all his fighters to cross to Western Equatoria to get in touch with
their leaders. Said Otti: "They should quit if possible, because they are
my people. Why shouldn't they come to live with me?"
Otti told
Daily Monitor that with a successful peace agreement, he would be prepared
to serve as a soldier in the army, but only at his present or higher rank.
All LRA fighters, Otti said, would not accept ranks below their current
status.
"I am now a Lt Gen; I will not be dropped. We shall all
maintain our ranks," he said. "A Brigadier will remain a BrigadierÂ…. and
so on."
Additional reporting by Paul
Harera | 
