After several years of tortuous talks Ugandan rebel negotiators have returned to their jungle base to consult their mystic leader days before they are due to sign a peace deal that will put an end to one of Africa’s longest conflicts.
The Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) rebels and government negotiators signed a flurry of accords recently and are expected to conclude a final peace deal at UN-backed talks in Southern Sudan early in March.
Since the war broke out in 1986 northern Uganda has endured cycles of fighting, massacres, kidnappings and rapes that killed tens of thousands and displaced up to two million more.
“Things are more peaceful round here now but the fact that they should be signing is even better,” said Stephen, a local employee working for one of a plethora of aid agencies in Gulu, a town in northern Uganda. “This proves that all sides, not just the population, are sick of this.”
The LRA rebels, who are believed to number several thousand, are led by self-proclaimed prophet Joseph Kony and are currently based out of the wilds of the northeastern Democratic Republic of Congo.
The Ugandan government has put forward March 6 as a date for signing the final peace deal, but the rebels have not confirmed the date yet.
“There has been a lot of progress. We feel that a deal will be struck soon — when they get back from Garamba,” said Gulu Resident District Commissioner Walter Ochora, who has been involved in liaising with the rebels.
“The delegates have done their work and now it is up to the government and the LRA to implement it,” he said.
Negotiators have already agreed on a “permanent ceasefire” and “comprehensive solutions” for ending the conflict and must now agree on terms for demobilisation before a final pact is signed.
A major sticking point has been the International Criminal Court’s (ICC) indictments of Kony and two of his commanders on charges of war crimes. The rebels said the indictments must be lifted before they will sign any deal.
Although the ICC believes it should still try the rebels, negotiators have agreed the court, based in The Hague, will not be used.
“Those who are indicted should go through the Ugandan courts and the rest should face traditional justice,” said Ochora.
On Wednesday the LRA insisted it will not sign the comprehensive peace deal until the Ugandan government has asked the ICC to scrap the arrest warrants for Kony and two commanders. The government rejected this demand, saying that it will ask the ICC to drop the indictments only once a final peace deal is signed. The LRA’s belated request could further delay the signing.
Although the LRA claims to have fought for the rights of the northern Acholi people it is these people who have borne the brunt of the violence.
Nonetheless, the support for a quick deal that seeks justice through traditional methods — known as matu oput — is widespread in the north.
“We need to use this matu oput to get these people out of the bush,” said Geoffrey Akena, who is from Pader, a neighbouring district, but who fled to Gulu in 2000 because of LRA attacks.
“We have to forgive them and reconcile. If we kill them now it is just killing more of our own,” he said.
During the worst years of the war, thousands of farmers worked in the fields during the day but at night, fearing attacks by the LRA — who kidnapped children to use as fighters and sex slaves, walked to towns to find somewhere safe to sleep.
These people became known as the “night commuters”. Others settled in the towns. Now the government is encouraging them to return home. “It has calmed down a lot. It is not like years back. People are going back to their villages and they are feeling free,” said Akena.
The government in Kampala has promised hundreds of millions of dollars to develop the north and there have been calls for regional representation in the army and public office. But the underlying divide between the north and the south of Uganda will remain.
Northerners believe the government, which is dominated by people from southern and western Uganda, has neglected them and has not been serious about pacifying the rebellion. However much they were subjected to Kony’s campaign of terror they still consider the LRA fighters as Acholi brothers.
“We don’t know what the government will do. The government is southern and they looked at us as their enemy,” said Akena, adding that northern districts lacked schools, hospitals and representation.
“There are some who are trying to change this mentality but many still see us in this way. We just want peace,” he said.