Dr Ruhakana Rugunda, Uganda’s Minister of Internal Affairs, recently spent three days in the bush on the Sudan-DRC border to meet the Lord’s Resistance Army. Concerned that the talks had stalled, Rugunda believed meeting Joseph Kony and Vincent Otti face to face was the only way forward.
He came away satisfied. “We have made tremendous progress bearing in mind the obstacles and misunderstandings, and have pushed the peace process for northern Uganda to a much higher level.” In his concluding address in the ‘peace tent’ in Ri-Kwangba, Rugunda thanked Kony and the LRA “for the seriousness that has been demonstrated”.
The minister had flown in with Ugandan military representatives and observers from northern Uganda, including religious, civic, political and community representatives. Although now a visible and recognised part of the formal process, the community leaders have played a critical ‘underground’ role in pushing the government to negotiate a settlement with the LRA. This was acknowledged by Rugunda.
“Over the years some of them have had problems with the government, who wondered whether they were on the right track for peace, but they remained unruffled, especially the Acholi leaders … We are happy you are with us and giving us wise counsel.”
The elders had been “a very credible bridge” between people living in the displaced camps and the government, and had worked hard to bring peace to the area, the minister said.
Communities and the military in northern Uganda should encourage LRA soldiers to move freely to assemble in Ri-Kwangba, on the Sudan-DRC border, under a new agreement.
“We will do everything possible to ensure that the members of LRA who are still in Uganda can peacefully move and come over to Ri-Kwangba.” Rugunda said it would be the community leaders who would be in the best position to facilitate the movement of LRA members left in the north - “These are the people who do most of the work, because they are on the ground, in Achol,” he added. “They feed them [LRA], they guide them, and they give them medicine.”
He added that he had faith in the process because local leaders had “done excellent work, especially when the LRA members are moving from Uganda to Owiny Ki-Bul [in Southern Sudan] …There were no serious incidents because of the good support given by the people to the LRA forces.”
“We will do everything possible to ensure that the members of the LRA who are still in Uganda can peacefully move and come over to Ri-Kwangba.”
On the issue of the ICC indictments, the minister said it was important to be fully prepared to face the requirements of the international community, with a credible plan for justice and reconciliation.
“We firmly believe that the best way to deal with this matter is to be fully prepared as Ugandans [and say] here you are, we have thoroughly dealt with this matter using our alternative traditional mechanisms of justice.” President Yoweri Museveni had proposed a blanket amnesty for the LRA, said the minister, and supported traditional justice if a peace settlement could be reached.
“Armed with such a package, President Museveni and his representatives will go anywhere in the world, whether The Hague with ICC, or the United Nations, and say please, leave this to us; the people of Uganda have solved our problems,” he explained. “We will do so taking into account the international requirements, to ensure that what we are doing, although it is Ugandan, is also consistent with what the international community expects.”
Before he got back into the helicopter, Rugunda urged the LRA and all the delegates to “keep in close contact on the phone to harmonise our respective positions… and reduce the work of the mediators”.
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