Northern war could end soon but challenges remain - church

The conflict between the government and the rebel Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) in northern Uganda "may come to a quick end" following the surrender of a large number of LRA fighters over the past few weeks, a church organisation said. "Suddenly, there is real hope that the 18-year old war that has afflicted northern Uganda -particularly Acholi - may come to a quick end," the Justice and Peace Commission of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Gulu, said on Wednesday. "Many organisations are beginning to talk of the imminence of a 'post-war' situation," it added. It said "scores of rebels" had come out of the bush and laid down their arms. "What started as a trickle soon became a flow and a trend. Every few days whole groups of LRA combatants and abductees report to some military unit with their commanders," the commission said in its situation report for mid-August. The rebels, it noted, were "coming out of the bush in such big numbers" because of two crucial factors: severe lack of food and a more effective military campaign against them, and the influence of awareness programmes on local radio stations. "The aura of Kony as a spiritual leader endowed with supernatural powers is breaking down. For a group like the LRA, with cult-like features, this is an important factor that has made many realise at snowball speed that there is no sense in holding out in the bush," the commission added. The statement said that since mid-June, there had hardly been any abductions, and although few ambushes and killings had occurred, they had not been as deadly as before. "Returnees have also been saying that since January this year, the LRA have not received any military supply from the Sudan armed forces," it added. The commission however warned that a "military peace" won by a government victory over the LRA "would still have to be transformed into a sustainable social peace", adding that lasting peace in northern Uganda was "more than the absence of violent acts or 'wiping out' the rebels". "There is the risk that the army presents itself as the only actor that is effectively pacifying the region and that all other efforts by the civil society, tried over the years are regarded as useless...To enthrone the belief that only military pressure can yield good results security-wise can seriously jeopardise the building of a sustainable peace," it said. According to the commission, many hard-core rebels were still at large. There were also weapons that may have been hidden in the bush and could pose a security problem, while the 1.6 million displaced people living in camps still did not trust the government. "We need to reflect on some post-conflict issues and take a pro-active approach. When wars end most people just want to forget and do not want to reflect on the lessons learnt...Returnees need serious psychological rehabilitation," the commission noted. "Reconciliation processes must be put in place before people are tempted to take revenge because of past wrongs. Land disputes are likely to erupt as soon as people are able to go back to their villages," it warned. The LRA has fought the Uganda government since 1988. The insurgents have perpetrated gross atrocities against civilians, abducting young boys for conscription into their ranks and forcing girls to become "wives" of rebel commanders. Some 12,000 children have been abducted since June 2002, while the 1.6 million displaced people live in camps scattered across the north and northeast. Meanwhile, the Ugandan government has extended the duration of an amnesty law under which rebels who gave themselves up would not be liable to prosecution. "We have extended the amnesty for another three months to give the remaining people involved in the rebellion the opportunity to come home. Because of the good response we decided to give them extra time," Interior Minister, Ruhakana Rugunda, told IRIN on Wednesday. According to the Ugandan army, 360 rebels, including senior LRA commanders have surrendered in the past two months, while 123 have been captured. A high Court judge, Justice Peter Onega, who heads Ugandan amnesty commission said the extension was necessary because many LRA fighters were abducted and forced to fight, and might not have had chances to either escape or surrender. Onega, who said he had just returned from southern Sudan where he went to sell the message of amnesty to the Sudanese government and local communities there, said the commission had so far received 6,000 former LRA fighters.