Written for PeaceReporter by
Angela Zanella 

 

Ending a 20-year war, on Saturday August 26 the Ugandan government signed a ceasefire agreement with the rebels of the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) led by Joseph Kony. The treaty, negotiated in Juba, southern Sudan, will go into effect on Tuesday morning, and if it holds it will represent a historic shift in the history of Uganda.

Waiting for Kony. The truce grants the rebels three weeks, until September 12, to gather their troops in southern Sudan, where they will be under the protection of the southern Sudanese government. Then peace talks should begin and continue until a definitive treaty is reached. The rebels are expected to gather at Owiny-ki-Bul, 32 kilometers from the Ugandan border, on the east bank of the White Nile. Kony’s most recent base is held to be on the opposite side, near Ri-Kwangba. It’s still too early to know whether the peace will hold, but there is optimism, because this is the first ceasefire agreed upon and formalized by both sides. The treaty agreement, reached through the mediation of southern Sudan’s Vice President, Riek Machar, does not detail terms of disarmament of the rebels or their re-integration into Ugandan society.

The End of Atrocities? Vincent Otti, one of the LRA leaders, announced the agreement on Sunday in a broadcast on the Mega FM radio station in Gulu, in northern Uganda, telling the combatants that the war was over and it was time to return home. The message was directed to rebels scattered through northern Uganda, eastern Congo, and southern Sudan. Because they live in hidden, isolated groups, radio was felt to be the best way to reach the LRA fighters. On Tuesday, Ugandan president Yoweri Museveni ordered his Uganda People’s Defence Forces (UPDF) to cease operations against the rebels. From now on, the army can open fire only in defense of civilians, declared Major Felix Kulayigye. Joseph Kony has not yet made a public announcement, maintaining so far his customary secrecy, but he has led the LRA since 1986 with a mixture of politics and religious mysticism, calling himself a Christian prophet summoned to fight for the rights of the Acholi people of northern Uganda. The LRA has become notorious for committing atrocities. mostly against the Acholi themselves, especially for their practice of cutting off the lips and tongue of their victims.

Amnesty for a Criminal. According to the United Nations, approximately 25,000 children have been kidnapped since 1986 to become child soldiers or sex slaves, and 1.7 million people have become refugees. Museveni’s decision to offer amnesty to Kony’s army has caused controversy, because the International Criminal Court has sent out arrest warrants for Kony and other rebel leaders, accused of crimes against humanity. Human rights activists are condemning Museveni’s decision, but the Ugandan leader replies that peace is more urgent than an international trial.