A new Crisis Group press release...
The international community must increase leverage [in order] to push forward the Juba peace process and [to] put an end to the twenty-year conflict in northern Uganda.
Northern Uganda Peace Process: The Need to Maintain Momentum, the latest briefing from the International Crisis Group, examines the ongoing negotiations between the Ugandan government and the rebel Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), and the necessity for the international community to remain committed and [to] ensure [that] the parties reach an agreement that brings both peace and justice in northern Uganda. The 2 May 2007 agreement on comprehensive solutions to the conflict, and the 29 June agreement on accountability, lay a strong foundation to guide difficult negotiations, but they need to be detailed in a final agreement [in order] to address key judicial and security issues. The [government's] and the LRA’s full commitment to the peace process also remain questionable.
“The Juba peace process has matured in the last year, and [has] improved the lives of millions of civilians, both in northern Uganda and [in] southern Sudan,” says Crisis Group Analyst Adam O’Brien. “But negotiating the remaining details and implementation require more leverage, focus, and discipline.”
As part of the negotiations, rebel elements in southern Sudan moved to the LRA’s jungle hideout in [DR] Congo, thus increasing security for millions of citizens in northern Uganda and southern Sudan. But progress would not have occurred without international engagement, and if a final deal is to be concluded by year’s end, more leverage is necessary to create incentives for further progress, and disincentives for stalling or undermining a negotiated settlement.
A comprehensive justice framework demands prosecution of the LRA members and army commanders responsible for the greatest crimes, as well as reconciliation and reintegration of ordinary rebels and a truth-telling compensation for victims. Donors and mediators must continue to close opportunities for those who seek to prolong the process indefinitely. While the LRA should continue to be given food on humanitarian grounds, distribution should be closely monitored [in order] to avoid aid being used for LRA rebuilding efforts. If the LRA continues to refuse to leave Congo, the cessation-of-hostilities monitoring team’s mandate must be expanded, so [that] it can operate there.
A two-track strategy – negotiating away the LRA security threat in Juba, and dealing with long-term redevelopment in northern Uganda – remains the best approach to ending the conflict. Addressing LRA leaders’ core security and livelihood concerns is key to peace, but direct engagement with their leaders, Joseph Kony and Vincent Otti, is needed. The international community, and particularly [...] UN Special Envoy Joaquim Chissano, should work closely with the government [in order] to ensure [that] its redevelopment programs are fully implemented and contribute to building a sustainable peace in Northern Uganda after Juba.
“Hard work remains, but peace and justice are at last realistically within reach,” says David Mugnier, Crisis Group’s Central Africa Project Director.
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