Peace talks end

Peace talks end

FRANK NYAKAIRU & RODNEY MUHUMUZA

JUBA/KAMPALA

THE South Sudan-mediated peace negotiations between the rebel LRA and the government of Uganda ended in Juba yesterday with the signing of the second last agreement, which paves way for a possible final agreement on April 5.

The parties yesterday signed an agreement on monitoring and implementation, officially marking the end of negotiations that have come to be called the Juba Peace Process.

What now remains is the ceremony to sign the Final Peace Agreement, and a tentative date was yesterday postponed from April 3 to April 5.

Chief mediator Riek Machar yesterday appeared to be relieved that the penultimate agreement had been signed. "It has been a very difficult peace process with indictments hanging on one of the parties, but I am very happy that they have all agreed to sign the final agreement," Dr Machar, the South Sudan Vice President, told journalists at a Juba hotel.

Chwa MP Livingstone Okello-Okello, who is the chairperson of Acholi Parliamentary Group, told Daily Monitor yesterday that he was "happy" that the peace talks had been concluded. "We had many," Mr Okello-Okello said.

The MP, who is currently in Juba on a confidence building mission added; "This is good news for our people who have suffered for more than two decades. We hope that the signing of a comprehensive agreement will mark the beginning of a new chapter for the people of northern Uganda and the country at large."

If the deal is signed, as the parties agreed yesterday, it would be some 20 months since the talks started in Juba, South Sudan, where President Salva Kiir's government has played a mediation role.

Yet, as April 5 draws closer, the peace process is still clouded in uncertainty over the practical aspect of it.
Rebel leader Joseph Kony, wanted by the International Criminal Court on war crimes charges, yesterday told Acholi elders gathered in Juba that he would sign the deal but keep his arms.

Kony, whose current hideout has become the subject of speculation, rang a Juba peace workshop to say that, deal or no deal, he would stay in Ri-Kwangba, a village in South Sudan where he says he is hiding.

Kony, it was revealed yesterday, will not leave his hideout, even if it is to sign a historic peace agreement with President Museveni's administration. Kony will sign the document from his base in Ri-Kwangba, about 100km from Juba, it was revealed yesterday.

"Kony has told me together with traditional leaders in northern Uganda that he will sign the agreement in Ri-Kwangba," LRA's chief negotiator David Nyekotach Matsanga, told the elders - drawn from Acholi, Lango and Bunyoro - who were meeting in Juba. "Kony will not come out because of the ICC indictments, and in any case, he will remain in Ri-Kwangba because the Cessation of Hostilities Agreement confines him there."

If the Final Peace Agreement is signed at a ceremony in Juba, as is most likely, it is difficult to know who would represent the LRA at the landmark ceremony.

Since July 2006, the LRA and the government of Uganda have signed agreements on cessation of hostilities; comprehensive solutions; accountability and reconciliation; permanent ceasefire; and disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration.
Kony, according to some reports, has shifted base to the jungles of the Central African Republic and established contact with a Chadian warlord, Mahamat Nouri.

Although there have been no recent skirmishes between the LRA and the Ugandan military, the rebel outfit has been linked to killings and abductions in the Central African Republic.

Matsanga, who has dismissed the claims, said yesterday: "Those pessimists are going to be embarrassed. Kony has personally confirmed to Ugandans that he will be at Ri-Kwangba to sign the agreement." One traditional leader, after speaking to Kony yesterday, sounded optimistic.

"I have met with Kony before and when he talked, I recognised his voice…he said he would sign the agreement," said Dr Emmanuel Aliba Kiiza, the Bunyoro prime minister. As Mr Matsanga delivered what he called good news, Prof. Ogenga Latigo, the Agago MP who leads the parliamentary opposition, was pessimistic. "I am worried. I think we should consider convincing Kony to come out and sign this agreement," Prof. Latigo said.

In the beginning, as at the end, the ICC issue has been a sticking point during the peace talks, with Kony saying the warrants are a deal-breaker.

The ICC, for its part, has indicated that it might drop the warrants if it is certain that a court in Uganda can competently try the suspects. And President Museveni, who pushed for the indictments, says Kony will have a "soft landing" if he signs the final agreement.

"We have agreed to sign the Final Peace Agreement on April 5 and we expect Joseph Kony to sign it in person," said Dr Ruhakana Rugunda, the Internal Affairs minister who is heading the government delegation in Juba.

Earlier, six heads of state had been invited to witness the signing which was at the time scheduled for March 6, 2008.
The six included; Mwai Kibaki (Kenya), Jakaya Kikwete (Tanzania), Armando Guebuza (Mozambique), Thabo Mbeki (South Africa), Joseph Kabila (DR Congo) and Omar El-Bashir (Sudan).

FACT FILE

* THE Juba talks are a series of negotiations between the government and the LRA rebels over the terms of a ceasefire and possible peace agreement.
* The talks, held in Juba, the capital of South Sudan, began in July 2006 and were mediated by Dr Riek Machar, the vice president of South Sudan.
* The talks, which had resulted in a ceasefire by September 2006, have been described as the best chance ever for a negotiated settlement for the 20-year-old war.
* A delegation from the LRA arrived in Juba, Sudan on June 8, 2006 to prepare for talks with the Ugandan government, to be mediated by the Government of Southern Sudan.
* These talks were agreed to after Kony released a video in May 2006 in which he denied committing atrocities and seemed to call for an end to hostilities, in response to an announcement by President Museveni that he would guarantee the safety of Kony if peace was agreed to by July.
* ICC issued indictments in 2005 against leaders of the LRA
* Joseph Kony gave his first interview to the press after 20 years of carrying out the conflict in late June 2006. He denied that the LRA had carried out any atrocities and blamed President Museveni for oppressing the Acholi.
* In late June 2006, the Government of South Sudan formally invited Uganda to attend peace talks.
* On July 14, 2006 talks began in Juba between delegations from the LRA and Uganda, with the Vice-president of Southern Sudan Riek Machar as the chief mediator.
* On August 4 2006, late Vincent Otti declared a unilateral ceasefire and asked the Ugandan government to reciprocate.
* President Museveni set a September 12, 2006 the deadline to finalise a peace deal.
* The government and LRA signed a truce on August 26, 2006.
The negotiations were paused in early October 2006 while a Cessation of Hostilities monitoring team was sent to Owiny Ki-Bul.
* On October 20, 2006, President Museveni met the LRA negotiators for the first time in Juba in an attempt to revive the talks, described as "stalled" by BBC News and "faltering" by Daily Monitor.
* After a week-long impasse, the LRA and the government signed a second truce on November 1, 2006 that mandated the monitoring team until December 1.
* On January 1-12, 2007, Ojul stated that recent comments made by President Omar el-Bashir and Vice President Salva Kiir clearly signified that the LRA was not welcome any longer in Sudan, and that further talks should take place in Kenya.
* On March 14, 2007, the LRA stated it would once again return to the Juba talks. After South Africa, Kenya and Mozambique agreed to join the peace talks (a demand the LRA had made before it would return to Juba).
* The next round of talks was held from April 13 to April 14, 2007. In this round, the ceasefire was extended until June 30, 2007, and Ri Kwangba (Sudan) was the agreed upon assembly point. The next round of talks was set for April 25, 2007.
* Following this suspension in the peace talks, the Juba Initiative Project enabled the resumption of the talks in May 2007, thanks to the efforts of the Special Representative of the UN secretary-general for LRA-affected areas, Mr Joaquim Chissano.
* On June 29, 2007, the sides agreed to the principles of how justice and reconciliation would be handled, the third of the five-point agenda.
* In November 2007, an LRA delegation led by Martin Ojul arrived in Kampala to restate their commitment to a peaceful resolution of the conflict.
* In December 12- 20, 2007, the government set an ultimatum for the peace talks to conclude by January 31, 2008, threatening a new military offensive. The death of Vincent Otti, confirmed in mid-January, 2008, reportedly threatened the success of the talks.
* Talks resumed on January 30, 2008, and the ceasefire was extended until February 29, 2008.
* The European Union and the United States joined the negotiations, increasing the number of observers to eight.
* Reportedly, a breakthrough in negotiations was reached on February 3, 2008 regarding accountability and reconciliation.
* A deal was signed on February 19, 2008 which decided that the war crimes would be tried in a special section of the High Court of Uganda, thus bypassing the International Criminal Court and also removing one of the last obstacles to a final peace deal.
* On February 22, 2008, the rebels walked out of the talks again after being denied senior government posts.
* A permanent ceasefire to come into effect 24 hours after the signing a comprehensive peace treaty (expected by February 29th 2008) was agreed upon on February 23rd 2008.
* More problems appeared on February 28, 2008: The rebels demanded retraction of the ICC indictments.
* The truce was extended until March 28, 2008, and the final peace talks will continue on March 12, 2008. The ICC prosecutor-general Luis Moreno-Ocampo on March 5, 2008 rejected demands by the rebels for a meeting.
* On April 5, rebel leader Kony will nonetheless come out of the bush to sign the peace agreement, with the implicit agreement that he will not be apprehended and transferred to the ICC while out in the open; such an action would also likely see a remobilisation of his rebel army.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juba_talks