UGANDA-SUDAN: Optimism that Sudanese peace deal could help pacify northern Uganda

[ This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations]

KAMPALA, 11 Jan 2005 (IRIN) - The comprehensive peace accord signed on Sunday between the Sudanese government and the southern-based Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A) should help resolve the 18-year war in northern Uganda, officials said.

"The deal is surely a dawn of hope for us," Norman Ojwee, the chairman Kitgum District, told IRIN on Monday. "We need to celebrate because this is an opportunity toward peace in northern Uganda."

According to Ojwee, the peace deal means, "there will be effective control in [southern Sudan], which will stop the mutual suspicions between Kampala and Khartoum that resulted in support for each other's rebel groups".

Gulu District chairman, Walter Ochora, said the signing of the peace accord was "a great moment we have been waiting for". He added: "If the agreement is adhered to by both parties, then it will have a tremendous impact on peace in northern Uganda."

The Anglican bishop of Gulu diocese, Onono Onweng, said the deal was "a God-given agreement". He added: "The Sudanese will not tolerate any nonsense on their territory this time and this means peace in our region."

NGO officials were equally optimistic. Emma Naylor, of the British relief agency, Oxfam, told IRIN on Monday that the deal was potentially significant for northern Uganda because the conflict there had a regional dimension.

The deal, she added, would put pressure on the LRA to commit to peace. "The end of the 21-year civil war in Sudan is a momentous time for the people of Sudan," she told IRIN.

"However the world needs to know that just across the border in northern Uganda, the ceasefire talks have collapsed and hopes for an end to the war have been dashed," she added.

The war between the Uganda government and the rebel Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), has particularly affected the northern districts of Gulu and Kitgum which are near the Sudanese border. Across northern Uganda, thousands of people have been killed and more than 1.6 million displaced from their homes.

According to the Ugandan government, the LRA operates from bases in southern Sudan and has, in the past, received help from Khartoum. The Sudanese government, on the other hand, had accused Uganda of supporting the SPLM/A.

The LRA, which rose up against the Uganda government in 1988, is notorious for its brutality against the civilian population. It abducts boys to serve as recruits in the rebel army and girls to function as sexual slaves to rebel commanders. Relief agencies estimate that up to 20,000 children have been abducted.

Oxfam, in a statement issued on Monday, warned of a deepening humanitarian crisis in Uganda, saying that in spite of recent peace efforts, the displaced population in the northern region had continued to face a terrible crisis.

Ugandan government officials met LRA commanders in December and agreed to sign a general ceasefire agreement to pave the way for formal negotiations to end the conflict in the north peacefully.

However, the talks collapsed on New Year's Day, after the rebels said they needed to consult further before signing the agreement. In response, the Ugandan government ordered its army to resume hostilities against the rebels.

Oxfam said African leaders, the African Union and the wider international community, "who were instrumental in bringing about a peace agreement between the government of Sudan and the SPLM/A, must now concentrate their attention on the conflict in northern Uganda as well as addressing the crisis in Darfur".

The Sudan agreement was signed by Vice President Ali Osman Taha and John Garang, SPLM/A leader, in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, bringing an end to 21 years of civil war that has virtually destroyed southern Sudan. The war erupted in 1983 when the southerners took up arms against authorities based in the north to demand greater autonomy. At least two million people are believed to have died.

Garang, at a news conference on Saturday before the signing of the Nairobi agreement, said the LRA, led by Joseph Kony, must vacate southern Sudan or face the SPLM/A. The rebels, he added, were "unwelcome in our territory", adding that they would be "treated as enemies of the united Sudan. They have no business being on our territory".

[ENDS]