Ending Ethnic Conflict in Uganda

Joseph Kony (right), leader of Uganda’s Lord’s Resistance Army, greets Ugandan officials, lawmakers, and representatives from non- governmental organizations in July 2006.

You probably didn’t know it, but the final peace agreement to end one of Africa’s longest conflicts was supposed to be signed last Thursday. Joseph Kony, leader of the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), a militant group that is attempting to establish a theocratic government in Uganda, was scheduled to travel to Ri-Kwangba on the Sudan-Congo border to participate in a ceremonial signing that would have ended Uganda’s 22-year-long civil war. Ultimately, though, Kony was concerned over part of the final agreement and decided not to show up. The Ugandan government still says it is interested in brokering a deal, and the U.N. envoy to the peace process believes the final agreement could be signed soon, if both parties show a commitment to the process.

Many Americans don’t know much about what is happening in Uganda—which is no surprise, since the media rarely talk about developments there. So Campus Progress has put together this primer for those who want to know more about Uganda and why it’s so important that these ongoing peace talks succeed.

Uganda’s Ethnic Clash

Like many ethnic conflicts, the root of Uganda’s crisis can be traced to colonial practices. From the late 1800s until Uganda’s independence in 1962, Britain gave most of its attention and support to Southern Uganda and encouraged economic and political development to the people of Buganda, Uganda’s largest autonomous kingdom. Since independence, the modern Ugandan government has perpetuated these policies, leaving the Acholi region particularly neglected and disenfranchised.

When Uganda’s current president, Yoweri Museveni, came to power through a coup in 1986, Northern Ugandans mobilized in rebellion. The Acholi-driven Holy Spirit Movement bred the LRA, which still terrorizes the country today. Headed by Kony, who is also the leader of his own religion—an amalgamation of Christianity, Islam, and witchcraft—the LRA has catalyzed Uganda’s problems.

The conflict has killed tens of thousands of people, displaced more than 1.8 million, and has led to the kidnapping of more than 60,000 children who have been forced to become child soldiers for the LRA.

Power Player: Joseph Kony

Kony, leader of the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) and one of the key antagonists in the ethnic conflict that has been plaguing Northern Uganda for 22 years, is a relative of Alice Auma, the head of the Holy Spirit Movement that rebelled against the 1986 military coup that put President Museveni in power. Auma claimed that Lakwena, the spirit of a dead Italian World War I soldier, possessed her. Using her alleged spiritual powers, she convinced followers that shea nut oil would protect them from bullets when rebelling against the government’s army. Her nephew preaches the same myth, and also tells his child soldiers that the oil brands them as his and allows his Lord’s Resistance Army to track them, should they attempt to escape.

Process for Peace

Negotiators for the LRA and Ugandan government, as well as mediators from the government of Southern Sudan, have been in Juba, Sudan, for peace talks since July 2006; a similar attempt to negotiate peace by then-Minister Betty Bigombe failed in the 1990s. If the current peace agreement is successful, it could signal major progress toward ending ethnic conflict that has been plaguing many countries in Eastern Africa. Successful negotiations would be seen as “a major accomplishment,” says Tim Shortley, the State Department’s senior advisor for conflict resolution who has been monitoring the peace talks in Juba.

What Will the Peace Agreement Look Like?

The final peace agreement includes five sections: the cessation of hostilities agreement; comprehensive solutions; principles of accountability and reconciliation; formal ceasefire agreement and demobilization; disarmament; and reintegration. The comprehensive solution section includes economic recovery for the region, government positions for Northerners, and a reparation fund for victims. Accountability and reconciliation will include the creation of a special division of the high court, promotion of truth telling and other traditional justice mechanisms that include “blood settlement,” as well as amnesty for eligible individuals.

The ICC and its Role in the Process

If the peace agreement is finally signed, what will it mean for Northern Ugandans? Technically, nothing. LRA negotiators have stated that they cannot implement the deal until the International Criminal Court (ICC) drops its charges against Kony and other LRA officers. In July 2005, the newly established ICC issued arrest warrants for Kony and four other LRA members. Some Ugandans believe that the ICC’s persistence to try Kony will perpetuate the conflict and prevent the achievement of peace.

The 33 charges brought against Kony include murder, rape, enslavement, and kidnapping and training child soldiers. Many Uganda activists believe the ICC should suspend these charges in favor of ending the 22-year-long ethnic conflict. The system for adjudicating crimes committed during the war is complicated and can be detrimental to reintegration and reconstruction, they argue.

There are two ways in which the ICC’s charges could be dropped: if the Ugandan government could successfully challenge the validity of the charges and prove that the Ugandan courts could handle the justice process for war crimes, or if the United Nations would vote to suspend the warrants for one year. “The best chance is for the Security Council to suspend the charges, but they won’t do so without a gesture of confidence by Kony,” said Michael Poffenberger, executive director of Resolve Uganda. Recently, the United Nations and ICC have appeared to be warming up to the idea of suspending the charges, conditional on whether they believe that Uganda could be successful in meting out justice for the war crimes committed.

The government and LRA have agreed to handle war crimes committed through the processes of truth-telling and “blood settlement,” which would require a perpetrator to ask for forgiveness and pay some sort of compensation. Blood settlement would allow Kony and others to avoid imprisonment and international judgment. Michael Otim, director of the Gulu District NGO Forum, an umbrella organization that represents the efforts of non-governmental oganizations (commonly referred to as NGOs) that work in the region, believes a national tribunal would go a long way to restoring peace in the country. “I know it’s difficult to understand, but Ugandans can forgive so long as they will have peace,” he said.

Reintegration of the Displaced

Reintegration will be difficult for most Ugandans, even though 800,000 of the 1.8 million displaced citizens have already returned home. History shows that the LRA is not the only antagonist in Uganda’s conflict. In 1996, President Museveni ordered Northern Ugandans to leave their homes within 48 hours and relocate to refugee camps. Almost 50 percent of the people in the camps are under the age of 18, which means that many of Uganda’s young citizens have known little other than the squalid conditions and high instances of sexual and domestic violence that prevails in these camps.

A startling 1,000 deaths occur per week in the camps, according to a 2005 survey by the World Health Organization. A 2006 report uncovered that the violent death rate in Uganda was three times greater than in Iraq. These numbers indicate that in the ten years Northern Ugandans have been forced to live in the camps, 520,000 people have died because of camp conditions. “[Northern Uganda] is the most serious humanitarian crisis in the world. Not one of them, the most important,” Ambassador E. Michael Southwick said at a recent panel on United States involvement in Uganda. Southwick was the U.S. ambassador to Uganda from 1994-1997, during the Clinton administration. “America confuses hope and rhetoric with results and hard work; we try to do something on the cheap,” Southwick said.

Reconstruction

It is this lack of security that is preventing people from leaving camps and returning home. Although some experts believe that the peace agreement will help alleviate many Ugandans’ fears, Northern Uganda’s lack of infrastructure leaves the region and its inhabitants vulnerable. Reconstruction will need to occur before people feel confident enough to go home. Museveni has promised to rebuild the North with a $600 million aid package, 30 percent of which his government has pledged to fund. The aid package will go toward rebuilding roads, improving education and health centers, and funding small-scale industry such as a power station on the Nile.

Money from the United States, European Union, and the United Nations will also be needed to assist families returning home and to establish food programs for families that abandoned their farms and will not be able to produce their own food when they return. Some international organizations are in the process of transitioning from aid relief to development projects. Initiatives like the Northern Uganda Social Action Fund and the European Commission’s Delegation to Uganda were designed to foster reconstruction and development. However, in early February, NUSAF was accused and placed under investigation for corruption and delaying aid and development projects. In contrast, the European Commission’s delegation has been successful in adequately funding reconstruction projects. According to the ECDU 2006 annual report (most recent available), over €62 million was disbursed towards infrastructure and rural development projects.

Benefits of a Peaceful, Developed Uganda

NGOs argue that investment in Uganda would provide the United States with benefits that include ways to counter China’s involvement in Africa and bring stability to the Great Lakes region of East Africa. Trade between Africa and China has risen from $10.6 billion in 2000 to $55.5 billion in 2006 as China continues to heavily invest in Africa’s oil and copper industries. The conflict in Northern Uganda has affected the Democratic Republic of Congo (where Kony was allegedly hiding before heading to Juba to sign the peace agreement), Southern Sudan (which helped fund Kony’s movement), and the Central African Republic. However, the United States Agency for International Development gave only $67 million in aid to Uganda in fiscal year 2006, compared to the $500 million given to Sudan. “Reconstruction will take years, if not decades,” Shortley said. “The challenges cannot be underestimated.”

If sustainable peace in Northern Uganda could be achieved, it would mean great things for Uganda and Africa. Most importantly, a peaceful Uganda would be a stabilizing factor in an otherwise volatile Great Lakes region. Investing in peace in Uganda is not simply a national interest, but an international one.

Kayla Walker is a senior at Hofstra University and a Publications Intern at Campus Progress.

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