Kony using false calm to turn into regional warlord

Kony using false calm to turn into regional warlord

By ZACHARY OCHIENG
Special Correspondent

The peace talks between the government of Uganda and the rebel Lord's Resistance Army have contributed to the prevailing peace in northern Uganda's, but the LRA has used the relative calm to rearm.

A report titled A New Strategy for Northern Uganda and the LRA, by Enough Project co-chair John Prendergast and policy analyst Julia Spiegel says that without real leverage or a direct channel of negotiations with Joseph Kony himself, "The LRA leader has exploited this last year of negotiations to stave off international pressure, collect food and money from the mediators and donors, and buy time to abduct, train, and equip new combatants."

The report says that Kony's failure to sign a peace deal in April drove a nail into the coffin of the Juba peace process, which has stalled.

"Over the past two years, Kony has successfully changed from a rebel/predator in northern Uganda into a regional warlord, with small but deadly LRA units marauding throughout eastern Congo, southern Sudan, and the Central African Republic," says the report.

It says the LRA abducted between 300 and 500 people in the region during the three-month lead up to the dramatic non-conclusion of the peace process.

"These actions warrant investigation by the International Criminal Court and strong international censure," the report says. It claims that the LRA also established a new safe haven in southeastern Central African Republic — where it is abducting new recruits — complementing its established sanctuary in the Garamba National Park in eastern Congo.

What is clear though is that the failure to reach a final deal with Kony last month sheds light on the critical issue that has plagued the Juba peace process from the outset.
 
The report says that negotiating a deal with the LRA diaspora delegation that purportedly represented Kony's interests in the talks does not translate into a deal with Kony.

"His core interest in his personal security and livelihood is unrelated to the laundry list of grievances and negotiating positions of the diaspora delegation," says the report.

The authors recommend a two-track strategy to enable northern Uganda to consolidate its relative peace and address the regional threat that Kony poses.

The first track involves assisting northerners with rebuilding their lives. In contrast to the remote chance of a deal with Kony, a huge opportunity exists in northern Uganda to facilitate the return of the long-suffering displaced people to their homes.

While Kony and the LRA remain a looming regional threat, a serious attack in northern Uganda in the short-term is unlikely. It is thus critical to use this time to promote reconstruction and development while providing maximum protection with Ugandan police and military forces so that civilians who choose to return home are not at undue risk.

The Acholi communities — those in the north most affected by this war — should no longer be held hostage by the goings on in Juba.

Track two calls on the international community to deal with Kony as a regional threat. The international community must demonstrate to Kony once and for all that his days of impunity are over.

International leverage must be forged through the development of a credible regional military strategy to apprehend Kony and the other two LRA commanders indicted by the ICC.

Military planning should be accompanied by efforts to reduce external support for the LRA from the Sudanese government and from small, radicalised elements of the Ugandan diaspora who want to undermine Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni's rule, says the report.

Specifically, says the report, the US and the UK should sponsor a resolution at the UN Security Council to investigate diaspora members undermining peace efforts, and then provide information to the Council to expedite further action. A list of spoilers should be made public and the Security Council should impose  sanctions against the individuals.

Fundamental to the success of this strategy is also a focused effort to induce more defections by LRA commanders in order to isolate Kony and erode the LRA's core capacities, says the report.

This requires an effective disarmament, demobilisation, and reintegration strategy and the attendant funding, it adds.

 

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