Britain pushes UN to disarm Ugandan rebel group
Aug 8, 2006 (KAMPALA) — Britain is pushing for a draft resolution to the UN Security Council on disarming and demobilizing Uganda’s rebel Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) as peace talks between the Ugandan government and rebels continued in Juba, southern Sudan.
“It is still at consultation level, it has not hit the floor of the Security Council,” said the source quoted by Daily Monitor on Tuesday that preferred anonymity given the sensitivity of the matter.
“It would have already been tabled but I guess Lebanon still has all the spotlight,” added the source, referring to the intense fight between Israeli army and Hezbollah in southern Lebanon.
“But the movers of this resolution have consulted your Ugandan) government at the highest level and received a positive nod,” the source said.
The Security Council only evokes chapter 7 of the UN charter when responding to actions that are a threat to peace and acts of aggression using whatever means deemed appropriate including and not limited to the use of force.
Uganda’s Foreign Affairs Minister Sam Kutesa said it was the Ugandan government that called for Security Council’s intervention about five months ago.
It is reported that the resolution seeks to appoint a UN special envoy on the LRA given the gravity of the matter. According to the UN and government sources, former Mozambican President Joachim Chissano is highly considered for this assignment.
“He has not been fully appointed but he is currently being consulted by the Secretary General (Kofi Annan),” Kutesa said.
Chissano arrived at Uganda last Friday and held meetings with President Yoweri Museveni and Kutesa before he concluded the visit on Monday.
Kutesa downplayed the notion that this initiative could stand in the way of peace negotiations, which aimed to end the two- decade insurgency of the LRA in northern Uganda, one of Africa’s longest conflicts.
The LRA insurgency has left tens of thousands of people dead and over 1.4 million people homeless, labeled as one of the “most neglected humanitarian crisis” by UN official.
(Xinhua)