South Sudan awaits arrival of Ugandan rebels
Sept 9, 2006 (OWINY-KI-BUL, Sudan) — As dusk falls in this jungle clearing in the wild borderlands of Southern Sudan near the Ugandan border, villagers stare nervously into a twisted mass of trees.
Somewhere out there, hidden in the surrounding thick bush, are Lord’s Resistance Army rebels who have terrorised this region since being driven out of northern Uganda where they have waged a brutal, nearly 20-year insurgency.
Victims of a war not their own, Southern Sudanese here have endured raids, pillaging and the abductions of children at the hands of rebels who are now headed here under the terms of a landmark truce with the Ugandan government.
“We suffered so much from them,” said Charles Anone, a resident of the tiny village of Owiny-Ki-Bul. “They attacked us, took children and stole crops. We have seen none yet, but they are coming and we are scared.”
Owiny-Ki-Bul, about 20km from the Ugandan border, has been chosen as the site for one of two camps that will house LRA fighters for the duration of peace talks being mediated by South Sudan’s government.
As such, it will host an as-yet undetermined number of rebels who are accused of committing horrendous atrocities against civilians on both sides of the border, most of whom are members of the same Acholi ethnic group.
In northern Uganda, tens of thousands have been killed and nearly two million displaced since the LRA took leadership of an Acholi rebellion in 1988, but the rebels’ reputation instills fear here as well.
“They killed a lot of people in this region and forced survivors to cook and eat the flesh of the dead relatives,” said Major-General Wilson Deng, chairperson of a team set up to monitor the LRA.
“It was terrible, but people can fight and later they sit down and negotiate,” he said on a recent visit to Owini-Ki-Bul intended to calm residents terrified their tormentors would soon be in their midst.
“Forgiveness must come to move forward,” said Deng, whose tale of cannibalism is confirmed by Allan Lochul, the deputy governor of the Southern Sudan’s Eastern Equatoria region, but is a topic avoided by villagers.
Still, Lochul is optimistic that locals will overcome their fears and accept the LRA fighters in the hopes of an eventual peace deal that will see them return to Uganda.
“They speak the same language, and they are wanting peace so very much,” he said. “Many of the people from here have fled for safety, and they are wanting to come back.”
Owini-Ki-Bul was just one stop on a gruelling four-day tour this week of this remote area, led by Riek Machar, the Vice-President of South Sudan and chief mediator in the Uganda-LRA peace talks.
His aim was to prepare villagers for the impending arrival of the LRA, who have another two weeks to get to the two camps.
“Since the LRA are assembling here, it is important to go to the communities to tell them what is happening,” said Machar.
“The people here have suffered so much and been affected by the war, they have been killed and many have been abducted.”
In some places, Machar’s heavily armed and armoured convoy was met by dancing villagers and singing women, beating drums and waving white flags while chanting “war is over” and it is “time to rebuild”.
But in a region still recovering from the ravages of its own conflict — Sudan’s 21-year north-south civil war that ended just last year — communities here are scared.
Machar and his team have crossed a wasteland of burnt-out tanks, shattered buildings and mine fields over rough tracks so overgrown that vegetation often rises higher than machine gunners who stand in the beds of their pick-up trucks.
A wave of panic ran through Pogee — the last village in southern Sudan before the Ugandan border — when residents were told the LRA would retain their weapons until a final peace agreement was signed.
In another village, one mother pitifully asked how she could find the children who had been stolen.
Others said they were hungry because the LRA had looted their food. But Machar is determined to succeed, repeating the same message at each villages he visits, assuring the locals of their safety.
“Do not be frightened, food will be provided so the LRA will not need to steal yours, and soldiers will provide security,” he told a circle of 100 people in the shade of a large tree beside a group of mud huts at Owiny-Ki-Bul.
“They will be here until a final peace agreement is signed, and then they will go back to Uganda.”
Nine ten-tonne trucks carrying food for the rebels have already made their way to Owiny-Ki-Bul and seven more are en route to the second camp at Ri-Kwabanga to the west, according to Southern Sudanese officials.
It is still unclear exactly how many LRA will actually occupy these two sites as estimates of their strength vary widely from 500 to 5 000, but Machar expects as many as 6 000 fighters and family members to turn up here.
“People will be nervous when they come,” said Edward Mutesa in the village of Pajok. “But they will welcome them if it will help bring peace.”
However, until they actually emerge, the villagers of Southern Sudan continue to watch and wait.
(ST/AFP)