South Sudan parliament condemns rebel LRA atrocities

By James Gatdet Dak

July 1, 2008 (JUBA) — The Southern Sudan Legislative Assembly (SSLA) has passed a resolution condemning the atrocities committed by the Uganda rebel group, the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) in Greater Equatoria region.

In its two-day deliberations chaired by the Speaker of the House, Honourable James Wani Igga, the Assembly also passed another resolution endorsing a report presented by the Vice President of the Government of Southern Sudan and Chief Mediator of the Uganda peace talks, Dr. Riek Machar Teny, on the status of the Uganda peace process.

The Southern Sudan lawmakers expressed their support to the peaceful settlement of the LRA’s war and urged the Government of Southern Sudan through the Chief Mediator to continue mediating the process and persuading the LRA leadership to sign the Final Peace Agreement (FPA).

The motion that led to the condemnation of the LRA was moved by Honourable Ayoub Philip Gaza, representative of Ezo constituency from the Union of Sudan African Party (USAP) in Western Equatoria state.

“The Assembly condemns in the strongest term the massacre of our gallant SPLA soldiers and the civilian victims including the abductions of children and the raping of women in Greater Equatoria region,” the resolution reads.

The Assembly has also mandated its Security Committee to investigate the atrocities committed by the LRA.

In his presentation to the Assembly, Dr. Machar told the lawmakers that the Government of Southern Sudan prefers peaceful settlement to the LRA war.

“We, in the Government of Southern Sudan, should not entangle ourselves in a proxy war fighting with a foreign rebel movement which may last long,” Machar advised the Honourable members of the Southern Sudan parliament.

He argued that the Juba peace talks between the Uganda government and the LRA have improved security in Greater Equatoria region compared to the time before the peace talks during which, he lamented, Southern Sudanese lost nearly 6,000 people in the hands of the LRA.

The Vice President explained that humanitarian situation also improved with internally displaced persons (IDPs) returning to their once LRA-affected areas in both Northern Uganda and Greater Equatoria during the last two years of the peace talks in Juba.

He said the LRA continues to get support from those who want to interrupt the implementation of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) and advised that these rebels should be handled with care.

He cautioned that a war with the LRA may get complicated and involve others, adding that his government had received information, which he did not want to reveal in the Assembly.

Dr. Machar further explained that the danger of the LRA is that it doesn’t target military installations, but civilians, making it difficult to pin them down because they spread out in smaller groups or melt into communities.

He said it was wise to assemble them in one area of Ri-kwangba near the Congolese border to minimize their movement and activities under the surveillance of the SPLA.

Machar told the lawmakers that Ri-kwangba should remain the assembly area for the LRA and to be surrounded by a buffer zone guided by the SPLA forces.

He warned that any armed groups, be it LRA or other bandits, find to be loitering around will be apprehended by the SPLA, adding that the SPLA forces will continue to deploy to protect the citizens in the LRA affected areas.

Machar also told the Assembly that a report submitted to his office after investigations of the recent attacks in Pageri in Eastern Equatoria state instead blame the Uganda People’s Defense Forces (UPDF) for masquerading as LRA and killing civilians in that particular area.

After listening and deliberating on the Vice President’s presentation, the Assembly passed a resolution supporting and encouraging the Government of Southern Sudan to go a head with its contacts with Joseph Kony to persuade him to return to the negotiating table and sign the Final Peace Agreement.

The Southern Sudan parliament also expressed concern over the International Criminal Court (ICC) arrest warrants on the LRA leadership as a source of fear to Joseph Kony and voiced their support to the UN Security Council in its recent consideration to approach the ICC to defer the indictments and the arrest warrants.

Earlier, the European Union expressed their support to the continuation of the Uganda peace process in Juba as the best option to end the war in Northern Uganda. Machar also told the parliament that the American government has recently reacted to the situation, preferring a peaceful option to the LRA’s war.

GOSS NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR FINANCIAL SUPPORT

Dr. Machar explained to the Assembly that the Government of Southern Sudan has no longer been responsible for financing the Uganda peace talks since the year 2006, saying it is the international community that supports the peace process financially through the UN system.

He said GOSS does not either receive any money directly from the UN system for the peace process, which he explained, have been channeled through UN OCHA that clears any bills through a contracted international firm.

Machar also commends the role played by the UN Secretary General’s Special Envoy for the LRA-affected areas and former President of Mozambique, Joachim Chissano, during the peace process until now.

The LRA war in Northern Uganda has displaced nearly two million people from their homes and killed tens of thousands more.

The Juba peace talks were seen as the best chance to end the 22-years of this brutal and longest running armed conflicts in the African continent.

(ST)