LRA victims in Greater Equatoria deserves compensation

By Bill Dhieu Manyang

March 20, 2011 — After the long and devastated civil wars in Sudan which lasted for 39 years (1955-1972 and 1983-2005) People of Southern Sudan thought they would now settle down and enjoyed the lasting peace. This could not be realized particularly Greater Equatoria region when the government of southern Sudan imported a foreign war from Northern Uganda led by Joseph Konyi, the leader of Lord Resistant Army(LRA) .Although the LRA was active in the South early 1990s cooperating with the various militia groups that were recruited by Khartoum, yet the scale of atrocities committed were minimal compared with the current level that started in 2006 todate when the government of Southern Sudan grant them official operation.

I called it official because the fact that LRA was asked to assembly inside South Sudan as demanded by thier leaders was a signal that the government of Southern Sudan intending to use another front of denying the civil population chance to enjoy peace. Part of GoSS failure is still going on in Jongeli and Upper Nile states and could have also happened in Wetsren Equatoria between incumbant Governor His Excellency Col. Bakosoro Vs Nunu Kumba and Northen Bhar el Ghazel between Gen. Malong Vs Lt. Gen. Aturjong. Thanks to they peace loving communities of Western Equatoria and Northern Bhar el Ghazel states.

On 8 June 2006, a delegation from the LRA arrived in Juba, the capital city of Southern Sudan to prepare for talks with the Ugandan government that was to be mediated by the Government of Southern Sudan. This was agreed after Konyi has realized that there was a need to negotiate peace with the government as a result of ICC indictment. Hearing this announcement from both LRA leaders and Ugandan government , the government of Southern Sudan who did not even spent one year from establishment ran in quickly to offer the venue and installed its Vice President Dr. Riak Machar as cheift negotiator. The rationality of deciding Juba as a venue is still unknown even the most inquisitive websites like wiki-leak is yet to reveal it content but poor analyst from government of Southern Sudan views the LRA peace talks as a means of ridding itself of a foreign army that is complicating their vulnerable relationship with Bashir government in Khartoum.

On July 14,2006 talks began in Juba-Rah hotel Juba between delegations from the LRA Uganda, with Dr. Riak as Chief mediator .LRA delegation was led by Martin Ojul while Dr. Ruhakana Rugunda then internal Affairs minister who is now an ambassador to UN led the government team. To see reality of the Uganda ill motive towards talk, Dr. Rugunda stated that his priority was to obtain a quick ceasefire, In response to his intention, Martin Ojul said that LRA’s acceptance of the peace talk should not be interpreted that LRA can no longer fight, but stressed that a negotiated settlement is the best way to end the conflict. The talk never happened for many days with each team from both sides continue to receiving Peace talks’DSA while some element from LRA intelligent units surveyed Juba to establish the weak and young government for possible attack which they subsequently did to civilian population in and around major towns of greater Equatoria.

On 29th July, Vincent Otti arrived to the venue and followed by Konyi 14-year old son as a signed of his commitement to the peaceful solution of the conflict. The talks discussed a number of issue and on 4th Augustus, Vincent Otti declared a Ceasefire but to make matter worse, Dr. Rugunda said that he need to see the effect of the Ceasefire on ground in which UPDF did not take long before lunching a surprise attack on 12th Augustus against LRA, killing dozen of fighters including an ICC indictee Raska Lukwiya in that battle. President Museveni set ou 12th September,2006 as dateline to conclude 20 year war’s peace deal. With all these dishonesty on the side of Uganda’s government,Dr. Machar the 2nd top man in GoSS leadership who was overseeing the talks saw nothing wrong and continue pressing the LRA delegation to go a head with talk. The talk continue and on 26th August, the negotiators signed a truce. Included in the terms of the agreement was that LRA were required to leave Uganda and gather in two assembly areas, where Uganda government promises they would not attack and they vulnerable government of Southern Sudan guaranteed their safety. No safety of civilian population of greater Equatoria was covered by the truce, hence making them the next target by LRA.

They two suggested areas were Ri-Kwangba in Western Equatoria and Owiny Ki-Bul in eastern Equatoria states. Deadline which was set by president Museveni did passed but according to the mediator statement Dr. Riak Machar, several hundreds LRA fighters including Vincent Otti who declared the Ceasefire were either in Ri-Kwangba or Owiny Ki-Bul as required by the truce. The government of Uganda continue to violet the truce by moving its forces closer near the LRA assembly points with subsequent clashes but the government of Southern Sudan chief negotiator turned a blind eyes or did not know what would happened to its citizens.

Having done all these according to the demand but no appreciation from the government side, the LRA threaten to work out of the talk because of reaped attack coupled with mistrust and humiliated insult to them by president Museveni himself during his visit to the peace venue in Juba. Again this time, Government of Southern Sudan did not know the implication LRA Peace talk failure. Many activities including the census were not properly done in Greater Equatoria.

Given the active role played by the government of Southern Sudan in initiating the peace talk between LRA and the Government of Uganda, however, it is a sole responsibility of any state to protect its citizens from foreign aggression and Southern Sudan as a state has totally failed to do so, yet they were the one who import the war from Northern Uganda, the victims of LRA mainly from Greater Equatoria deserves compensation.

Bill Dhieu Manyang, BSc in Banking and Development Finance at Mountains of the Moon University, Uganda. He can be reached at [email protected]