Uganda sees ‘dawn of hope’ in Sudanese peace deal

KAMPALA, Jan 9 (AFP) – Ugandan officials expressed hope Sunday that the pact ending neighboring Sudan’s long-running north-south conflict would help resolve the lengthy war that has devastated the north of their country.

Uganda president Yoweri Museveni and Chairman of the IGAD Summit of Heads of States (L) and Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLA) leader John Garang (R) share a joke during the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement between the SPLA and the Sudan Government in Kenya’s capital Nairobi, Januray 9, 2005. (Reuters).

They said they were optimistic that Sunday’s deal, inked in Kenya by Khartoum and the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A), would stem fighting between Ugandan troops and the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA).

“The deal is surely a dawn of hope for us,” said Norman Ojwee, council chairman of Kitgum district that borders Sudan. “We need to celebrate because this is an opportunity toward peace in northern Uganda.”

Northern Uganda has been the scene of a bloody 18-year war between government forces and LRA rebels that has killed hundreds of thousands of people and displaced more than 1.6 million others.

The notoriously brutal LRA operates from bases in southern Sudan and has received help in the form of arms and ammunition from Khartoum in retaliation for support Kampala has given to the SPLA.

A Ugandan army spokesman said the deal would introduce accountability to the situation in southern Sudan and a reliable interlocutor for Kampala when it wished to point out LRA activity.

“We shall have somebody to cooperate with immediately, not like in the past when Khartoum used to say that they are not in total control of the region and the SPLA was telling us that it was not a government,” Major Shaban Bantariza said.

Ojwee, the Kitgum district council chairman, echoed that analysis.

“There will be effective control in (southern Sudan) which will stop the mutual suspicion between Kampala and Khartoum that results in support of each other’s rebel groups,” he said.

In nearby Gulu district, council chief Walter Ochola told AFP by phone that the signing of the Sudan peace accord was “a great moment we have been waiting for.”

“If the agreement is adhered to by both parties, then it will have a tremendous impact on peace in northern Uganda,” Ochola said.

Gulu and Kitgum are two of the areas most affected by the 16-year-old conflict between the LRA and the Ugandan government.

The Anglican Bishop of Gulu diocese, Onono Onweng, said the deal was “a God-given agreement. The Sudanese will not tolerate any nonsense on their territory this time and this means peace here,” he said.

The LRA, which rose up against the government in 1988 to establish a regime based on the Biblical Ten Commandments, is notorious for its brutality against the civilian population, in particular the practice of abducting children: boys to serve as recruits and girls as sexual slaves to rebel commanders.