 A cover up for the Uganda Government's lack of interest in the Juba peace talks.
In January 1986, the NRA Bandits took over power from the okello regime in a dishonoured Nairobi Peace Agreement. The culprits who emerged the winners and therefore Uganda's new rulers thus sent a dangerous precedent in the history of peace and conflict resolution in this Uganda. It was the mistrust of the new rulers and the wave of untold suffering unleashed on the people of northern Uganda that the LRA rebellion found roots. Facts have revealed that in June 1986 former UPDA forces were recalled , imprisoned, tortured and some killed under the Command of David Tinyefunza then Sub-Commander to Reuben Ikondere.
The Lords Resistance Army started as a spiritual movement and surprisingly its first targets were rebels of the UPDA who were fighting the Museveni regime. On the signing of the NRA-UPDA peace treaty UPDA commander Col. Angello Okello called upon the NRA to consider delaying the peace process so as to involve the KONY group which the excited NRA put off as misplaced propaganda. This has guided subsequent consideration of peace negotiations with the LRA. Meanwhile the Museveni regime is determined to crush Kony militarily but the effects of which have been related to Genocide by Olara Otunnu. The failure of peace talks and prefference for military action has struck a dangerous position for the government of Uganda which seeks to ensure justice at the cost of peace and reconciliation.
Peace Jokes
Anyone with a little understanding of the history of Uganda must be familiar with the Nairobi Peace Jokes in refference to NRA's dishonouring of the peace agreement -Â thereby setting a dangerous precedent for peace negotiations with its leadership. While Knoy must have killed thousands of Ugandans, the fear of betrayal by the NRA, vanguards of the 1986 peace jokes invokes fear among LRA ranks. It is the deep mistrust and likelihood of the same that keeps Kony away whenever talks are suggested. Nevertheless his commitment however marginal in the Juba process must be commended for a man who has fought the current regime for the past 20 or so years. That he accepted to take part in the peace process however indirect it may have been suggests a desire for peace but Kony like many Ugandans with little trust in the current regime has memeories of cunning manipulation of treaty rules especially when the juba talks are not ground levelled. The suspicion is strengthened by the widely held view that the deposed Okello regime was a northern regime and therefore Kony has an ethnic attachment to the losers of the NAIROBI PEACE DEAL.
The failure of peace talks and the resumption of war against the LRA attest to a widely held opinion within government circles that manipulation of the peace process can finally trap Kony confirms a belief that Ndugu was not in Garamba for peace talks but on a military intelligence mission for two years whose results were the bombardment of camp Swahilli and other areas. Suggestedly Mr. Museveni has on one occassion disowned the Uganda government peace delegation to Juba as if to reinforce acceptance of the idea that he seeks not peace but war. If the recent attack on LRA areas was pre-planned for the last two years as Major Ankunda briefed Ugandans then the commitment to peace was shallow for as long as there was a planned strategy to fail peace talks. It is still impossible to explain or even understand how it would have helped by forcing a man that has fought the current regime for the last 20 years to sign an agreement against his will.
Hollywood attack?
The character and publicity accorded to the resumption of war especially in government media left may perplexed. To a critical observer it could not pass of as another attempt to kill kony. It represented a desperate gimmick to hoodwink the nation that finally by Kony's  refusal to sign the peace treaty (on whose terms he had not accepted) was casting the image of a bandit whose only remedy was military action. The choice of commanding officers itself was curiously alarming. Why of all was the President's son despite not being the commanding officer gaining publicity pulling off stunts and appearing before the press. It seems to have intended to project Major Muhoozi as a messiah of peace, as a fierce soildier on a mission to finish off his father's greatest enemy. Flowing commentaries on the possibility of capturing Kony still dominate the Ugandan press even when his military might is not ascertained. To the present writer it could pass off as yet another American-commando strike in a John Rambo movie.
As the nation waits for Kony's head, the opportunity cost of returnimg to war is heavy especially so when peace had relatively returned to the region and reconstruction had set off. Given the fact that peace and cessation of hostilities were not a choice on the government of Uganda but a forced option, there's still enormous need for talks with a man who has proven indomitable for the last 20 years. To force Kony to sign would be to harm possiblities of future talks. It should be noted that a commitment to peace has no time frame if we consider the untold suffering endured by the people of Northern Uganda under the NRM regime.
Accountablity
The Holywood attack by main actor Muhoozi directed by Gen. Museveni (his DAD) might serve a purpose but only for a while. The attack has elicited a wave of speculation about its supposed effects. Ever since 1986 ultimatums have been passed to finish off the insurgency and many are unsure of the supposed effect without capturing Kony. The destruction of forest canopy in a foreign country and capturing of Kony's Guitar and wig should trascend trivia and propaganda. The average Acholi wants peace not Kony's Kaunda suit or shoes. From Kaunda suits to Guitars and wigs the people of Uganda have endured propaganda for long. Next someone will capture Kony's toothbrush and these will be assembled before the press to buy time.
Implications Regional Cooperation
The attack against Kony was a major step towards peace in the region, one might argue but what about Nkunda. Is their an agreed startegy to root out Nkunda from the Congo the same way Gen Kony is being thrown out of Garamba. If the attack was jointly done by the regional forces how about considering the same against Nkunda who has commited a genocide in the Congo? If the cooperation of the joint states was not used as a propaganda tool by the Uganda government then a peace option in the DRC should not be considered since the idea of jointly combating insurgency is gaining prominence. It is also likely that the Sudan regime would like to use Kony to destabilise the South so as to gain majority in the upcoming refferendum in Sudan which will decide the fate of the SPLA and Gen Bashir. While still in the good books of Gen. Bashir( also an ICC indictee) the military option to finish off Kony is still minimal however much the Government press touts it.
Moses Kalanzi
Kampala
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Looking for Mr Right (7)
