27 July 2002
Rebels of the Lord's Resistance Army of Joseph Kony have massacred peasants in a village in rural Kitgum.
The stories of the killing are a tale of the macabre - little children's heads being crushed, the elderly hacked with machetes and knives. These weapons, as opposed to automatic ones, were used apparently to mask the attack, which otherwise could have been detected instantly had there been any gunfire.
In the last few weeks, there has been agitation, by civic and political leaders, for talks between the government and the rebels. The president gave religious leaders the green light, offering three centres in southern Sudan for the rebels to gather; initial contacts have been made between the bishops and the Acholi parliamentary group, and the rebels. Results are yet to be known, though from the foregoing it looks unlikely that they would have any chance.
In many conflicts, however morally reprehensible or terrorist-inspired, for talks to succeed, there has to be a scaling down of violence. This has been the experience in Northern Ireland where the IRA finally laid down its arms. It will have also have to happen in the Middle East where Palestinian suicide bombers and extreme Israeli army violence have continually scuttled peace moves.
But violence of this week's scale shows the well-meaning local civic leaders that the LRA is not interested. The leaders would have to work harder if their suggestion of talks is to bear fruit.
We still have amnesty conditions in place for surrendering rebels, though with every atrocity they commit, they may make the peace process harder to achieve.
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