African Church Information Service
Joyce Mulama
19 August 2002
Gulu — Ugandan rebel movement - the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) has sent signals to Uganda government suggesting peace talks but the government is sceptic.
Bowing to pressures from church leaders, the rival parties are for the first time in two decades, showing signs of possible change of gears from war to talks.
LRA's leader Joseph Kony was last week reported to have expressed the wish for peace talks which Ugandan government initially dismissed as a bluff.
A government spokesman commented "he (Kony) is asking for talks to buy time," contending that recent atrocities committed by Kony could not have been done by the same man seeking peace. Kony, he claimed was aware his time was running out.
He said the government however could consider talks if Kony demonstrated 'positive steps' towards peace and that such talks should be mediated by church leaders.
An LRA abductee released recently, Paul Kalama, said conversations within the LRA camp seemed to indicate that they could consider peace talks. "We were conversing and they say that there should be peace talks and not peace jokes, said Kalama in a telephone conversation with BBC."
Kalama, who is an aid worker with the International Rescue Committee IRC was speaking from Lira after being set free by LRA on August 10 together with his four colleagues. He said his experience with the LRA made him realise that peace talks would indeed be the way out. "I personally see peace talks as a way out," he said, adding that if mandated, he would be willing to participate as a member of a go-between group.
Exposing the gravity of the conflict in northern Uganda, Kalama pointed out that the LRA were well-equipped, indicating that they have a potential of causing serious damage. "The LRA are well equipped with small arms - guns and rapid guns, as well as missiles, anti-aircraft and anti-tankers," he underscored, adding that villagers in northern Uganda were living in constant fear. "People run away when they see them," he elaborated.
Kalama and his colleagues were abducted about two weeks ago during a raid to a UN camp by the LRA, in what the rebel group say were attempts to get back at their enemies, the Uganda Peoples' Defence Forces (UPDF).
According to Kalama, the LRA conducted the raids that led to their abduction in revenge to killings of some of their soldiers by Ugandan government forces and Sudan's People's Liberation Army (SPLA).
The abductees narrated how 500 LRA soldiers had been made to walk around with them in northern Uganda and how they thought their lives had come to an end. "We were [at first] worried for our lives. We thought we would die. We had no sense of life," said Kalama, who however was quick to point out that they were treated relatively well. "We were just moving freely with them. They treated us relatively well. They were feeding us twice a day," he explained.
But the UN are not taking any chances. Fresh reports say that the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) are relocating more than 20,000 Sudanese refugees and displaced Ugandans from their previous camp in Masindi to safer grounds. This followed last weeks attack's by LRA on a UN camp in Northern Uganda.
In another development, a United Nations staff member who was abducted in Somalia earlier in the month has been released (August 10) without preconditions. Mr. Abdulkadir Mohammed Abikar, officer in charge of the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation's (FAO) Food Assessment Unit (FSAU) office in Mogadishu was abducted while on his way to the office on August 5.
The UN has strongly condemned the continued kidnappings of humanitarian aid workers in Somalia, saying it is jeopardising assistance programmes, and severely curtailing UN's ability to assist about 150,000 internally displaced persons and other vulnerable groups in Mogadishu.
UN Resident and Humanitarian coordinator for Somalia, Mr Maxwell Gaylard, said in a press release that he was worried about the deterioration of humanitarian situation in many parts of the country due to violence and insecurity, in particular in Baidoa, in the northeast (Puntland) and Mogadishu.
"I am gravely concerned by the recent outbreaks of fighting which continue to disrupt delivery of humanitarian assistance to the Somalis already facing acute poverty, malnutrition and the lack of access to even the most basic social services. The fighting is also thwarting UN, NGO and civil society efforts to protect vulnerable communities caught in areas of conflict," said Gaylard.
Renewed conflicts in these areas have in recent weeks claimed dozens of lives and caused more casualties. Field reports indicate that approximately 20 civilians, mainly women and children, and an equal number of militia members from both sides were killed during three days of intense factional fighting in Baidoa from 29 July to 1 August, ending a two-year peace in the area.
The reports further say that two days later, on August 3, fierce clashes broke out in the northeast leaving more than 100 militia men from both sides dead. The battles have effectively cut off humanitarian access to most Somalis in the north-eastern tip of the country.
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