Uganda: Northern hope

Although a Friday deadline for a final peace deal with the Lord's Resistance Army looms, Kampala will probably extend its truce with the guerrillas.

Since mid-2006, the government and rebels have been taking part in peace talks hosted by the fledgling government of Southern Sudan in Juba, its capital.  Although the process has been punctuated by episodes of bellicose rhetoric from both rebels and government, the two sides have signed three broad agreements covering a cessation of hostilities, a pledge for a comprehensive solution in the northern regions affected by the civil war, and a framework for dealing with accountability and reconciliation.  Since the talks began, security has dramatically improved in northern Uganda, and thousands of displaced people have begun to return home.

On February 18, the LRA and the government signed a deal that established domestic courts and traditional institutions as the mechanism for dealing with war crimes.  This is crucial, because a key LRA demand is that warrants issued by the International Criminal Court in the Hague for the arrest of its leader Joseph Kony and his key deputies be withdrawn, and that justice be carried out within Uganda.  Although the ICC still appears set on pursuing the warrants -- and pressing Kampala, which instigated the Court’s investigations, to cooperate -- the recent agreement strengthens the case that Uganda can pursue justice domestically.

Serious challenges remain to reaching a comprehensive peace deal, not least the LRA's cohesion, following Kony's assassination of his key deputy, Vincent Otti, late last year.  However, the peace process is moving slowly forward.