Uganda: Reluctant rebels

Southern Sudan’s vice-president, Riek Machar, will have his work cut out for him in persuading Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) leader Joseph Kony to come out of the bush and sign a final peace agreement (FPA) with the government of Uganda, when he meets the elusive rebel on Saturday.

The two sides had been set to sign on April 10, but the process collapsed at the last minute, and the LRA negotiation team fell into disarray.  Kony fired his chief negotiator, and clashes broke out between different LRA factions, in which a key commander, Okot Odhiambo, was reported killed.  LRA troops have been reported moving from their hideouts in the Democratic Republic of Congo into the Central African Republic (CAR), and the rebels have been blamed for a string of attacks and abductions in Southern Sudan and the CAR.

Machar, the chief mediator in the peace talks, will try to address Kony’s remaining concerns about the FPA, which boil down to two key issues:

• ICC indictments: At President Yoweri Museveni’s request, the International Criminal Court launched an investigation into the LRA and in 2005 issued arrest warrants for Kony and his top commanders (of whom Odhiambo was one).  Kony wants these warrants suspended before he will come out of the bush.  The FPA includes provisions establishing domestic judicial procedures to address human rights abuses and war crimes, and the government has said it will ask for the warrants to be suspended, once the FPA is signed.
• Personal security: Kony appears also to be concerned about guarantees for his personal security, physical and financial, once he returns to Uganda.  The modalities for his return have not been entirely resolved under the agreement.

The collapse of the talks in April underscored the poor communication between Kony in the bush and his negotiators in Juba that has plagued the peace process since it began in July 2006.  Nevertheless, with the framework for a final peace in place, the two sides are edging ever closer to a deal -- although significant challenges remain to its implementation.