Situation Report: Northern Uganda - Emerging Threats to Peace Talks, Peter J Quaranto

Ongoing peace negotiations between the Government of Uganda and rebel Lord`s Resistance Army (LRA)f have defied a two-decade history of failed peace initiatives. The talks, mediated by the Government of South Sudan and held in their capital Juba, have brought relative calm to northern Uganda for the first time in years. Improved security due to the cessation of hostilities has expanded freedom of movement. This has allowed an estimated 500 000 displaced persons to return home. In Juba, the parties have reached agreements on three of five agenda items, achieving what the chief mediator calls `a point of no return` (The New Vision, June 2007).

In June, however, the negotiations went on hiatus for both sides to conduct `consultations` with civil society on the third agenda item: accountability and reconciliation. The parties have already agreed to establish a viable national alternative to International Criminal Court indictments for top LRA leaders, but the difficulty lies in the detail. How will the Ugandan government assure the rebels of its commitment to shield them from ICC arrest warrants? Equally how can the rebels assure the Ugandan government that LRA leader Joseph Kony and his commanders will submit to a sincere national legal process? Nevertheless, both sides have expressed real willingness to work towards an acceptable compromise.