AFRICA/UGANDA - “The ceasefire agreement is a great outcome that opens the path to lasting peace,” Archbishop of Gulu tells Fides

Kampala (Agenzia Fides) - “This is a great outcome and we are confident that soon there will be an all-inclusive peace agreement signed,” Archbishop John Baptist Odama of Gulu, in Uganda’s north, told Agenzia Fides in a commentary on the signing of a definitive ceasefire agreement between the Ugandan government and the Lord’s Resistance Army, the rebel movement that for over 20 years has left a bloody trail through the northern part of the country.
The new settlement was signed February 23, in Juba, the capital of southern Sudan and follows the recent accord on justice, requiring that the crimes committed by the LRA will be judged in a Ugandan court and not in the International Criminal Court, that had issued a warrant for the leaders of the guerilla army. The agreement on justice had left some with mixed feelings in the country (see Fides 21/2/2008), however, Archbishop Odama says that, “the Ugandan laws will be revised in conformation with the standards of the International Criminal Court. That way, whoever is rendered responsible for the most serious crimes, will be judged by a State court that will adhere to the international legislation on criminal material in crimes against humanity, and those who are found guilty of lesser crimes will be sentenced under the traditional judicial system of the Acholi community.” The Acholi are the main ethnic group in northern Uganda, to whom both the victims and members of the LRA belong. The traditional judicial system implemented by the Acholi is called “Mato Oput” and consists in obliging the guilty to make public apologies to the injured party (community) and to make payment of reparation to the victims (see Fides 6/7/2007).
The ceasefire agreement calls for: the restriction of the LRA in the area of Rikwangba, to the border with the Democratic Republic of Congo and southern Sudan; the creation of a 10km (6.2 mile) deep buffer-zone around the LRA assembly area, guarded by southern Sudanese troops from the SPLA (Sudan’s People Liberation Army); the disarming of LRA troops by neutral forces; and the forming of a Ceasefire Monitoring Team, composed of mediators, and other African representatives.
The war in northern Uganda, that broke out in 1986, has left over 100,000 victims and has forced almost 2 million into refugee camps of northern Uganda. In efforts to put an end to the bloody conflict, in July 2006, negotiations began, lead by a mediation team directed by South Sudan’s Vice-President, Riek Machar, with members of the Community of Saint Egidio, representatives of Tanzania, South Africa, and Tanzania, as well as a special UN envoy and the former president of Mozambique, J. Chissano. (L.M.) (Agenzia Fides 25/2/2008; righe 35, parole 439)