April 13,
2008: Uganda and the Lords Resistance Army were supposed to sign a final peace
agreement on April 5. Wait and see is the best advice when the LRA talks peace.
April 5 came and went but on April 7 negotiators reported that LRA commander
Joseph Kony had agreed to sign the new "comprehensive" peace deal (Final Peace
Agreement is the official name) on April 10. Some of the diplomatic rewards for
completing the peace agreement turned up in the press. For example, the LRA
stated that although it is on the US's "terrorist organization list", the US had approved visas for several LRA
representatives to come to New York for a UN meeting. Then April 10 came and went. Kony did not
sign the peace agreement. Kony demanded "clarification" of the judicial
proceedings he and his subordinate commanders will face. Kony and several other
LRA leaders face international criminal warrants. Kony then fired several
members of the LRA's negotiating team. On April 11 the Uganda government
"suspended indefinitely" completing the peace agreement with the LRA. The
Ugandan government also stated that unless the South Sudanese mediation team
informed it that the LRA was ready to sign the peace treaty it would allow the
ceasefire agreement to expire on April 15. The Government of South Sudan's Vice
President, Riek Machar, heads the mediation team. Letting the ceasefire
agreement expire is a big deal – it is a public statement that says the war has begun again.. The Cessation
of Hostilities Agreement (ceasefire deal) has provided the political framework
for the tentative peace that holds in northern Uganda.
April 11,
2008: The Ugandan government reported that 22 Karamojong warriors were
convicted of illegal weapons possession. The men were arrested last month. For
several years the government has tried several disarmament programs, including
buying automatic weapons from the Karamojong. Now the police have started
arresting the heavily-armed tribesmen.
