Ugandan government and the rebels of the Lord's Resistance Army
have signed an agreement to cease hostilities, which was seen as a
major breakthrough in the ongoing peace talks kicked off on July 14
in Juba, southern Sudan.
After long hours of hard bargaining that stretched from
mid-morning on Friday into the early hours of Saturday, the two
sides reached a deal which should be renewed bi-weekly upon review
of the peace talks and compliance by both parties.
"We hope that now the two principals will take action so that
the guns can go silent," said the chief mediator, southern Sudanese
Vice-President Riek Machar, quoted by Sunday Monitor as
saying, referring to Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni and the LRA
commander Joseph Kony.
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The signing that took place on Saturday afternoon at Juba Raha
Hotel is a major breakthrough in talks aimed at finding peace in
northern Uganda, an agriculturally rich region that has been
blighted by a brutal war for 20 years.
"We have agreed on the issues and put our signatures on the
document," said Paddy Ankunda, the spokesman of the government
delegation in Juba. "We are happy, and now we will continue working
for a comprehensive peace agreement."
Ugandan Internal Affairs Minister Ruhakana Rugunda, the leader
of the government team, signed for Kampala while Martin Ojul, the
LRA delegation chief, signed for the rebels.
"The parties agree to cease all hostile military action aimed at
each other and any other action that may undermine the peace
talks," the deal, which will take effect at 6 AM on Tuesday, August
29, says in part.
Cessation of hostilities means that both parties keep their
positions and arms but stop fighting and hostile propaganda. On the
other hand, ceasefire means that both parties have stopped fighting
and are on the verge of demobilization.
Cessation is intended to give a conducive environment for the
peace talks process as opposed to the ceasefire, which is usually
part of a comprehensive peace agreement.
The deal requires all LRA forces in Uganda and Sudan to assemble
at Owiny-ki-Bul in Eastern Equatoria State in southern Sudan and
those in the Democratic Republic of Congo at Ri-Kwangba in Western
Equatoria State in southern Sudan.
The LRA are required to reach the two points within three weeks
as of the agreement taking effect.
The cult-like LRA under the leadership of Kony is responsible
for the killing, raping and abduction of civilians in their
insurgency in northern Uganda, which has left tens of thousands of
people dead and over 1.4 million homeless.
Museveni has promised a total amnesty to the LRA leadership
indicted by the UN's International Criminal Court (ICC) in The
Hague last year for war crimes, if the two warring parties finally
sign a peace deal before September 12.
The ongoing peace talks in Juba, brokered by southern Sudan
authority, are seen as another historic chance to end the LRA
insurgency, one of Africa's longest conflicts after a dozen of such
attempts failed in the last few years.
(Xinhua News Agency August 28, 2006)
