Show Its It's Time to End This African Horror Story fl t t f r Africa A T l l John Prendergast Special to The Washington Post Sitting in the main town in war- war riddled northern Uganda you get not in the middle are the feeling you of a conventional peace process not local women have just when two been abducted by the rebel Lords Lord's ohad Resistance Army LRA and had their hands chopped off m in the name retribution You know of something divine evil lurks just out of sight thousands of children when you see into town every evening streaming from abduction by bythe bythe seeking refuge the LRA history that And yet et you are sure made when the somehow being is turns s the process in lead mediator Ugandan be a dynamic out to her comfortable comfortable comfortable com com- is shunning who woman World Bank office at the headquarters and risking her life to bring peace to the suffering long-suffering people of northern Uganda Her name is Betty and she will probably have to play a major role in the coming month if there is isto isto isto of ending the mad mad- to be any hope ness This country may have its best chance for peace in 18 years a period period period peri peri- od marked by brutal warfare that has displaced 16 million people and sparked the first investigation into crimes against humanity by the International Criminal Court But the peace process is in trouble and needs a risk high-risk reward high-reward gamble to move it forward The actions of the LRA's leader Joseph Kony will be crucial My discussions with LRA commanders paint a portrait of a m man rooted in a grotesquely distorted view of the theOld theOld theOld Old Testament Kony seeks revenge for past transgressions the government government government govern govern- ment committed against northern- northern literally ers an eye for an eye He likens himself to Moses bringing the theTen theTen theTen Ten Commandments to a people who are largely deaf to his message He attacks civilian targets within his reach because he believes he is instructed by God to punish anyone who collaborates with the govern govern- ment For all the havoc Kony has wrought his insurgency is on the ropes The Ugandan military has become more effective and the government government government gov gov- of Sudan after years of providing support has cut most of its links to the LRA Robbed of its camps and supply lines the LRA has gone into survival mode stealing stealing stealing steal steal- ing food and abducting children to replace those killed captured or sur sur- sur- sur rendered But the LRA has a track record of coming back from near oblivion and premature pronouncements pronouncements pronouncements pronounce pronounce- ments of its defeat could prove deadly Massacres over the past coupie couple couple cou cou- pie of weeks in which hoes and machetes have been the sadistic tools of death are reminiscent of the tactics used in the 1994 Rwandan genocide To be sure if Kony is killed or captured the LRA will unravel just justas as rebellions did in Angola and Sierra Leone But pursuing this one bullet solution could end up killing thousands more abducted child soldiers and LRA dependents while costing more than the alternatives alternatives alternatives tives and making reconciliation hard-core hard more difficult Those commanders remaining in the bush would continue to terrorize civil civil- ians In a country whose post-colonial post history has been marred by extreme sectarian violence and some of the 1 fl t f r Africa T l most murderous m it f-it f dictators i in J Ima including the psychotic Idi Amin Ugandan President has demonstrated ways to bring conflict to an end other than through viole violence ce alone Negotiations would isolate lin hard lin hardliners ers make it more difficult to oppose a final agreement and provide an exit strategy for the LRA or as put it to me a soft land- land ing The window of opportunity for a peace settlement will not b be open long and the US U.S. role is crucial Its support for Ugandan military efforts has led many Ugandans to believe that the United States does s port a peaceful resolution As one s LRA commander told Jold me The See Uganda continued on page 8 Uganda cont cant from page 7 US U.S. is too quiet The LRA cant can't hear that the US U.S. supports peace Assigning a senior diplomat from Washington to support the peace effort would provide a boost to the negotiating process giving the LRA commanders confidence that if they did lay down their weapons they wouldn't walk straight into an ambush The next month will be decisive and requires a major diplomatic gambit as lead mediator must go to the source in neighboring southern Sudan and meet with LRA leader Kony Once there she should present presenta a comprehensive settlement rather than the current fire cease-fire proposal for which the necessary levels of good faith and confidence simply do not exist The settlement involves security and livelihood guarantees for the LRA Getting the meeting requires the direct help of the Sudanese regime which has provided a lifeline to Kony for the past decade The United States and others would need to lean hard on Sudan to influence it to act Without such a diplomatic gambit and increased international support the process could crumble This would unleash a new round of conflict and leave military defeat and prosecution as the only means by which the war might be ended a path that would be much longer and bloodier bloodier bloodier blood blood- ier than that afforded by a peace deal |