Piecing Together the Puzzle of Uganda’s Elusive Peace

A complex combination of time, situation and opportunity, have coalesced to create an enabling environment for the ongoing Juba Peace Talks between the Government of Uganda (GOU) and the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA). Snapshots from the past 20 years reveal an asymmetric conflict which has spanned three countries – Uganda, Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo; witnessed egregious violations of human rights – including recorded cases of forced abduction and rape, attacks on civilian populations; the recruitment and retention of child soldiers; and the killing and displacement of millions in Northern Uganda. The current chance at peace has cross-border local and regional security and development implications. To piece together the puzzle of Northern Uganda’s peace prospects, consideration ought to be given to regional involvement in the peace talks, the level of representation of the parties to the talks, their positions on the issues, and the time frame for dialogue and agreement.

Over the past couple of years, the conflict dynamics in Northern Uganda have been altered by a number of factors which include – the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement to end Sudan’s 23 years Civil War in January 2005; the unveiling of International Criminal Court arrest warrants for the LRA’s Joseph Kony, Vincent Otti, Okot Odhiambo, Dominic Ongwen, Raska Lukwiya in October 2005; Yoweri Museveni’s re-election to the Ugandan presidency in February 2006; and the upcoming elections in the Democratic Republic of Congo. All these events have invariably shifted strategic decision-making choices towards the management and sustainable resolution of the conflict in Northern Uganda. Hence the high expectations, colored by cautious optimism, surrounding the ongoing Juba Peace Talks. It would be remarkable to cap off this series of stabilizing events with a sustainable and comprehensive peace deal in Northern Uganda. However, a few pieces of the peace puzzle remain elusive.

Given the regional implications of the sustained conflict in Northern Uganda, there is the need for the Juba Peace Talks to be put under a broader regional organizational mandate. The African Union has a stake in the current peace process, given that the conflict in Northern Uganda is currently Africa’s longest running cross-border intra-state conflict. Meanwhile a strong Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD) presence at the peace process would show the commitment of regional actors to see a deal emerge from the ongoing talks. These organizational actors would, through their participation, leverage the actors to reach consensus by providing security and monitoring guarantees where they are needed. They would also provide the bridge to trust and confidence-building between both parties. These are all intangible elements which would bolster the current effort being undertaken by the Government of South Sudan.

However, regional participation is legally complicated by the ICC warrants looming over the peace process. The warrants are blamed for Kony’s skepticism to directly participate in the talks. As the argument goes, if Kony steps foot in Juba, the UN forces on the ground could arrest him, given the outstanding warrant. This once again raises the long-standing contention between peace and justice. With the commitment of the international community, a just peace can be attained. Simplistically, a coordinated effort by MONUC (United Nations Mission in the Congo) and UNMIS (United Nations Mission in Sudan) forces could enforce the warrants executed by the ICC, bring the leaders of the LRA to justice, thereby opening the way for tier-two LRA leadership to engage the GOU in peace talks.

With these structural deficiencies in the backdrop of the ongoing talks, there remains a need to find common ground between the GOU’s push for a narrow agreement which focuses on current strategic calculations, and the LRA’s search for a more comprehensive agreement which addresses the root causes of the conflict. The GOU’s bargaining position is strengthened by the ICC warrants on the LRA leaders. Hon. Amama Mbabazi, Ugandan Minister for Security, visited the ICC in the Hague on July12th – two days before the start of the Juba Peace Talks – but noticeably did not request a withdrawal of the ICC arrest warrants. The government’s stand at the peace talks remains hinged on a narrow amnesty offer for the LRA leadership under indictment by the ICC. For the rest of the LRA fighting force, the GOU envisages for some, reintegration through a security merger with the Ugandan Peoples’ Defense Forces (UPDF); and for others, the GOU plans for reconciliation and resettlement into Ugandan civilian life. To this government position, Hon. Betty Akech, former Ugandan Minister for State Security, while noting previous failed talks between both parties, cautions that “the GOU should only make realistic, feasible and deliverable commitments to the LRA not those it cannot implement because of some structural as well as legal difficulties.”

Though the LRA has denied any strategic frailty, their attempts at calling for the talks and Kony delivering his first televised interview in 20 years, are a response to the collusion of forces to bring them to the Juba Peace Talks. The LRA seeks a more expansive peace agreement including compensation for losses incurred during the conflict, a program of national reconciliation and national unity, a completely revamped national army and wealth-sharing and power-sharing agreements similar to those of the Sudanese Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA). Hence beyond the acrimony accusation and counter accusation which marred their initial encounters on July 14, their positions do not seem so distant after all. Nevertheless, the devil remains in the details of the puzzle to Northern Uganda’s elusive peace.
Overall, there is the need for a peace deal which will positively alter the attitudes and behaviors which have sustained the conflict over the past 20 years. Meanwhile, institutional guarantees need to be put in place for altering structural contradictions and fostering peace with development.

The government September 12 deadline for an agreement seems rather abbreviated given the 20 years of mutual mistrust, fear and uncertainty which separate the GOU and the LRA. Should the current Juba Peace Talks fail to reach an agreement the GOU would consider an outright military victory by attacking LRA positions in the Garamba forest in the northeastern DRC. Meanwhile, the LRA would resort to the same guerilla tactics which has sustained them as a resilient, close knit fighting force over the last 20 years. This situational dynamic has consequences on the fragile CPA under implementation in Sudan and on the concerted effort by IGAD, IGAD partners, the AU and the UN to bring peace to Sudan. The stakes are much higher than they appear on the surface, thus regional and international partners ought to get involved.

All the pieces in Uganda’s peace puzzle may not come together at this point in time. However, the start of high level talks between the main parties to the conflict is a laudable move in the right direction. If the talks break off with the commitment toward further consultation between both parties, it would have provided a window of opportunity to right the organizational, participatory and temporal frailties of the current effort. A return to the conflict status quo ante is definitely not an enviable option.

And here…I let go

Sitting right here in the middle
Of their ebullient company
Yet all alone
And naked in the light
A sudden jolt of courage
Beckons me sluggishly
To leer at our fleeting image

It stand still
Only a short distance away
Or what might have been
Only a short distance away
Though it could have been
All so far away
Or was it
Only in my mind
That I had fabricated
That exotic fantasy
Of boisterous you
And somber me
Perfect together

At least
I thought it was
Then you thought we were
And I hoped we would be
Then you claimed we might be
Only in the presence of reality
The light dawns upon us
We were never a possibility
Even less still
A snippet of probability

I never was
You never were
We never would be
But in our worlds apart
Wherein I am
And you are
And we’ve become
A mirage of desert illusions
Burning an image of fantasy
In the heat of desolation.

Miki miki everywhere but not a burger to eat...Jo'burg

They must've been at church for easter...

Jo'burg prays...

Into The Heart of a Journey...

I would hardly have noticed the difference between Washington D.C. and Johannesburg, had South Africa Airways not subjected me to a forced 10 hour layover in a cramped waiting room in Accra, Ghana. Landing in Accra, to pick up passengers headed for Jo’burg, the Captain announced that the SAA Boeing 747 AKA /The Big North’s/ Auxiliary Power Unit was out. Of course, I was obliged to acquaint myself with this aeronautical jargon which was accompanied by a long explanation. I simply regaled in the fact that an airplane defect had been detected and was being repaired.

As the minutes lengthened into hours of waiting in Accra, the anticipation at reaching Johannesburg International Airport was quickly dampened by the uncertainty surrounding the repairs of the plane’s APU. Trapped within an information-free vacuum, we could only conjecture a probable departure time from Accra. For those with loved ones waiting in J’burg, I could only imagine the anxiety which reigned at the arrival lounge at J’burg International.

That wait time was an all-consuming side show, which was not without its own diversions. A band of young men with “Security” affixed to their jerseys escorted the stranded throng of passengers from the stalled plane to the waiting lounge. Then they quickly switched hats and became businessmen. They lent their cell phones to the desperate passengers for $5 a minute. Of course the dollar was the medium of exchange, as not once did I hear mention of the Ghanaian Pesewa.

These passengers used these temporary cell phone services to communicate uncertainty to their relatives on either side of the Atlantic. I could only imagine how the conversations may have proceeded (conversations which were bound to last over a minute. Nothing was more galling than watching these folks being taken advantage of to communicate their expectant uncertainties.

Accra: Hi Hon
DC: Hi, are you in J’burg yet?
Accra: Oh no, there was an APU failure on the plane.
DC: Was it dangerous?
Accra: I have not idea, however the pilot appeared really calm about it.
DC: So when would you get to Johannesburg?
Accra: I have not clue because the SAA authorities have not updated us on the problem. However, I am sorry I have to go. This conversation is costing me a fortune. If you would kindly tell A, B & C that we’re doing okay, though holed up in Accra, I would be most grateful. I will call you once we get to J’burg. Love you, bye.

Of course that conversation lasted a little over a minute and spread uncertainty from Accra to Washington D.C. to J’burg.

After an hour lounging in the Kotoko International Airport waiting room, some people had found creative ways to pass time. They stood in the waiting room and took pictures of the plane standing like a huge carcass on the tarmac. They took pictures of their brethren-in-distress sleeping, listening to music, reading and exchanging their frustrations in conversation to pass time. I overheard people talking about seminars they were meant to attend, I overheard people seeking to contact the U.S. embassy in Accra to complain about the treatment we were getting from South African Airways. Of course it was early Sunday morning and I wondered how many of them would want to be disturbed by stranded passengers on a week-end…

At the second hour mark, people become restive. They questioned why the SAA authorities had not been so courteous as to inform us about the progress of the repairs. They wanted refreshments. However, the curious in the crowd had found a bar which made an instant fortune selling beer in dollars to the stranded passengers. The international traveler is definitely an extravagant spender.

The adjoining bar had opened to cater to the “emergency” situation. Beer provided a requisite escape from the prolonged layover. With a little music, it would have made for a very weary party. However, the air conditioners hummed their inadequate breaths of air in a over-filled lounge. The humidity combined with the acrid stench emanating from the restrooms evidenced that these rooms were really meant for temporary rather than prolonged occupancy.

Then a technician with SAA became the spokesperson for the authorities. He announced that work was being done on the plane and it would be another couple of hours before we could take off. So people started counting down two hours.

Two hours came and went and Mr. Spokesman retuned to say that they were making hotel arrangements for us. Nothing could be farther from the truth, given that Ghanaian authorities would have had to get the approx. 200 passengers visa certified before they could accede to Accra soil. The charade only got more preposterous and offensive.

Then someone got the brilliant idea that some refreshments could assuage a restive crowd. It was not until 4 am that some water was served. Then at 6 am, came the soda and some sandwiches. Finally someone cared.

However, by this stage almost everyone was prepared to go with the flow and with the flow we went. Excitement swept through the crowd when at about 9 am, we were told that departure was imminent. Then it was interesting to see the plane’s crew chauffeured on board the plane after their restful nights in some Accra hotel. Interesting was the only was to describe this adventure in international travel.

Serenity hath no smile…

Even that vaguely eager stare
Can hardly mask the bars of fear
Behind whose steel beams of experience
Your silent thoughts endure
Their self-imposed sentence.

In those cavernous recesses
Of your luminous thoughts
A resplendent mosaic emerges
A mosaic or sorts –
Dotted with sparks of desire
Chiseled by life’s challenges
Exposing daunting crevices of mistrust
Against brilliant ’scapes of hopeful trust

Trapped in that unrequited past
You passively concede
As your every word stands cast
Against a background of gloom
Like a shrill lingering echo of itself

Trapped in that unrequited past
You bulk at a future of springy bloom
This illusory world whose sandy white shores
You’ve never dared to tread

The sands of your past
Evoke the terror in your present
Clearly audible in you voice
Quivering across your smile

If you were a phoenix
I’d will you to rise from your ashes,
Shake the ashen residue from your feet
And define the tune of your next beat.

But you are not a phoenix
And like me, you are only truly human
Embarking on another experiment
Which would only prove
That which you already know too well…

What is the Exchange Rate for Trust?

Since the last time I was hear, we have listened to the State of the Union address, Gov. Kaine's rebuttal to the State of the Union, another tape from Osama Bin Laden and Ayman Al-Zawahiri, Alberto Gonzalez's defense of NSA spying on American citizens, and we now see a new deficit-spending bill sit in congress. If you hadn't notice the central protagonists in this plot are middle aged to old men.

Let's change gears for a second here. Didn't we all admire Oprah's retraction of her support for James Frey? Who did not acknowledge Oprah's grace and class? Meanwhile we are dragged through the tiresome reticence of men who defended dubious practice. Opinion leaders trade in the currency of trust, which buoys them to power and boosts their profits. Lovers trade in the currency of trust which makes and breaks relationships. Families trade in the currency of trust which builds and frays filial bonds.

Over the past few decades, the currency of trust has been devalued to the extent that politicians trade truth for a finessed "spinned" approximation of it. CEOs have taken publicly traded companies as their private trust funds. Yet we have continued to trust politicians and trust our investments as well. Maybe it's time for the electorate to challenge elected officials...and for stockholders to challenge CEOs to re-inject ethics as a central theme to leadership.

Hopefully...

Your last refuge was hope. Everything had been executed with deft precision, but your glory lay in the subjective eyes of the jury. They had watched your performance with the unsmiling and unfliching unemotion of poker afficionados. There was no way their faces would carry an iota of reflection on your act, because that poker face was part of their own act.

At this stage, other than hope, you can find refuge in the satisfaction that you had performed at your best. You will live to participate another day.

If over the PA system bearing down on the arena you hear your name in first place, it should be a dream fulfilled. However, a dream deferred should invigorate you to a a better day, a better act and a better you. In life and in love, Shakespeare once contended that we are all actors on a broad stage. Someone somewhere might have scripted the plot, but so long as we move from scene to scene, we should be buoyed by hope.

Not Messing with Fate

How does one know what fate has been reserved for them? We see opportunities and challenges everywhere we turn. Some opportunities we take. Others, we shun. The same for challenges. Hence our eternal gravitation from fulfillment to disenchantment, and back to fulfillment again, as we navigate life's contours. While opportunities are welcome, they are not as exhilarating as challenges. Imagine that feeling of accomplishment when you last surmounted what you considered a Herculean challenge. While you might have felt one with Hercules, what if that challenge had not been yours for the taking and that fulfillment eventually led you down the path of disenchantment.

In the grand scheme of things that is an oxymoron, because the triumph over one challenge endows you with the fortitude to vanquish the next- which is bound to be a little more difficult. So my advise to anyone would be to take life in stride. In the eternal crossroads of life, we know not our fates, until the journey comes to an end in the arms of fate. Every challenge is yours for the taking and every opportunity, the product of a challenge long gone...

I dreamt of my father...

In my eyes, he once must have seen himself. ..and in my he forcefully tries to correct his mis-steps. The older I get, the more of his idiosyncracies become apparent in me. I remember when as a teen, I had sworn never to become like my father. However, nature is inescapable while nurture is only the subterfuge which refines nature. Today, lost in meandering thoughts, I had to catch myself from thinking how much like my father I have become - in looks, in life and "love?" No, it seems that the only place where nurture has stepped in has been in love.

How I wish I were like my father in love...but did he ever really feel fulfilled in love or was his union with my mother one of Africa's post-independence arrangements. Yes, it was love, because in a time when people seldom married across tribes, they did. So who would blame me for pondering the union on my "culture" to another? It would only be the post-global projection of my belief in the power of destiny in bringing loving hearts together. So how different am I from my father again? We may actually belong to the same side of a coin - heads!!

Nostalgic Past meets Bleak Present…

The lines of fate course across his creased forehead, evoking decades of trial and triumph. Graying brows shadow his tired, rheumy eyes which peer at me from a safe nostalgic distance, a distance in his past. My questions drive those eyes further into the emotional recesses of a past to which he willingly returns. Then the words start rolling from his quivering lips. Slowly he narrates experiences steeped in the proverbial wisdom of his time. He savors every word, as though they are invisible anchors holding him to everything he still believes. For, not even the lines of time running across his forehead have dampened his belief.

“You know my son, it is not until the river runs dry that you know the value of its slow journey,” he begins tentatively. Then more assuredly, he lunged into the life of privilege that they once inherited through their colonial encounter with the British. “In the days of British Southern Cameroons…” was the preface to every story. And the tales ranged from the hydroelectric plant at Ombe which never faltered, to the printing press and stores in Limbe which augured a boisterous economic future. Then he talked about the Prime Minister’s lodge nestled in the fog-covered slopes of the great Mount Fako. The mountain, which he still fondly called (like Hano the explorer), “the Chariot of the Gods.”

To listen to him speak would be to think that the colonizers had done no wrong. However, he only lives in a world of comparison where our union with La Republique du Cameroun has bred marginalization and disenfranchisement. As we try to chart a future, the past is distant and the future ought to be the product to constructive creativity.

Stop...Start...Dance

Her hips swayed easily to the deafening beat surrounding us. Lost in the moment, I stared, stunned by her graciously facile movement. I watched her dance at me, dance around me and even seemed to dance for me. I had lost my lead as she led herself deftly through the sensual cadence, wrapped in an impenetrable rythmic aura. She pulled my arms around her and I felt the electricity pulse from her hips. The calypso's crescendoed snapping me from my stupor. Gently encapsuled in her aura, I moved to the beat of her back to my chest, her luscious derriere to my loin, her hips to my thighs and our movement blending into the quintessential harmony of two bodies dancing as one. It was one first dance, it was one last dance. A dance resigned to memory, where it stays peturbed by the desire to recapture that moment.

Information Overload...

Time spent as a ravenous information consumer, takes away from time which could be spent as an information producer. While information consumers expend time kapital in their effort, information producers invest in the potential to gain from consumers. Which would you rather be - an information consumer or an information producer? Before you make a decision, think these roles through from a rudimentary perspective.

Introspection...

Introspection is the fire which kindles our most prolific imaginative consciousness. Kant presumed that "I think therefore I am." However, in thought, we not only live in the present, we also negotiate an understanding of the past... and in thought, we express unbridled aspirations for the future. I find in introspection, the shades which color my every experience.