Kony and LRA Committed to Peace
The LRA and Ugandan government sign a truce
The Lord's Resistance Army and the government of Uganda have reached an agreement that may finally bring an end to one of the world's most forgotten crises
The Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) and the government of Uganda signed a pact on August 26 that heralds the end to twenty-year insurgency that has plagued the northern part of the country. Under the terms of the deal, both sides have agreed to cessation of hostilities. Further to this, the LRA has been given three weeks to assemble at two southern Sudanese camps and have been guaranteed safe passage by the Ugandan military, though LRA leader, Joseph Kony, has expressed fears that one of the camps is littered with landmines. Vincent Otti, the LRA's second most senior figure, has been spoken on Mega FM by satellite phone to alert his forces about the dire consequences of failing to honour the new agreement.
In an unprecedented act of clemency, the government of Uganda has offered amnesty to Kony, Otti, and another commander, Okot Odhiambo, despite the International Criminal Court's (ICC) outstanding warrant for their arrest on 33 counts of crimes against humanity and war crimes. Two other LRA figures were included in the ICC's . The recently deceased, Raska Lukwiya, was also named, as well as Dominic Ongwen, who was declared killed in June 2005, but the ICC later reported that the fingerprinting confirmed that it was not the body of Ongwen.
Experts suspect that Kony and his top commanders will be the last to arrive at the camps, wary that there may be a last minute decision to arrest them. Agence France Presse reports, however, that Kony is ready to go to the designated area even if it means being killed, adding, "the world will then know that Kony was killed in the name of peace." According to New Vision, a website based in Uganda, between 150 to 200 LRA fighters, mostly women and children, have already begun heading towards Uganda from Garamba National Park in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
