Consultative meetings of Acholi residents in the Diaspora (AA Chairman: JC Amone)

Consultative meetings of Acholi residents in the Diaspora

The recent efforts to achieve pretended peace in the Acoliland has disastrously and lamentably collapsed. There are two main issues that immediately arise from this collapse:

· Firstly, what lessons do we learn from it?
· Secondly, equally as important, what do we do to achieve a long lasting peace and tranquility in Acoliland?

1) Today, I have undertaken to respond to these issues as follows:-
In 1994, Mrs. B. Bigombe the then minister for what has been referred to as ‘the pacification of the North’ heroically took steps to approach Joseph Kony, leader and founder of the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), to enable the resolution of the conflict in Acholiland through peaceful means. What Mrs. Bigombe in our view, achieved was tremendous and would have ensured the realization of genuine peace in the north had she been given the support. The greatest obstacle that came in her way was one thing and that was – the perennial arrogance of the dictator Yoweri Kaguta Museveni. First, he [Museveni] gave Joseph Kony an ultimatum of only one week lest he would get killed. Joseph Kony did not surrender to this mighty warrior (lone-parent?) Secondly, Museveni did not kill Kony; thirdly, as I sit at my desk in London; the war hasn’t ended and people in Acholiland continue to die in thousands. We acknowledge with deep appreciation the effort of Mrs. Bigombe in 1994 in this context.

2) Only recently Mrs. Bigombe was involved in efforts to achieve ‘peace’ in Acholiland. There is however, a radical difference between 1994 and 2005 in terms of the magnitude of the war and the fact that numerous complex factors have arisen in relation to the war since 1994. In the light of these two factors it should have been obvious to Bigombe that much more would have to be done in order to facilitate the realization of peace in the present circumstances. It is the fact that Bigombe intentionally or unintentionally chose not to recognize these factors that has compelled us to characterize the present efforts as being geared towards achieving ‘pretend peace’. We have deliberately done this to enable Bigombe to pay more attention to the issues that are being addressed today and possibly learn from this experience.

It would be entirely wrong on our part to pretend that we know all the answers to the ‘Human rights’ and humanitarian catastrophe in Acholiland. On the other hand, it would be wrong to ignore the issues we are highlighting.

2) The following concrete steps must be taken with immediate effect:-

(i) Museveni’s soldiers must leave Acholiland immediately as they represent the greatest danger to the Acholi people. As an organ of government they should protect the people and their property. Instead, Museveni and his soldiers have waged a genocidal war against the Acholi. Museveni’s soldiers have used different genocidal techniques.

(ii) In addition to outright mass killings of innocent civilians, the vast majority being women and children, Museveni and his soldiers have systematically and massively expelled more than 95% of the Acholi civilians from their homes and confined them to the (dreaded camps), more accurately, ‘death chambers’. They have inflicted on our people in the ‘death chambers’ conditions intended to destroy their physical integrity in whole or in part. Our people are being destroyed through starvation, malnutrition, and exposition to unacceptably horrible unsanitary conditions, disease [HIV/AIDS] and various kinds of insecurities.

(iii) While Uganda has been praised by the west for heroically having tackled the scourge of HIV/AIDS, in reality, Museveni’s soldiers continue to use this scourge as weapon of war against the Acholi people. This was done through the deliberate deployment of HIV/AIDS positive soldiers in the north who in turn raped men, women and children as young as ten years old. There is evidence to support this from various reliable sources as well as from the victims themselves. A recent UNICEF report on the Internally displaced people (IDP) camps, in Acholiland shows clearly that the rate of HIV/AIDS in Acholiland is 35%, that is, six times that of the rest of Uganda. This contrast very much with pre-Museveni STD Health report – 0.5%. Further more, the last WHO report, indicates that the rate of death in the IDP is 1000 per week and growing. Could there be any better evidence of genocide than that?

(iv) Museveni and his soldiers have inflicted and continue to inflict serious bodily and mental harm on individual members of the Acholi ethnic group the aim being to destroy the in whole or in part.

(v) Imposition on the Acholi people conditions intended to restrict births.

(vi) Forcible removal of Acholi children to other groups.

3) All the camps must be immediately dismantled to enable the Acholi people to return to what is left of their homes and homesteads throughout their motherland without fear of intimidation by the dictator’s soldiers. This must stop and stop now!

4) Toady as I sit at my desk in London, rivers of blood of the people flow across the length and breadth of our God-given beautiful motherland.
Museveni and his soldiers have been and continue to be responsible for spilling Acholi people’s blood. Museveni has blood on his hands. The blood of our people cries out to heaven for redress.

Museveni is therefore not fit to point a finger of blame at anybody. He should therefore first take the log from his own eyes before in order to see clearly the log in the other person’s eye.

An international criminal Tribunal should be established so as to indict him [Museveni] for his genocidal crimes in Acholiland. His presidency will not preclude legal action against him. Museveni, you stand warned!

5) The grievances of the Acholi people should be crucially addressed. The people of Acholiland must realize that it is clearly in their own interest to stand up and speak boldly for themselves. The people of Acholiland know who has done what, when and where against them. And so all they need is an opportunity to express their viewsfreely about the painful experience. They should get properly organized and establish effective mechanisms to facilitate the articulation of their people’s views.

6) The Western Press and media especially those based in the USA have actively participated in fundamentally distorting the issues related to the war. This worked in favor of enhancing Museveni’s genocidal agenda. We [Acholi people] therefore appeal to the US and UK governments to regulate information such that it does not enhance the genocide in Acholiland.

7) The international community, organizations and agencies should get more actively involved in bringing about a quick but sure end to the conflict in Acholiland.

(i) We [the Acholi people] are profoundly horrified by the appallingly insensitive and indifferent position that the UN Security Council has adopted in relation to the war. We therefore request the Security Council to appoint a mediator to initiate peace talks with a view to achieving a lasting peace in the Acholiland. We are confident the UN Security council can effectively tackle Museveni’s arrogance and require him to comply with his obligations under International Human Rights and Humanitarian Laws. Whereas the Security Council has been involved in the Sudan, Liberia, Ivory Coast, etc, nothing concrete has happened in the case of Acholiland and people. We are sure much more can and will be done about this war.

(ii) The US has poured a huge amount of money in support of Museveni’s regime as well as training the regimes soldiers who have the intent to destroy the Acholi, their environment and cultural heritage. Aid to Uganda should only resume when Museveni can demonstrate his preparedness to work in favor of peace. It is the fact that the US has supported Museveni’s government so much despite his genocidal crimes, which has emboldened him to deliberately refuse to comply with human rights obligations under international Law.
It’s in our view that it is dishonest and inappropriate for the US government to talk peace in the morning only to arm Museveni in the evening to wage war against the Acholi. Indeed this constitutes double standards and this does not lead to peace. The US position, in other words, has been that she believes in adopting both pursuing war against the insurgence and at the same time engages in peace talks. This in our view, as pointed out above, does not lead genuine peace.

(iii) Her Majesty’s government can play a major role in bringing peace to Acholiland. The recent suspension of certain forms of AID to Uganda is a drop in the ocean. Much more can and should be done in terms of stopping financial assistance to Museveni and refusing to train his arm.

(iv) We appeal to the EU and other Western donors to halt giving assistance to Museveni because of his genocidal crimes in Acholiland.

(v) The African Union (AU) has a fundamentally important duty to ensure that notorious dictators like Museveni are compelled to comply with his international obligations by not infringing Human Rights.

8) An important aspect of ensuring lasting peace is organizing a national conference that enables Ugandans to discuss key issues facing a country in pain. Museveni is Uganda’s pain. Museveni is a great misfortune. We suggest the conference be organized in a neutral country. This should involve all the political parties and other stake holders including civil society organizations, religious and traditional leaders. The conference should be a forum that enables the demands of the LRA and the political parties to be discussed and resolved.

10) One particularly destructive useless lie has been used by Museveni and the Western press and media in relation to the war in Acholiland and it is this: that Joseph Kony wants to overthrow Museveni so as to rule Uganda on the basis of the Ten Commandments. Another bogus argument that has been persistently perpetrated is that the insurgency in Acholiland has no basis.

We condemn in the strongest terms those who are responsible for this kind of unproductive distortion of issues because the effect of these can only lead to confusion, suffering and more deaths. A lot of research has been done so as to establish the root causes of the conflict deal with them and find a way forward to peace. We are confident that this is perfectly possible and it is important that irresponsible and vile propaganda is avoided.

11) A huge obstacle has arisen in relation to the northern conflict which needs to be courageously dealt with: the characterization of the insurgency as an aspect of “international terrorism.” The US government has labeled the insurgence as international foreign terrorists. This is largely a result of Museveni’s deliberate distortion and manipulation of issues so as to gain the support of the US government thereby empowering Museveni to pursue this genocidal war. It is important to remember that the insurgency in the north began much earlier than the 9/11. The conflict is hugely the product of Uganda’s concrete experience under the nightmare of both colonialism and neo-colonialism. A much deeper understanding of the issues will be enhanced by honestly disentangling the complex nature of the conflict. We appeal to the UN to give a forum that ensures dealing with this challenge.

12) The idea of the so-called recovery program is incoherent nonsense. You cannot destroy a people so as to create room for commercial farming. We unequivocally condemn this kind of state terrorism.

13) Negotiated settlement is a process that begins with building trust between the parties in conflict. Museveni’s ministers cannot fulfill this role.

Finally, we thank you all very much for your patient attention to our representations. We hope that our efforts have not been in vain.

J Charles Amone

Chairman.
Acholi Association.