NORTHERN UGANDA NOTES (March 10-23, 2007)

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 KAMPALA 000526

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SIPDIS

DEPARTMENT PASS TO USAID AND OFDA

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TAGS: PHUM PREF PREL MOPS ASEC CASC EAID UG SU
SUBJECT: NORTHERN UGANDA NOTES (March 10-23, 2007)



1. (U) Summary: Post presents the sixteenth edition of Northern
Uganda Notes to provide information on the situation on the ground
and USG activities aimed at meeting Mission's objectives in northern
Uganda. These objectives include promoting regional stability
through peace and security, good governance, access to social
services, economic growth, and humanitarian assistance. Post
appreciates feedback from consumers on the utility of this product
and any gaps in information that need to be filled. End Summary.

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PEACE AND RECONCILIATION PROCESSES
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2. (SBU) Minister of Internal Affairs Ruhakana Rugunda described
the discussions between Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) leader Joseph
Kony and United Nations Special Envoy for LRA-Affected Areas Joaquim
Chissano on March 11 as "positive and constructive." Rugunda said
that he anticipated another meeting between Kony, the GOU, and
Government of South Sudan to work through the LRA's concerns about
the Juba venue. Rugunda stated that the LRA did not demand a change
in venue, but that its complaints about the mediation secretariat
were technical and administrative in nature and could be remedied.
On March 23, Rugunda announced the date for the resumption of formal
talks at Juba would be April 13. Rugunda and other ministers
traveled to Khartoum from March 19-21 to attend a Joint Ministerial
Committee for the improvement of relations between Khartoum and
Kampala. LRA issues were discussed, but no details have been
given.


3. (SBU) LRA spokesman Martin Ojul requested that President
Museveni's half-brother, Salim Saleh, join the negotiating team.
Rugunda stated that the LRA would not dictate the membership of the
GOU team, but that Saleh would be available to play a
behind-the-scenes role as appropriate. In December 2006, Kony had
also requested Saleh's participation in the negotiations.


4. (SBU) Thirteen major humanitarian organizations sent a letter to
the U.N. Security Council expressing support for the mission of U.N.
Special Envoy Chissano. The letter requested a Presidential
Statement from the Security Council repeating its demand of 16
November 2006 that the LRA immediately release all women, children,
and other non-combatants in accordance with UNSC Resolution 1612
(2005). Other requests include increasing the representation of
women and community leaders in the decision-making process at Juba,
and a call on the GOU to report on progress made to date on the
Peace, Recovery, and Development Plan.


5. (U) Chissano delivered his report to the U.N. Secretary General
on March 22. He announced that the talks would resume in mid-April
and that he was optimistic that a settlement could be reached
between the parties. The U.N. Security Council issued a
presidential statement reiterating its support for an expeditious
negotiated settlement and that those responsible for serious human
rights violation be brought to justice. The UNSC also urged the LRA
to release women, children, and other non-combatants.


6. (SBU) European donors met with the U.N. Office for the
Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) in Kampala on March 19
to discuss issues related to the Juba Initiative Fund (JIF). One of
the key complaints of the LRA delegation to Juba was the
"mismanagement" of the fund. The JIF was an added responsibility to
an overstretched UNOCHA office in Juba and a key problem was the
approval mechanism, which required the GOSS to approve payments. It
was slow to do so, prompting the LRA delegates to claim that the
GOSS' non-payment of allowances was tied to their failure to
"deliver" at the negotiating table. Another problem was that
guidelines for acceptable expenditures were never developed. The
donors agreed that UNOCHA would send a letter to donors to request
that the costs of African Union representatives to the Cessation of
Hostilities Monitoring Team could be covered by the fund. Donors
were still considering whether or not to pay allowances or "pocket
money" to LRA delegates. Another issue would be determining the
amount of the allowances.


7. (SBU) USG Activities: On March 15, PolChief and USAID Peace and
Security Team leader met with Ambassador Busho Ndinyenka, Uganda's
Consul in Juba. Busho believed the talks would resume by the end of
March, but was pessimistic that there would be any progress made.
He said that for a peace deal to be signed, Kony and Otti would have
to be convinced of their own security and that of their fighters.
According to Busho, Kony and Otti do not believe that President
Museveni would keep his end of a deal. He was pleased that a
representative of Congolese President Kabila participated in the

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meeting with Kony and Otti. Busho's skepticism was echoed by Moses
Byaruhanga, Museveni's political advisor, who told PolChief that the
key obstacle to persuading Kony and Otti to give up was that the LRA
leaders do not believe they can live safely in Uganda.


8. (SBU) DCM Chritton and PolChief met with Human Rights Watch's
(HRW) Director for the International Justice Program, Richard
Dicker, and Elise Keppler, Counsel for the International Justice
Program on March 15. Dicker and Keppler spent ten days in northern
Uganda examining the prospects for a peaceful resolution to the
conflict and justice for those LRA members indicted by the
International Criminal Court (ICC). Human Rights Watch supports a
peaceful resolution of the conflict, but does not want the "price"
for a peace settlement to be the bargaining away of justice for the
victims. Dicker and Keppler found that an ICC trial was
appropriate, but not enough to address the horrific crimes
committed. The team suggested a truth and reconciliation mechanism
to allow victims to come together and give testimony as a way to
heal communities. Overall, most northerners want justice, but
Dicker noted that there was some dissent over whether or not the
Acholi traditional practice of reconciliation (Mato Oput) would be
sufficient to cover all of the LRA's victims.


9. (SBU) Ambassador Browning attended a briefing by Acholi
traditional leader David Rwot Acana on March 21. Acana discussed
the outcome of the Acholi Conference held in Juba from March 2-4.
He stated that he understood that the process of reconciliation must
extend beyond Acholiland. The purpose of the gathering of Acholi
leaders in Juba was to "get the Acholi house in order" before
meeting with leaders in Teso, Lango, and West Nile. Acana also
stated that land problems were becoming a much more contentious
issue. He bemoaned the fact that in the past, elders settled
squabbles, but now other groups were staking out claims of their
own. He said there would be more outreach to donors for help in
addressing land issues.

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SECURITY UPDATE
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10. (U) As a result of the improved security in Kitgum, a number of
NGOs have stopped using military escorts. UN agencies in the
district access some 17 of 25 IDP camps without military escort.
Many agencies also were able to spend nights in the camps, while a
number of them have permanently deployed staff at project areas such
as health centers in the camps. Child night commuting in the
district may be coming to an end with efforts by child protection
agencies to phase out completely the phenomenon. Along with
improved security, the support by UNICEF and its partners to assess
the situation of the night commuter caseload and provide outreach
activities in areas of return has contributed to a dramatic
reduction in night commuter numbers.


11. (U) The improved security in northern Uganda also has led to
increased access to land for cultivation and food security.
Agencies in the district have begun distribution of agricultural
inputs including seeds and tools to over 50,000 households in IDP
camps. The water situation in Kitgum was likely to improve with the
movement of people from the camps and recent efforts by humanitarian
agencies to provide water points at most areas of return.
Sanitation remains appalling in most camps, however, with average
latrine coverage of 78.4 persons per latrine compared with a minimum
sphere standard of 20.


12. (U) The judiciary's program to eliminate backlogged court cases
and decongest prisons in northern Uganda was restarted on March 19.
Principal Justice James Ogoola launched the second round of court
sessions, which will take place in five cities. A backlog of 340
cases could be cleared in Lira at the completion of the sessions.


13. (U) The Ugandan Police Force expressed disappointment that only
60 of the 500 candidates for recruitment were women during a recent
recruitment exercise in northern Uganda. The UPF's target for
female recruitment is 30 percent.


14. (U) Press reports indicated that the LRA killed one person on
March 20 in Southern Sudan. Some 1,500 persons were allegedly
displaced in eastern Equatoria, southern Sudan, according to the
Sudan Tribune as reported in Ugandan newspapers. The rebels looted
food from a town nine miles east of Torit.

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HUMANITARIAN ASSISTANCE AND ECONOMIC RECOVERY

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15. (SBU) On March 9, the Government of Uganda issued a second
draft Peace, Recovery and Development Plan (PRDP) for Northern
Uganda, for consultations with stakeholders and development
partners. The overall goal of the three-year PRDP is to consolidate
peace and security and lay the foundation for recovery and
development. This is to be achieved through four strategic
objectives: (1) consolidation of state authority (peace, security,
justice, law and order, strengthened local governance); (2)
rebuilding and empowering communities (return and reintegration of
IDPs, community rehabilitation and development, protection of the
vulnerable); (3) revitalization of the economy (production and
marketing, services and industry, rehabilitation of critical
infrastructure, sustainable environmental and natural resource
management); and (4) peace-building and reconciliation (information,
counseling, intra/inter-communal and national conflict resolution,
socioeconomic reintegration of ex-combatants). The estimated cost of
the plan is $539 million or $65 per person over a three-year period.
The original PRDP request was for approximately $350 million.


16. (U) Problems with the food pipeline for northern Uganda caused
World Food Program (WFP) to announce cuts in rations for IDPs and
refugees. WFP is cutting ration sizes to 40 percent of kilocalorie
(kcal) needs for 1.2 million IDPs in northern Uganda, as well as
183,000 refugees in various locations throughout northern and
western Uganda. Currently, approximately 15 percent of the IDPs are
already at 40 percent kcal ration, with the remaining at 50 or 60
percent kcal ration. Additionally, WFP reports that there are not
enough resources to continue with school lunches for 600,000
students across the LRA affected areas, refugee camps, and in
drought stricken Karamoja. Drought relief for 500,000 people in
Karamoja was slower than anticipated due to IDP resettlement
patterns in northern Uganda and a reduction in overall contributions
to WFP/Uganda, which led to the food aid cuts. The level of USG
contributions to WFP/Uganda in dollar value was virtually unchanged
from last fiscal year at this time: March 2006 ($28 million) and
March 2007 ($27.4 million).


17. (U) Even with the cuts in ration size and school feeding, the
most recent WFP projections show the pipeline breaking in May absent
significant contributions. WFP states that potential consequences
of the cuts include worsening nutritional status especially for
children, women, and the elderly, as well as the potential for the
adoption of risky coping mechanisms by the IDPs. USAID believes
that the cuts could affect resettlement efforts because WFP does not
have sufficient stocks to provide 3-month resettlement or
repatriation packages to IDPs or refugees, respectively. WFP was
unable to fulfill a GOU request to WFP to provide resettlement
packages to 130,000 IDPs in Gulu District. The three-month food aid
resettlement packages are viewed as critical for resettling IDP
households as they return to their home or to smaller camps closer
to their agricultural lands.


18. (SBU) USG Activities: The USAID Mission Director signed an MOU
with the Governor of the Bank of Uganda on March 14 to formalize the
opening of a USAID satellite office in Gulu, housed in the Regional
Office of the Bank of Uganda.

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FROM THE MEDIA AND THE WEB
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19. (U) International Crisis Group and the Center for American
Progress launched their "ENOUGH" campaign on March 14 to "galvanize
public and political leaders to effectively confront mass violence
against innocent civilians" in Darfur, northern Uganda, and eastern
Congo. The campaign includes reports, analysis, and policy
recommendations aimed at decision-makers, activists, and the public.
The press release stated that ENOUGH would benefit from ICG's
experts on the ground to produce a series of policy papers focused
on what the international community, particularly the United States,
could do to prevent mass atrocities and genocide. According to
ENOUGH's co-founder Gayle Smith, the group's strategy is to promote
durable peace efforts, provide protection for the innocent victims
of mass atrocities, and punish the perpetrators to break the cycle
of impunity.
BROWNING