SUDAN/UGANDA/DRC: LRA PEACE TALKS RESUME IN JUBA

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 KHARTOUM 000671 SIPDIS SIPDIS DEPARTMENT FOR AF A/S FRAZER, AF/SE NATSIOS AND AF/SPG, NSC FOR PITTMAN AND SHORTLEY E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/29/2017 TAGS: PREL PGOV MARR KPKO UG CG KE CT MZ ZA TZ SU SUBJECT: SUDAN/UGANDA/DRC: LRA PEACE TALKS RESUME IN JUBA Classified By: CDA R. Powers, Reason: Section 1.4 (b) and (d) ¶1. (C) Summary: Warning the parties not to squander an opportunity for peace, Former Mozambique President Joaquim Chissano formally reopened talks in Juba between the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) and the Government of Uganda (GOU) April 26. Chissano and Government of Southern Sudan (GOSS) GOSS President Salva Kiir lauded increased international support for the peace process, including the participation of five new African states. Immediate problems facing the talks include the assembly of LRA forces at the designated location on the Sudan-Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) border, monitoring the renewed Cessation of Hostilities agreement, finalizing an interim agreement on "root causes" of the conflict, and*-most critically-*identifying a "justice mechanism" for Kony and other LRA leaders indicted by the International Criminal Court (ICC). Underscoring these problems, there were continued reports of LRA attacks in southern Sudan. End Summary. ¶2. (C) Action request in paragraph 14. -------------- Chissano Tells Parties to Seize The Opportunity for Peace -------------- ¶3. (C) Citing Mozambique's experience in negotiating a lasting peace after a "long, fierce and destructive war," Chissano urged the parties to press on to a final agreement. "Don't let this opportunity go," he urged, for it "will never return." Both the UN Secretary General and "various African leaders" with whom he has recently consulted give "full support for these efforts," Chissano stressed. Chissano is the Secretary General's special representative for LRA-affected areas, which currently include northern Uganda, southern Sudan, northeastern DRC and a small bit of the Central African Republic (CAR). He has met recently with Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni and DRC head Joseph Kabila, among other regional leaders. (He flew back to Uganda April 27 to consult again with Museveni.) ¶4. (C) "We in Africa have enough capacity to deal with conflicts," Chissano vowed, noting that South Africa, Kenya, Tanzania, Mozambique and DRC have now provided observers to the talks and contributed two persons each to the small Cessation of Hostilities Monitoring Team (CHMT). Peace talks recessed last December, giving way to mutual recrimination and an LRA announcement that it had withdrawn from the process. Chissano broke the logjam and secured a renewal of the Cessation of Hostilities agreement in a face-to-face meeting with LRA Chief Joseph Kony at Ri-Kwangba on the Sudan-DRC border April 13. The parties also agreed that the LRA would be allowed to move all its forces to Ri-Kwangba, abandoning sites east of the Nile in southern Sudan and in northern Uganda. ¶5. (C) "The difficulties that have kept you away for four months" have been resolved, Chissano told the parties. Nor could all remaining issues be fully addressed at the talks, Chissano said. Matters like the creation of new Ugandan government structures would require "legislative initiatives" in Kampala. After months of protracted negotiations and four draft agreements on "agenda item two" dealing with the "root causes" of the LRA conflict, the parties should be able to reach a final agreement on that agenda item within "a matter of days," Chissano admonished. -------------- The Problem of Justice -------------- ¶6. (C) Pausing to read carefully from a prepared text, Chissano sought the "unreserved commitment of the parties to develop a well-argued and implemented agreement on how to achieve justice." It is critical, Chissano said, that the parties identify a way to deal with the problem of impunity "in accordance with the norms of international law." The UN would assist the parties, he said, in developing a "process of delivering justice that meets international standards." Four LRA leaders, including Kony and second-in-command Vincent Otti, are under ICC indictment for crimes against humanity. KHARTOUM 00000671 002 OF 003 ¶7. (C) Prior to the reopening of the talks, the parties had reportedly agreed in principle on the concept of alternative justice, incorporating traditional Ugandan justice mechanisms and other elements. Under this arrangement the indictees would not be turned over to the ICC, but it is not clear whether the ICC would drop the indictments. By one account, Kony and Otti have reportedly agreed to at least a brief period of incarceration in Uganda. According to the British High Commissioner to Uganda, an LRA negotiator told the Kampala-based diplomats before the talks reopened that the LRA required "a framework in place to address the ICC issue" before a final agreement was reached. In any case, the LRA negotiator said, the signatures of the ICC indictees would be essential to any peace agreement. UN and GOSS mediators have quietly reached out to several legal experts for advice on these issues, and at least one lawyer has consulted closely with Kony, Otti and other indictees. The LRA have also added a legal expert to their negotiating team. -------------- GOSS Not Ready for "Open-Ended" Talks -------------- ¶8. (C) GOSS President Salva Kiir also struck some stern notes at the opening of the talks. "The stability of Uganda and that of southern Sudan are inseparable," Kiir said. He is "gravely concerned that the war zone has shifted" to southern Sudan. "Many atrocities have been committed against our people," Kiir said. These acts discredited GOSS before "the citizens of eastern and western Equatoria." The GOSS is not prepared for "open-ended peace negotiations," he said, and "knows what it will do" if talks fail. "I beg you" to negotiate in good faith, Kiir concluded. -------------- LRA and GOU Respond -------------- ¶9. (C) GOU chief negotiator Ruhakana Rugunda, Uganda's Minister of the Interior, told poloff privately that his delegation is unwilling for talks to continue for "weeks and weeks." In brief remarks at the opening session, Rugunda said the Ugandan government is committed to the peace process. However, he stressed, the negotiators were charged with reaching peace, not rewriting the Ugandan constitution or drafting a history of the conflict. ¶10. (C) In his opening remarks, Martin Ojul, head of the LRA delegation, demanded that the other parties "formally submit a pledge in writing" that they would honor the agreements reached between Chissano and LRA Chief Kony at their most recent meeting in the bush. Nor would there have been a four-month delay, Ojul said, if the mediators had listened to the LRA and not treated the LRA delegation as "inconsequential." GOSS Vice President Riek Machar, chief mediator at the talks, glared visibly at Ojul, who went on to request "direct material assistance and support" from the international community. Nevertheless, Ojul said, the LRA recognized that the peace process is the "only way" to resolve the conflict. ¶11. (C) In a meeting in Juba with a group of Kampala-based diplomats prior to the opening of the talks, LRA representatives also asked that their organization be removed from lists of terrorist organizations. This, they explained, hampers their efforts to get financial support. They also complained that the revised allowances for their representatives at the talks (lodging plus USD 70 per day, and an additional USD 50 for satellite and cell phone air time) are too low, and requested a USD 300 daily stipend. -------------- Large International Presence -------------- ¶12. (C) A large contingent of Kampala and Juba-based diplomats, including a representative of ConGen Juba, attended the opening session. There, Chissano also introduced representatives of four of the five new African observers to the talks (the DRC representative had been expected but did not appear). Chissano said the five new African observers represent the AU, and will also contribute KHARTOUM 00000671 003 OF 003 two military officers each to the CHMT. According to GOSS VP Machar, Zambia will also contribute one military monitor. Half the monitors will reside in Juba, Machar said, and the other half at the Ri-Kwangba assembly point. About 16 donor countries were now contributing to the process, Machar said. Nevertheless, he argued, more support is required, particularly for the CHMT. (Note: Machar and Maj. Gen. Wilson Deng, the senior Sudan People's Liberation Army with responsibility for the peace process, have approached us repeatedly seeking help for the monitoring teams. End Note.) -------------- LRA Reportedly Kill Two -------------- ¶13. (C) At approximately the same time the opening session of the peace talks drew to a close, a presumed LRA unit reportedly killed two civilians, and seriously injured a third, at Kimoro Village in Magwi County, Eastern Equatoria State. The attack was the latest in a series of small attacks in the area. SPLA Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Oyai Deng told ConGen April 27 that the SPLA is conducting anti-LRA operations in the Magwi area. For their part, LRA representatives at the peace talks told European diplomats they had received "sensitive information" that the Uganda People's Defense Forces (UPDF) plan to "wipe out" LRA forces in Eastern Equatoria. The UPDF are still attacking and killing LRA forces in southern Sudan, the representative claimed. According to several sources at the peace talks, the parties have agreed in principle that there will be designated routes for LRA groups east of the Nile to cross to the west and gather at the Ri-Kwangba assembly point. The SPLA Chief of Staff, however, told us that these routes have not yet been agreed and that he has seen no evidence yet that the LRA are actually moving to assemble. -------------- Action Request -------------- ¶14. (C) It is encouraging that the peace talks have resumed in Juba. Our sense is that Chissano has re-energized the process, while signaling at the same time that it cannot go on forever. It remains to be seen whether the LRA are serious about peace or merely buying time. One way to find out is to field effective "Cessation of Hostilities Monitoring Teams" of African military observers. GOSS has sought support for these teams. We seek the Department's guidance on how to respond to these requests. We recommend positive consideration of a modest material contribution to the monitoring teams, perhaps in the form of 4-6 vehicles, through existing U.S. security assistance or peace-building programs. POWERS