By Joyce Namutebi

THE LRA will be removed from the list of terrorist organisations upon abandoning rebellion. “What is required is removing the LRA from the list of terrorist organisations upon the LRA abandoning rebellion, ceasing fire and submitting its members to the process of disarmament, demobilisation and re-integration,” said the internal affairs minister.

Dr. Ruhakana Rugunda, who is also the leader of the Government negotiating team in the Juba peace talks, said some people had expressed fear that the International Criminal Court arrest warrants against the top five LRA leaders were a hindrance to peace. “It is the view of the Government of Uganda that the ICC indictments are not a hindrance to the peace process,” Rugunda assured the nation yesterday.
This was at the launch of the ‘Beyond Juba’ project, whose mission is to generate support for a national reconciliation process.

The project is a joint initiative of the Refugee Law Project, Human Rights and Peace Centre and the Faculty of Law, Makerere University.

The minister cited other challenges as setting up a framework for implementing the terms of the agreement on accountability and reconciliation.
He also mentioned the need to decide between the formal and the informal mechanisms of justice, settling the victims and rehabilitating the traumatised.

In a speech read by the internal affairs Permanent Secretary, Stephen Kagoda, at Parliament, Rugunda said other requirements included working out appropriate mechanisms of accountability and reconciliation and how to prevent impunity.

Kagoda said the Government did not expect any problem over a formal ceasefire agreement, saying this was likely to be an upgrade of the cessation of hostilities agreement.

The Speaker of Parliament, Edward Ssekandi, pledged the House’s support to the initiative.

He said Parliament had endorsed the recovery programme for the war-ravaged North. Several participants emphasised the need for the Government and the rebels to tell the truth and apologise. The Obongi MP, Hassan Fungaroo, accused both Kony and the Government of committing atrocities against people.

He claimed that the UPDF had killed people and buried some of them alive in Obongi in Moyo district.

Geoffrey Ojuk, a former LRA captive, who admitted having participated in the abduction of the Aboke schoolgirls, said there was lack of truth and repentance on both sides.