Delayed peace talks worry Arua locals
Oct 22, 2002
A WHITE double cabin, Toyota Hilux pickup screeches to a halt in front of a pub on Market lane in Arua town. Six gun-totting boys in their teens jump off the back and take strategic positions around it.
By Miria Sidney
A WHITE double cabin, Toyota Hilux pickup screeches to a halt in front of a pub on Market lane in Arua town. Six gun-totting boys in their teens jump off the back and take strategic positions around it.
The street is brought to a standstill; some people take to their heels, expecting gunfire.
The street is soon engulfed with whispers that the men are the UNRF ll rebels, to the bewilderment of on-lookers. Slowly and quietly, a tall well-built man in dark glasses emerges from the assassination corner. As he walks towards the pub, a smile lights up his face.
He is Asedri Oyemi, the vice-chairman of UNRF II. This scene happened in Arua town several months ago when the Government through the Amnesty Commission gave the Toyota double cabin pickup to the UNRF II rebels. Today, though the locals have become accustomed to the sight of the pickup with its soldiers, their sight has not completely erased the anxiety, which clouds their faces when UNRF II drive through streets in Arua and Yumbe.
Locals are afraid that the on-going peace talks between the rebels and the government may collapse.
They say the peace talks have taken too long. Some locals say the demands set by the UNRF II were very unrealistic.
My first encounter with the UNRF II bosses was at a consultative meeting organised by Aringa Constituency MP Othman Alonga at Yumbe Resource Centre.
“People are getting worried because the peace process is taking too long. For as long as this continues, donors and investors will fear to come to the district,†Alonga said.
The deputy District Security Officer, Roy Adule, said there was no bad blood between the district and the UNRF II leadership.
Reiterating that position, Asedri said their relationship was cordial. “That car you see us driving is fuelled and serviced by the district,†he said.
Arua RDC Thomas Okoth Nyalulu in a phone interview on October. 22 said that the UNRF II have been recruiting locals into their ranks.
UNRF II spokesperson Pascal Piwang when contacted denied that UNRF II was carrying out recruitment. “We are not carrying out any recruitment. We are committed to the peace process,†he said.
Last month during the consultative meeting at Yumbe resource centre the 135 child soldiers declared by UNRF II to the Government and handed over to UNICEF came up for mention.
Asedri said: “these children have come back to us. Some keep visiting our camp. For six months they have been staying at home. It was said we had wasted their time for education ...We want them to receive formal education. There should be money set aside for them to study, now that there is UPE.â€
The UNRF II camp at Bidi Bidi resembles a UPDF detach. It is situated about eight kilometres outside Yumbe town. I got there on a motorcycle.
I met groups of UNRF II rebels on the roadside that leads to their camp at Bidi bidi. Some were dressed in tattered military fatigues.
Some sat in small groups by the roadside listening to small radios. The UNRF II camp with a defence-like barricade of grass thatched mama ingia pole huts are built on the fringes of the camp. In the middle of the camp are three permanent buildings formerly used by United Nations High Commission for Refugees.
A teacher at Bidi bidi Primary School told me that they were co-existing peacefully with the rebels.
“We have not had any incidents in which they have harassed locals,†he said. I found them eating porridge from a large basin. The rebels told me that World Food Program-me supplies them with food and Action Against Hunger a French NGO takes care of their water.
A WHITE double cabin, Toyota Hilux pickup screeches to a halt in front of a pub on Market lane in Arua town. Six gun-totting boys in their teens jump off the back and take strategic positions around it.
The street is brought to a standstill; some people take to their heels, expecting gunfire.
The street is soon engulfed with whispers that the men are the UNRF ll rebels, to the bewilderment of on-lookers. Slowly and quietly, a tall well-built man in dark glasses emerges from the assassination corner. As he walks towards the pub, a smile lights up his face.
He is Asedri Oyemi, the vice-chairman of UNRF II. This scene happened in Arua town several months ago when the Government through the Amnesty Commission gave the Toyota double cabin pickup to the UNRF II rebels. Today, though the locals have become accustomed to the sight of the pickup with its soldiers, their sight has not completely erased the anxiety, which clouds their faces when UNRF II drive through streets in Arua and Yumbe.
Locals are afraid that the on-going peace talks between the rebels and the government may collapse.
They say the peace talks have taken too long. Some locals say the demands set by the UNRF II were very unrealistic.
My first encounter with the UNRF II bosses was at a consultative meeting organised by Aringa Constituency MP Othman Alonga at Yumbe Resource Centre.
“People are getting worried because the peace process is taking too long. For as long as this continues, donors and investors will fear to come to the district,†Alonga said.
The deputy District Security Officer, Roy Adule, said there was no bad blood between the district and the UNRF II leadership.
Reiterating that position, Asedri said their relationship was cordial. “That car you see us driving is fuelled and serviced by the district,†he said.
Arua RDC Thomas Okoth Nyalulu in a phone interview on October. 22 said that the UNRF II have been recruiting locals into their ranks.
UNRF II spokesperson Pascal Piwang when contacted denied that UNRF II was carrying out recruitment. “We are not carrying out any recruitment. We are committed to the peace process,†he said.
Last month during the consultative meeting at Yumbe resource centre the 135 child soldiers declared by UNRF II to the Government and handed over to UNICEF came up for mention.
Asedri said: “these children have come back to us. Some keep visiting our camp. For six months they have been staying at home. It was said we had wasted their time for education ...We want them to receive formal education. There should be money set aside for them to study, now that there is UPE.â€
The UNRF II camp at Bidi Bidi resembles a UPDF detach. It is situated about eight kilometres outside Yumbe town. I got there on a motorcycle.
I met groups of UNRF II rebels on the roadside that leads to their camp at Bidi bidi. Some were dressed in tattered military fatigues.
Some sat in small groups by the roadside listening to small radios. The UNRF II camp with a defence-like barricade of grass thatched mama ingia pole huts are built on the fringes of the camp. In the middle of the camp are three permanent buildings formerly used by United Nations High Commission for Refugees.
A teacher at Bidi bidi Primary School told me that they were co-existing peacefully with the rebels.
“We have not had any incidents in which they have harassed locals,†he said. I found them eating porridge from a large basin. The rebels told me that World Food Program-me supplies them with food and Action Against Hunger a French NGO takes care of their water.