28/08/2006

Ugandan ceasefire brokered by St. Egidio community

The government of Uganda has reached a historic ceasefire agreement with rebels of the Lord's Resistance Army, brokered by mediators from the St. Egidio community.

Representatives of the Italian lay apostolate announced that the ceasefire was signed on August 26, crowning the success of talks held in Juba, in southern Sudan. The St. Egidio community has been intensively involved in mediation efforts, especially in African nations.

The ceasefire comes, the St. Egidio announcement notes, "nearly 20 years after the beginning of the terrible conflict that torments northern Uganda and southern Sudan." The brutal civil war, marked by flagrant human-rights violations, has produced more than 100,000 victims-- "almost exclusively civilians," the announcement noted-- and driven 1.7 million people from their homes into refugee camps.

The ceasefire came after more than a month of talks, supported by the St. Egidio community and the government of southern Sudan. The agreement calls for a withdrawal of Ugandan rebel troops from the territory of southern Sudan, coupled with a reconfiguration of the forces of southern Sudan, who only recently gained a measure of autonomy after their own bloody struggle with the Khartoum regime.

The accord calls for the immediate delivery of humanitarian aid to the people of northern Uganda, who have been severely battered by long civil war. It calls for the creation of a mixed commission to verify the cessation of hostilities while further talks are conducted to establish a comprehensive peace plan.

Mario Giro, a spokesman for St. Egidio, told Vatican Radio that the agreement does not end the conflict in Uganda, but it is a critical first step. "The most difficult thing was to begin," he said, and the ceasefire is a bid to overcome "20 years of mistrust." Now, he said, "we have to catch the momentum" of the agreement with further negotiations.

Earlier efforts to launch negotiations between the government of Uganda's President Yoweri Museveni and the rebels of the Lord's Resistance Army have foundered, as rebel leaders failed to turn up for scheduled negotiating sessions. The rebels later announced that they did not trust the government to honor safe-conduct pledges.

The Lord's Resistance Army, headed by Joseph Kony, has ample reason to be concerned about government pledges of clemency. Kony is the subject of an international arrest warrant, having been cited by the International Criminal Court for war crimes. Archbishop John Baptist Odama of Gulu, Uganda, has been critical of the international arrest warrant, saying that it has discouraged participation in peace talks and thus is "blocking the peace initiative."

The St. Egidio community, founded in 1968 and formally recognized by the Holy See in 1986, now has 50,000 members, primarily in Italy but also in 70 other countries. The group has often conducted what has been described as a "parallel diplomacy" reflecting the policies of the Vatican.

The St. Egidio community has previously been instrumental in negotiations in Guatemala, Mozambique, Algeria, and Ivory Coast.