VZCZCXRO4355
RR RUEHROV
DE RUEHKM #1172/01 1980526
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 170526Z JUL 07
FM AMEMBASSY KAMPALA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 9086
INFO RUCNIAD/IGAD COLLECTIVE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 KAMPALA 001172 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PHUM SOCI MOPS UG
SUBJECT: UGANDA: ROUNDUP ON STAFFDEL SMITH AND KUIKEN VISIT 
 
¶1.  (SBU) Summary: Senate Foreign Relations Committee and Senate 
Armed Services Committee Professional staff members Shannon Smith 
and Michael Kuiken visited Uganda from July 4-7, 2007 to gain 
further understanding on both bilateral and military relations. The 
team examined the ongoing peace process in northern Uganda, health 
and development issues, the President's Emergency Plans for AIDS 
Relief (PEPFAR), counterterrorism and special operations efforts, 
and the establishment of Africa Command (AFRICOM).  The staff 
delegation visited USAID and PEPFAR programs in Kampala and Gulu. 
They met with the civil-military affairs team in Gulu and held 
consultations with several key NGO and UN partners as well as with 
Ugandan Government officials. End Summary. 
 
----------------------- 
The Juba Peace Process 
----------------------- 
 
¶2.  (SBU) On July 4, the staff delegation was briefed by Henry 
Okello Oryem, Minister of State for International Affairs and Deputy 
Lead Negotiator for the Government of Uganda (GOU), on recent 
developments in the Juba Peace Talks.  He outlined the events 
leading to the signing of the third agenda item on the principles 
and mechanisms of accountability.  Oryem noted the current recess in 
talks will be used to consult with religious leaders in the North 
and legal representatives in Kampala to flesh out an alternative 
justice mechanism acceptable to Ugandans and the international 
community.  He recognized the key role the U.S. plays in northern 
Uganda and behind-the-scenes on the Juba talks. However, Oryem 
stressed that sending a special U.S. envoy to the talks would 
disrupt the peace process and invite unwanted propaganda and 
accusations from the Khartoum government. Oryem expressed the GOU's 
fear that increased U.S. involvement would prompt Khartoum to step 
up its assistance to the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), which could 
scuttle progress made to date. 
 
¶3.  (SBU) The staff delegation raised the peace process during 
meetings in Gulu with several Northern religious and political 
leaders.  The Juba Peace Process, transitional justice, and 
prospects for internally displaced persons (IDP) returns dominated 
conversations.  Kitara McMat, the Deputy District Chairman for Gulu 
highlighted improved regional security and increasing number of IDP 
returns but cautioned that some IDPs would not go home until the LRA 
leadership accepted peace. To promote peace, religious and political 
leaders advocated for alternative justice mechanisms, such as Mato 
Oput, in the final peace agreement.  Although such mechanisms have 
never been used before for crimes of this magnitude, the community 
leaders argued that "Western" justice would be insufficient to 
compensate the hundreds of thousands of victims and to promote 
sustainable peace. 
 
¶4.  (SBU) Northern religious and political leaders were especially 
ardent in their arguments for a more visible U.S. presence in the 
North, including the appointment of a US special envoy to Juba. 
Resident District Commissioner Colonel Walter Ochora argued that 
while the talks have made significant progress, neither Government 
of Southern Sudan (GOSS) mediator Riek Machar nor UN envoy Joaquim 
Chissano had control over the LRA to prevent the talks from 
collapsing as they have in past iterations.  According to Ochora, a 
U.S. envoy to Juba would boost the confidence of the northern Uganda 
population and provide an authoritative voice to keep both parties 
committed to the talks. 
 
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IDP Returns 
------------ 
 
¶5.  (SBU) The staff delegation met with village representatives at 
Monroc IDP decongestion site outside of Gulu, home to approximately 
4,672 displaced persons who resettled to Monroc from larger camps. 
The IDPs expressed frustration over the lack of government 
assurances of safety and services, fears of unexploded ordinances or 
land mines, and an inability to cultivate enough food in the camp 
due to insufficient seeds and tools. The camp leader speculated that 
within a year, most of the residents at Monroc would be able to 
cultivate enough food to start returning all the way home. 
Following the camp visit, the staff delegation witnessed a World 
Food Program (WFP) food distribution in Keyo for approximately 5,000 
beneficiaries. 
 
¶6.  (SBU) In Kampala, the staff delegation had the opportunity to 
consult with several UN and NGO partners to discuss the challenges 
in transitioning from relief to development in the LRA-affected 
areas of northern Uganda.  According to UN OCHA representative Tim 
Pitt, far fewer people have returned home than previously believed, 
spreading humanitarian agencies thinly across the original camps and 
close to 380 resettlement sites.  The lack of government services in 
many of the resettlement sites is leading to higher malnutrition 
rates and necessitating both emergency relief and recovery in some 
areas. The partners bemoaned the lack of a clear government policy 
on returns and hoped that the Government's Peace, Recovery, and 
Development Plan, currently in draft form and expected to dedicate 
 
KAMPALA 00001172  002 OF 003 
 
 
$350 million to northern Uganda over the next three years, would 
bolster local government. 
 
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PEPFAR 
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¶7.  (SBU) The delegation visited two PEPFAR-supported comprehensive 
HIV/AIDS care and treatment facilities, Reach Out Mbuya in Kampala 
and The AIDS Support Organization (TASO) in Gulu, where they 
witnessed testimonies from clients and accompanied staff on a 
Antiretroviral Therapy (ART) home visit.  Reach Out Mbuya cares for 
more than 2,500 HIV positive clients and families and provides ART 
to over 1,500 clients.  The program is supported by a network of 
community volunteers, 70 percent of whom are also HIV-infected. The 
TASO center in Gulu is one of eleven branches throughout Uganda and 
supports more than 7,350 clients.  In 2004, TASO was allocated 
initial PEPFAR funds to expand their care and counseling services to 
include the provision of ART using their innovative strategy of 
delivering home-based ART by motorcycle. With additional PEPFAR 
funds in 2005, TASO was able to expand their home-based counseling 
and testing for ART patients and families. 
 
¶8.  (SBU) On July 7, Representatives from the NGO community, Center 
for Disease Control (CDC), PEPFAR, and USAID met with staff member 
Smith to discuss health and HIV/AIDS issues for the upcoming PEPFAR 
reauthorization bill. The group primarily discussed earmarks as a 
limitation to prevention programs.  Although some earmarks help 
guide programming, for example the earmark for orphans and 
vulnerable children (OVC), most inhibit the response to local 
epidemics.  The prevention earmarks focus on behavioral 
interventions and make it difficult to include biomedical ones, such 
as male circumcision and family planning for HIV positive people, 
particularly HIV positive mothers in Prevention of Mother to Child 
Transmission (PMTCT) programs; and do not provide the flexibility to 
incorporate other evidence based biomedical interventions as they 
become available.  The discussion also highlighted other 
difficulties in the health sector including recruitment and 
retention of staff in rural and hard to reach areas despite many 
unemployed recent nursing and medical graduates, the need for 
nutritional supplementation, and challenges with supply chain 
management of essential HIV/AIDS commodities. 
 
------------------ 
Military Relations 
------------------ 
 
¶9.  (SBU) The staff delegation visited a Combined Joint Task Force - 
Horn of Africa (CJTF-HOA) training facility in Kasenyi in order to 
observe first-hand military to military relations and 
counterterrorism training.  The delegation witnessed a training 
exercise in which Ugandan People's Defense Force (UPDF) soldiers 
trained how to properly search a building occupied by terrorists. 
 
¶10.  (SBU) On July 7, Chief of Defense Forces Aronda Nyakairima, 
Commander for Land Forces Lieutenant General Katumba Wamala, and 
Chief of Military Intelligence Leopold Kyanda briefed the delegation 
on military issues.  Aronda remains uncertain whether the situation 
in Mogadishu has improved since the AU Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) 
began.  He argued against any "hybrid" AU-UN peacekeeping mission in 
Somalia, explaining such a mission will only encourage the Union of 
Islamic Courts to keep the security situation chaotic, judging the 
UN as unlikely to get involved under such circumstances.  He 
stressed that Uganda and the UPDF stand ready to actively work with 
the U.S. as partners against terrorism.  Wamala indicated the UPDF 
does not intend to rotate its next contingent into Mogadishu until 
November or December 2007, instead of this August or September, 
ostensibly because highly motivated UPDF troops "want" to remain. 
Wamala also signaled that the force is to replace, not augment, the 
current battle group.  However, he indicated that a successful 
conclusion of peace talks with the LRA would free up UPDF 
commitments in northern Uganda and allow an expansion of Uganda's 
AMISOM contingent, which Wamala signaled the UPDF was amenable to 
doing.  Finally, he identified improvised explosive devices (IEDs) 
as the UPDF's biggest challenge in Mogadishu for the foreseeable 
future and, therefore, regards force protection as a top priority. 
 
 
¶11.  (SBU) The Ugandan military officials stated the U.S. brokered 
Tripartite plus process continues to help build confidence between 
the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Uganda, and Rwanda.  Kyanda 
said the People's Redemption Army (PRA) remains an outstanding issue 
between Rwanda and Uganda.  Rwanda is demanding that Uganda produce 
a PRA organizational chart before it will take action against 
alleged PRA in Rwanda.  Wamala stated that DRC has been more willing 
to discuss the LRA presence in Garamba, but has yet to take concrete 
action. 
 
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Comment 
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KAMPALA 00001172  003 OF 003 
 
 
 
¶12.  (SBU) The staff delegation covered a wide range of issues while 
in Uganda.  Smith was particularly interested in gaining post's 
perspective on PEPFAR before the re-authorization bill is 
considered.  Both staff members gained a deeper appreciation for 
conditions in northern Uganda, particularly that there have been 
very few LRA activities in Uganda in over a year and that many of 
the IDPs have already returned home and many more are on their way 
home.  At the conclusion of the trip neither raised the issue of a 
special U.S. envoy for the LRA talks, perhaps mindful of Okello 
Oryem's concerns that Khartoum would react negatively to increased 
U.S. involvement and possibly jeopardize the talks.  The staff 
members were also impressed by the level of interaction and 
involvement by the embassy officers in Kampala and Juba with the 
parties and mediation team at the talks.  It is clear to post that 
the briefings provided by advocacy NGOs to the Hill are not giving 
sufficient weight to positive developments in the north at the Juba 
talks.  We look forward to CODELS Lowey and Feingold next month and 
hope to be able to provide them a more accurate picture of northern 
Uganda and the positive role the U.S. is playing at Juba.