VZCZCXRO6042
RR RUEHGI RUEHRN RUEHROV
DE RUEHKM #1853/01 3410830
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 070830Z DEC 07
FM AMEMBASSY KAMPALA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 9715
INFO RUEHKH/AMEMBASSY KHARTOUM 0677
RUCNIAD/IGAD COLLECTIVE
RUEHXR/RWANDA COLLECTIVE
RUEHTO/AMEMBASSY MAPUTO 0464
RUEHSA/AMEMBASSY PRETORIA 3398
RHMFIUU/CJTF HOA

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 KAMPALA 001853 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPARTMENT PASS TO USAID AND OFDA 
 
E.O. 12958:  N/A 
TAGS: PHUM PREF ASEC EAID UG SU CG
SUBJECT:  NORTHERN UGANDA NOTES (November 3-30, 2007) 
 
 
¶1.  (U) Summary: The following Northern Uganda Notes provide 
information on the situation on the ground and USG activities aimed 
at meeting Mission's objectives in northern Uganda.  These 
objectives include promoting regional stability through peace and 
security, good governance, access to social services, economic 
growth, and humanitarian assistance.  Post appreciates feedback from 
consumers on the utility of this product and any gaps in information 
that need to be filled.  End Summary. 
 
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PEACE AND RECONCILIATION PROCESSES 
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¶2.  (U) The LRA's negotiating team arrived in Kampala on November 1 
and met with President Museveni on November 3.  Museveni encouraged 
the LRA members to sign a peace deal and said that the LRA would be 
welcomed back into Uganda.  The LRA delegates insisted that the 
International Criminal Court (ICC) indictments be lifted. 
 
¶3.  (SBU) During the meeting, the Government and LRA extended the 
Cessation of Hostilities Agreement (CHA) until January 31.  The CHA 
extension would be reviewed on February 1. 
 
¶4.  (U) Patrick Opiyo Makasi, the LRA's chief of operations, fled 
the LRA's Garamba Park hideout on October 2 after Joseph Kony 
arrested his deputy, Vincent Otti, along with other top officers and 
combatants.  On November 1, Makasi and his wife applied for and were 
granted amnesty after renouncing rebellion. 
 
¶5.  (U) Makasi detailed the rupture between Kony and Otti in the 
press.  He said Kony had invited Otti to a meeting at which he was 
arrested.  Makasi feigned illness and did not go.  He fled the LRA 
camp after being tipped off that he was to be arrested.  Makasi said 
that there were only 834 people in the LRA camp.  Six hundred of 
them were fighters, according to Makasi. 
 
¶6.  (U) LRA negotiators continued to deny allegations of LRA deputy 
leader Otti's death during their consultations in Uganda.  Northern 
residents demanded to hear Otti's voice on the radio and refused to 
participate in consultations at Rikwangba, the last stage of the LRA 
meetings, until Kony clarified Otti's fate.  Kony refused to appear 
on the radio, but instead called Gulu District Chairman Norbert Mao 
and claimed that Otti was under arrest, not dead. 
 
¶7.  (U) Another group of LRA defectors confirmed that Otti was 
killed on October 2 on orders from Kony.  The group reached U.N. 
peacekeepers on November 18 and included Sunday Otto, Richard Okema, 
and Odong-kau. They claimed that senior LRA officers Ben Accelam, 
Otim Record, and Swaib Adjumani were killed alongside Otti. 
 
¶8.  (U) The LRA completed its consultations in the north and then 
proceeded to western and central Uganda.  The overwhelming message 
was for the LRA to sign a peace deal and return home.  Northern 
opinion remained decidedly anti-ICC, but in areas such as Lango and 
Teso there was more popular support for a legal trial than in Acholi 
districts. 
 
¶9.  (U) During its delegation meeting with Museveni, the LRA 
requested that Uganda petition the International Criminal Court to 
suspend the arrest warrants for the indicted LRA leaders.  The 
delegates asserted that the warrants should be suspended for 12 
months to allow Joseph Kony to sign a comprehensive peace agreement. 
 Religious, cultural, and local leaders support the suspension of 
the warrants and advocate traditional justice methods to restore 
relationships with communities. 
 
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HUMANITARIAN ASSISTANCE AND ECONOMIC RECOVERY 
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¶10.  (U) USAID Northern Uganda Advisor reports that population 
movement was expected to increase in the next few months (the dry 
season) in the LRA affected areas.  Three patterns of movement will 
likely continue: (1) IDPs moving collectively to transit or 
satellite camps (2) IDPs moving directly to their homesteads, and 
(3) IDPs remaining in camps or trading centers.  Due to close 
proximity of many IDPs to their land, the latter group could be 30 
percent of camp population or higher.  This challenges the 
traditional view among the humanitarian community of IDP return 
followed by reintegration.  In northern Uganda, because of the close 
proximity of many IDPs to home, there would likely be a 
reintegration followed by return.  The need for basic services such 
as water, education, healthcare and roads remains the same.  If 
 
KAMPALA 00001853  002 OF 003 
 
 
focus is placed on providing reintegration assistance, the return 
should take care of itself. 
 
¶11.  (U) The U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) 
successfully employed the use of radio to educate IDP's about 
returning home.  UNHCR broadcast programs about security, education, 
health, and gender based violence on Mega and ChoiceFM, the major 
radio stations in Gulu area.  Henry Leafe, Office Director of UNHCR 
in Gulu stated that radio was the most effective means of mass 
communication in rural communities. 
 
¶12.  (U) Empowering Hands, a Gulu-based non-governmental 
organization, petitioned the UN to place greater emphasis on the 
plight of child abductees forced into child soldiering around the 
world.  Former abductees who escaped the LRA founded the 
organization.  Empowering Hands reintegrates escapees and freed 
children into their communities and provides counseling and 
training. 
 
¶13.  (U) Caritas, a Catholic non-governmental organization, 
sponsored the surgery of 36 victims of the LRA from November 22-23. 
The patients had lost arms, ears, lips and other body parts during 
the insurgency of the LRA.  They were from various sub- counties in 
the north. The Government of Uganda stated that it would sponsor a 
similar event next year at Mulago Hospital. 
 
¶14.  (U) USG Activities: USAID Uganda's $9.2 million three-year 
Rural Savings Promotion and Enhancement of Enterprise Development 
(Rural SPEED) ended on 9 November.  This concluded a decade of 
Mission exclusive support to the micro, small and medium enterprise 
(MSME) finance industry during which USAID leadership influenced the 
robust and rapid growth of the MSME sector.  USAID's partnership 
with the private sector achieved several successes in the micro and 
small finance industry. 
 
¶15.  (U) The Indoor Residual Spraying (IRS) program was launched in 
all Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) camps and villages where 
former IDPs are returning to their homes in northern Amuru district 
last week.  This program targets 110,000 households to be sprayed 
with Government of Uganda-approved synthetic pyrethroids (ICON-WP) 
and will protect approximately 420,000 people from malaria.  The 
program was officially launched by the Honorable Dr. Steven 
Mallinga, the Minister of Health, who informed the public that IRS 
conducted in Uganda with President's Malaria Initiative (PMI) 
support reduces the malaria burden in Western and Northern Uganda. 
In the next two months the northern districts of Gulu, Oyam and Apac 
will also be sprayed.  In 2008, 15 districts in Uganda will benefit 
from the PMI IRS spraying. 
¶16.  (U) USG Activities: The CJTF HOA civil affairs team started the 
construction of a children's ward for the Kitgum Referral Hospital. 
The children's ward will be 240 square meters and house a small 
clinic and have wards for maternity, delivery, and pediatric. 
Construction on a library in Kitgum has also started.  Work 
continues on providing clean drinking water to Northern Uganda and 
contracts to drill several wells have been finalized.  In January, a 
veterinarian civil affairs project will be conducted in Gulu 
District and parts of Amuru District.  This project will provide 
inoculation against several common diseases for cows, pigs, goats, 
and dogs. 
 
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SECURITY UPDATE 
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¶17.  (U) On November 13, Onen Kamdulu, a former LRA director of 
0perations, was arrested for aggravated robbery in Gulu.  Kamadulu 
was detained with former LRA members Maj. Thomas Opiyo, UPDF 
Lieutenant Odongkara Ajiba, and four other individuals.  They were 
charged with robbing Sunday Opayat in Anganga village, Akokoro 
sub-county.  Kamadulu was one of the key state witnesses against FDC 
leader Kizza Besigye. 
¶18.  (U)  The Bon Ayom area of Pader District remains tense after a 
series of robberies, freshly planted land mines, and the killing of 
two members of local defense units (LDU) occurred in a one-month 
period.  UPDF are patrolling the area.  There have been no reported 
incidents since October 30.  U.N. security will undertake an 
assessment to determine when travel restrictions can be lifted. 
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IN THE MEDIA AND THE WEB 
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¶19.  (U) "Kony Eats Otti's Penis," headlined the tabloid newspaper 
"Saturday Red Pepper" on 17 November.  The article cited unnamed 
 
KAMPALA 00001853  003 OF 003 
 
 
intelligence sources, who claimed to have obtained information from 
sources close to Kony, regarding Otti's alleged post-execution fate. 
 According to these reports, a Gulu-based "witchdoctor" was brought 
to Garamba, accompanied by a white goat suitable for sacrifice.  In 
Garamba, rituals were undertaken with Otti's body parts (and the 
goat's) with the intent of containing Otti's ghost.  Kony, as 
executioner, has reason to fear retribution by Otti's reincarnated 
spirit. 
 
¶20.  (U) The "Red Pepper" specializes in sensationalist stories, and 
often (usually) pushes the boundaries of accepted journalistic 
practice.  However, the paper does have sources in the Ugandan 
security/military establishment.  Kony's history of using ritual and 
claims of contact with spirit mediums also lends some credence to 
the story. 
 
¶21.  (U)  On November 19, "The East African" headlined "Exile for 
Kony the Best Option for Peace in Northern Uganda," citing an 
October 29 report by the Enough Project, "What To Do With Joseph 
Kony?" The Enough Project report, authored by John Prendergast, said 
that "the time to strike a deal was now."  The report presents three 
options for dealing with Kony. The first would have Kony agreeing to 
return to Uganda, where he would face serious domestic justice 
mechanisms meeting local needs and international standards.  The 
second option would be asylum in a third country, and the third 
option would be his arrest. 
 
¶22.  (U)  "A credible military option, involving regional states, 
the UN missions in Sudan and Congo, and governments willing to offer 
equipment and personnel, combined with a sustained, high-level 
diplomatic push directed at Kony, might provide the essential 
ingredient and leverage to get the job done," according to the 
report.  The report also recommended that the State Department 
remove Kony from its Terrorist List if Kony signed a peace 
agreement. 
CHRITTON