VZCZCXYZ0010
RR RUEHWEB

DE RUEHKM #1534/01 2231247
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 111247Z AUG 06
FM AMEMBASSY KAMPALA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 7410
INFO RUEHXR/RWANDA COLLECTIVE
RUEHKH/AMEMBASSY KHARTOUM 0471

UNCLAS KAMPALA 001534 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR AF, AF/E, DRL, INR, PRM 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PHUM PREF PREL PGOV UG SU
SUBJECT: MORE NORTHERN UGANDAN OFFICIALS GOING TO JUBA 
 
REF: KHARTOUM 1894 
 
¶1.  (SBU)   Summary:  Ugandan officials view this week's 
back-and-forth by the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) delegation 
as nervous "antics" rather than a threat to the peace process 
and continue to support confidence-building efforts by 
northern Ugandans.  A group of five northern Ugandan 
parliamentarians will be trekking to Juba to take part in the 
negotiations.  They will join the group of local government 
and religious leaders led by Gulu District Chairman Norbert 
Mao to serve as a resource to both the Ugandan Government and 
LRA delegations.  The parliamentarians view their role as one 
of bolstering the confidence of the LRA leadership in the 
peace talks and the reconciliation process.  They are 
concerned that Vincent Otti's preoccupation with the 
International Criminal Court indictment will keep him away 
from the talks, thus preventing real progress at Juba.  The 
Ugandan parliament may soon amend the amnesty law to cover 
the LRA's top leadership.  End Summary. 
 
¶2.  (SBU)  The LRA's back-and-forth this week, including its 
declaration of the unilateral cease-fire and "walk-out" is to 
be expected, according to Norbert Mao, who recently led a 
delegation to see Joseph Kony at Garamba National Park.  He 
told poloff on August 11 that the LRA walk-outs are nervous 
"antics" designed to get attention and bide time while deputy 
LRA commander, Vincent Otti, mulls over his participation at 
Juba.  Mao said that last week Otti agreed in principle to 
join the talks, but continues to fear being turned over to 
the ICC despite the Government of Southern Sudan's assurances 
that it would not do so.  (Reftel) Machar also offered Otti 
sanctuary in southern Sudan after a peace deal is concluded, 
according to Mao.  In addition, Chief Negotiator Riek Machar 
reminded Otti that Sudan does not recognize the ICC, but Otti 
is concerned about being "snatched" by the United Nations in 
and around Juba.  Mao said that he offered himself to the LRA 
as collateral for Otti's safe passage and return to Juba.  He 
told Kony and Otti that he would remain at Garamba in 
exchange for Otti's participation as long as necessary.  To 
date, Mao has not been taken up on his offer. 
 
¶3.  (SBU)   Mao clarified press reports that he would 
participate in the talks on the LRA delegation.  Mao 
described the LRA as "overwhelmed" by the peace process and 
in search of "comfort.  He told Kony that could not 
participate on the LRA delegation because the LRA did not 
wage war on behalf of northern Ugandans.  However, he 
suggested to Kony that the northern Ugandan delegation could 
serve in an advisory capacity as a middle group representing 
northern society to both the LRA and the GOU.  Mao is leading 
the participation of northern Ugandan local, traditional, and 
religious leaders at Juba in close coordination with the 
Presidency to bring northern Ugandans into the process and to 
persuade the LRA that its members can be accepted back into 
society.  Chief negotiator Riek Machar has agreed to allow 
them to sit in on negotiating sessions, according to Mao. 
Reagan Okummu, MP from Gulu, told poloffs that a second group 
of the 15 Acholi members of parliament will be headed to the 
talks in two weeks to discuss with the LRA traditional means 
of establishing peace and reconciliation. 
 
¶4.  (SBU)  A more important aspect of parliamentary 
participation for the LRA is that the Ugandan parliament will 
likely amend the national amnesty act to include the names of 
LRA leaders as part of the peace process.  As a result, the 
traveling parliamentarians told poloffs, they can make 
President Museveni's amnesty pledge the law of the land.  One 
member of the delegation, Ezati Wadri, the parliamentary 
opposition leader, told poloffs that the potential for 
"external interference" (i.e. ICC) looms large in his direct 
discussions with Otti and among parliamentarians.  The 
resolution of the war in northern Uganda is a national issue 
on which there is consensus across party lines.  In his 
opinion, parliament, including the opposition, will support 
legalizing the amnesty for the LRA's leadership in the 
interest of bringing peace. 
 
¶5.  (SBU)  The GOU will continue to view with suspicion the 
LRA's demand for it to declare a cease-fire, according to 
Foreign Ministry and military officials.  The GOU wants the 
modalities of a cease-fire to be negotiated and signed at the 
upcoming negotiating session.  Government officials claim the 
LRA has never respected a cease-fire in the past.  As a 
result, the Government is pressing for the cease-fire 
discussions to begin at the talks or for the rebels to 
disclose their locations as a pre-condition for a cease-fire 
declaration on its part.  The LRA is unlikely to accept this 
pre-condition, according to Mao. 
- - - - 
COMMENT 
- - - - 
 
¶6.  (SBU)  Despite a week of frustrating developments and 
contradictory reports from Garamba and Juba, Ugandan 
officials remain optimistic that the northern war is in its 
end game and that it is only a matter of time before a deal 
it reached.  There is a feeling, however, that Vincent Otti 
must be persuaded to participate for the breakthrough to 
occur and that the ICC remains the cause of the blockage.  In 
the meantime, the GOU continues to support local initiatives 
regardless of the colorful personalities and inevitable local 
interests at play, especially those of Chairman Mao whose 
photograph hugging Kony is the subject of derision.  At the 
national level, there appears to be cross-party support for 
amnesty for the LRA leadership though the Government will 
need to work with non-Acholi ethnic groups in districts such 
as Lango and Teso in order to codify Museveni's pledge. 
BROWNING