MAO BLASTS MUSEVENI ON DEADLINES
BY JOHN MUTO-ONO P’LAJUR
GULU
19th September 2006

GULU LCV Chairman Norbert Mao has blasted President
Yoweri Museveni saying the President was so obsessed
with issuing deadlines for peace, yet peace building
is a human project which is subjected to human
weaknesses and emotions, which require no deadlines.
“You are not going to change human nature. You must
understand to work around it. Peace building takes
time. I am surprised that Museveni is obsessed with
deadlines for peace.”
Mao made the remarks while closing a one-day
consultation meeting on the practicability of
reconciliation on September 18th, 2006 at the GUSCO
Peace Centre Conference Hall in Gulu town. Northern
Uganda Peace Initiative (NUPI) organized the meeting
in conjunction with District Reconciliation and Peace
team (DRPT).
Mao said it was wrong for President Museveni to
continue to issue deadlines in resolving the conflict
in northern Uganda yet he knows that he was dealing
with people with different understandings from his
position on issues.
“If you were a farmer, you cannot say that the seeds
you have planted today must germinate in three days.
You cannot tell your wife that on this day, you must
deliver our baby. Even doctors only estimate the day
on which a mother may deliver her baby.”
He said the conflict in Mozambique took three years of
negotiation to resolve and that the Sudanese were
almost fighting during the protracted negotiations in
Kenya.
“If I had the opportunity, I would advise President
Museveni to avoid this fast-food approach to peace
building. That is not how you build peace.”
President Museveni had issued a September 12th
deadline by which a Comprehensive Peace Agreement
(CPA) to end 20 years of war in northern Uganda would
have been signed between government and the Lord’s
Resistance Army (LRA) rebels. The Government of
Southern Sudan is mediating the talks in Juba.
That deadline was extended to September 19th, with
only one agenda out of five being disposed off.
Un-easy truce exists although both sides have issued
alarm warnings of a possible renewal of hostilities,
as talks are yet to resume in Juba.
Mao said many people from other regions, which have
been affected by the war, are now coming to express
interest in participating in the talks as observers.
He said cultural leaders from Lango, Teso, Bunyoro and
West Nile have indicated that they would send their
representatives to join Acholi paramount Chief, Rwot
David Onen-Acana at the talks.
“To avoid people rocking your boat, let them be busy
holding the oar. If you don’t let them, you will
sink.”
Mao also counseled the two sides negotiating in Juba
to be watchful of conflict entrepreneurs who are all
out to make sure the talks doesn’t succeed. He said
such entrepreneur might even donate money for the
peace process, yet they may have different agenda.
He named Mark Thatcher, the son of former British
Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, as such conflict
entrepreneur.
“They sit in their air-conditioned offices and decide
where the next conflict should be. If I were the
president, I would organize the commons to hang such a
man and then I would also be hanged. They can animate
politicians with ambitions and promise heavens.”
Mao said peace building is dangerous, risky and not
for the faint hearted.
“If fact peace builders are more courageous than
warriors.”
He said the current talks have helped demystify the
LRA and its leader Joseph Kony.
“In the past people were questioning if Kony the
person really exists. We have now found out that Kony
is a real human being who needs to be helped. The
people are no longer afraid of the LRA as was the case
in the past.”
Mao also warned Ugandans not to toss so much or
celebrate so much about the signing of a CPA because
the implementation stage of any agreement is the most
difficult.
“This is where most deals fail. Marriage is not the
wedding day where two individuals with different
backgrounds come to live together. Let us avoid
tossing too much at the signing of a CPA.”
The meeting noted that there was great need for
psychosocial counseling of the returnees and the
displaced going back to their homes from the camps.
The Chief of Party of NUPI, Stig Hansaen said Uganda,
with only 30 psychologists, cannot meet the tasks of
counseling in northern Uganda.
“There is a huge request for community counseling. The
30 psychologists are not enough. There is a lot of
disorder created by camp environments. It is
heartbreaking enough. Integrations has been taking
place but it has not taken roots.”
ENDS.