Bigombe slams mafia in elusive Kony peace treaty

Former peace negotiator Betty Bigombe has revealed the reasons behind the collapse of the 1994 peace accord between Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) commander Joseph Kony and the Ugandan government. This was a pivotal moment that could have ended the war in northern Uganda earlier.

Ms Bigombe, now Uganda’s High Commissioner in Kuala Lumpur and a former envoy and minister to the World Bank, first contacted Kony in 1993. She told how the rebel leader was on the verge of signing a peace accord that would bring peace to the region. However, she claims their efforts were being thwarted by “selfish people” who profited from the ongoing conflict, even as fighting between the LRA rebels and government forces continued to ravage northern Uganda, killing tens of thousands.

In an exclusive interview with this publication in Kampala over the weekend, Ms Bigombe, who was also the Minister of State for Pacification of Northern Uganda, explained that Kony had expressed a desire to end the fighting and restore peace through negotiations.

“In 1993 and 1994, we agreed to negotiate and sign a peace agreement. Unfortunately, that effort was undermined. I am still convinced that Kony was willing to talk at that time,” she said.

Ms Bigombe criticised those who sabotaged the peace process, saying that various parties played a role, including government officials who profited from the conflict.

“In any conflict, there are always a lot of spoilers. The fact that I was a woman also played a role. Some northerners wondered how a woman could succeed. There were also government officials, particularly in the military, who profited from the war. The ghost soldiers and the junk helicopters were examples of how some military officers made money,” she said.

The ‘junk helicopter’ deal, a scandal surrounding the Ugandan government’s purchase of defective helicopters from a UK-based company, and the issue of ghost soldiers within the military are well-documented controversies.

Military intelligence revealed that the helicopters did not meet contractual specifications and that part of the payment was never repaid.

The issue of the ghost soldiers underscored the challenges facing the military in ending the Kony war. Ms Bigombe alleged that for some officers the conflict had become a business, with suppliers of weapons, food and humanitarian aid taking advantage of the situation.

She said: “For some officers it had also become a business.”

Brigadier General Felix Kulayigye, the Director of Defence Information, rejected Bigombe’s claims.

He acknowledged that while there were problems with some commanders, the main reason for the failure of the 1994 peace talks was Kony’s attempts to obtain weapons from the Sudanese government.

“Kony reached out to Khartoum for support during the talks. Once he secured their support, he walked out of the talks,” Brig Kulayigye said.

He further noted that the military had taken steps to address the problem of ghost soldiers and prosecuted errant officers. However, he stressed that the problem of ghost soldiers was not the main reason for the failure of the 1994 peace talks.

Mr. Bigombe also recounted how the LRA attack on the Barlonyo refugee camp in 2004, which killed hundreds of people, prompted her to resume peace negotiations.

“When I saw the images on the screens, my heart broke. I decided I couldn’t stand by and watch people being slaughtered,” she said. She returned to Uganda and urged President Museveni to make peace a priority, warning him that the ongoing war was damaging his legacy.

Bigombe again contacted Kony, who initially reacted hostilely but eventually agreed to resume talks.

“Kony himself came on the phone and said, ‘We want peace. Museveni is against peace.’ I urged him to talk, emphasizing the ongoing suffering. Eventually, we resumed the peace process,” she recalled.

Brigadier Kulayigye, who was part of the peace talks team that met Kony in Garamba, questioned how a government unwilling to pursue peace could send its senior officers unprotected to negotiate with the rebels.

“The government was serious about ending the war. The peace delegation included senior figures like Dr Ruhakana Rugunda, late Jacob Oulanyah and others, protected only by God,” he said.