Concluding Africa tour, UN relief aid official voices hope for lasting peace
Wrapping up an eight-day mission to southern Sudan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Uganda and the Great Lakes region of Africa, the United Nations Emergency Relief Coordinator today expressed cautious optimism about prospects for peace in the region.
“I’m more optimistic than I’ve been on any of my visits before to this region that some of the worst wars of our generation are coming to an end,” said Mr. Egeland at a press conference in Nairobi.
He arrived there from Juba, in southern Sudan, after stops in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Uganda.
Mr. Egeland said that the DRC and northern Uganda could see a dramatic return to normalcy in the coming months, with hundreds of thousands going back to their homes. He said that improving conditions in the region, where conflict has claimed millions of lives, is “the greatest challenge of our time.”
Mr. Egeland added that, after meeting with the Ugandan Government and the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) rebel group, he was hopeful that the LRA would soon begin releasing some of the thousands of women and children it has abducted.
He expressed concern that the UN system, though more than willing to help with recovery and the return of displaced persons, would not have enough money to get the job done.
He also voiced hope that African political, military and cultural elites would avoid the catastrophic mistakes they made in the past and that there would not be impunity for crimes against civilians, especially widespread rapes.
“Sexual abuse of women has become a cancer really in the whole culture, in the whole civilization of the Great Lakes Region,” he said noting that tens of thousands of women had been abused. “It is destroying the whole moral and social fabric of society.”
Help was needed to build a justice system, he said, while pointing out that “it takes five minutes to demote a colonel who is responsible for soldiers who have abused civilians; it takes five minutes to demote or fire a public employee who tolerated corruption or tolerated abuse.”
Asked whether he would be able to convince displaced persons that indictments against members of the LRA will not stop the peace process, Mr. Egeland said that merely forgiving and forgetting could lead to violence starting all over again. The International Criminal Court (ICC) has indicted the five most senior LRA leaders.
“These are war crimes, crimes against humanity,” said Mr. Egeland. “Justice has to be served in a manner which is commensurate.”