Past RI Treasurer Brian Knowles A.M. with Rotary World Peace Fellow
Godfrey Geoffrey Mukalazi on his visit to the Club on 26 July 2005

MESSAGES FROM ROTARY WORLD PEACE FELLOW ALUMNUS GODFREY GEOFFREY MUKALAZI

21 April 2009
Peace Building Project to RAWCS

Dear Friends,
I am writing to you to inquire whether anyone can help on the subject matter. We're trying to submit a peace building proposal to Rotary Australia World Community Services (RAWCS), however we need to submit it through a Rotary Club in Australia. I am wondering if some one might be of help in locating a Club that might be interested to work with our organisation

 (The Great Lake Center For Conflict Resolution - see message of 13 June 2008 below).


In a further message on the same date Godfrey advised as follows:

I will be attending the Rotary World Peace Symposium in Birmingham and l am to present a paper; is any one from Gold Coast attending the RI Convention?
 

MESSAGE FROM ROTARY WORLD PEACE FELLOW ALUMNUS GODFREY GEOFFREY MUKALAZI
13 June 2008

Dear Friends,

It’s been long since we heard from each other. I am so apologetic for having kept myself in seclusion. It’s been excruciating, but to date l say it’s been worth it. When l completed my fellowship and subsequently returned to Uganda, l was highly optimistic and ambitious. Little did l think of a trying and frustrating transition! My two years experience in the first world blindfolded me from the reality in Africa and more so in Uganda.  The principle of merit in staffing is entirely absent, and probably that explains the poor institutions on the continent than hinder development. To cut the story short, in order to evade being compromised, l opted for going private and form a non governmental organisation. Interestingly, this has taken a full year to be approved and registered! However, as l write now, the Great Lakes Center for Conflict Resolution is a fully registered NGO in Uganda and Robert Opira of Class IV, agreed to partner up.

Our major goal is to contribute to the prevention and resolution of conflicts, and promotion of peace and security in the Great Lakes region of Africa through conducting action focused research; policy advocacy; facilitating dialogues; and provision of training in areas of conflict resolution, peacebuilding, and human rights.

Our embryonic programme will start with Gulu and Amuru district in northern Uganda, then to other districts in the same region. Our mission is to cover the Great Lakes region of Africa. That is, Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi and Democratic Republic of Congo. For northern Uganda, our goal is to reduce conflicts by strengthening communities and local government conflict resolution structures and mechanisms. The main objectives are:
 

To increase access to information on peace and conflict in Northern Uganda and establish early warning signals of conflicts for timely intervention
 

To build the capacity of community and local leaders to enable them to effectively resolve conflicts in their communities
 

To support community and local government structures and mechanisms to effectively resolve conflicts in the community.

After the National Resistance Movement (NRM), which is currently in power, captured Kampala in January 1986, remnants of the defeated government army fled north either to Acholiland’s three districts of Gulu, Kitgum, and Pader, or across the border into Sudan. In pursuit of these forces, the NRM launched a military campaign to stabilize Acholiland, stoking the grievances that subsequently drove the insurgency. Although the NRM incorporated some of the Acholi leaders into government structures, deep suspicions about the government’s intentions wrought a militant millenarian movement led first by Alice Lakwena’s Holy Spirit Movement, and, later, by her cousin, Joseph Kony’s Lord Resistance Army (LRA). Throughout the insurgency, the LRA failed to provide a coherent political platform and increasingly relied on violent attacks on civilian targets and the forcible abductions of children into its ranks. Starting in the mid-1990s, the conflict became a proxy war between Uganda and Sudan. In response to the Museveni government’s support for the Sudan People’s Liberation Army/Movement (SPLA/M), the Islamic government in Khartoum provided logistical and military support to the LRA, adding a complex regional layer to the conflict. Sudanese support declined appreciably from July 2002 after the government permitted Ugandan forces to attack rebel bases in Sudan, diminishing the capacity of the LRA.

For the last 21 years, the government of Uganda has pursued various strategies to end the conflicts. While the government’s major focus has been on military solutions, it has also pursued bilateral as well as multilateral diplomatic strategies and a number of regional agreements have been signed to deal with the conflicts. The government has also engaged the LRA in a number of direct peace talks, with the last being the Juba Peace Talk which is still continuing since September 2006. Although these strategies have partly succeeded in reducing the intensity of the conflicts, they have failed to end the conflicts. However, there is hope that the Juba Peace Talks will finally bring the conflicts to an end.

Since the beginning of the Juba Peace Talks, and the eventual signing of the Cessation of Hostility Agreement, there has been no fighting in the region. The relative peace has prompted people, with encouragement of the government and CSO to leave camps and return to their villages. However, as the final peace agreement has not yet been signed by the warring parties, the return process of the internally displaced persons has been slow due to fear that war may resume if the Juba Peace Talks collapses.

Despite of the slow return process of internally displaced persons (IDP), the process of peacebuilding, reconciliation and reconstruction is being undertaken by various stakeholders in the region. The government has developed the Peace, Recovery and Development Plan for Northern Uganda (PRDP) as a national framework for recovery and rebuilding the region. All recovery and peacebuilding programmes being implemented in the region by all stakeholders are required to be within this national framework. The strategic objectives of the PRDP are; consolidation of state authority, rebuilding and empowering communities, revitalization of the economy, and peacebuilding and reconciliation. It is from this plan that our goal and objectives are grounded.

In scope and intensity, the conflict has exacted an enormous toll on the socioeconomic fabric, costing the lives of thousands of civilians and consigning an estimated 1.5 million population of IDPs in protected camps. Idleness, hopelessness, and alcoholism are pressing problems in IDP camps. Now that vast segment of the population that was displaced is returning to their homes from the camps. There is need to mitigate conflict potential related to eventual return of IDPs; need to mitigate potential for large-scale land alienation for commercial agriculture by political elite/military. This can be done through Programs that promote reconciliation and peaceful approaches to conflict resolution that draw from the structures of authority replicated in camps such as traditional elders, youth leaders and women’s groups. And at the Great Lakes Center for Conflict Resolution, we believe that this can be partly alleviated through a significant injection of resources in training and educating the returnees in Peace Building and Conflict Transformation skills. We call for your prayers as we strive to achieve our goal.

 APOLOGY FOR KEEPING IT LONG.

Best wishes,

Godfrey