----- Original Message ----- 
From: Vovi Uganda e.V. 
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Cc: [log in to unmask] ; [log in to unmask] ; Alex Abukha ; [log in to unmask] 
Sent: Friday, March 26, 2004 4:58 PM
Subject: Uganda: Interview With US Ambassador Jimmy Kolker 


Uganda: Interview With US Ambassador Jimmy Kolker 

UN Integrated Regional Information Networks 
INTERVIEW
March 26, 2004 
Posted to the web March 26, 2004 
Kampala 

Jimmy Kolker is the United States ambassador to Uganda. In an interview with IRIN this week, he talked about the situation in northern Uganda and what both the US government and donors are trying to do about it. 

What can donors really do about this war? 

There are three aspects to the response [to the war in the north]: humanitarian, political and military. The most acute need is the first one: the response to the victims of the war, the abducted children or people living in the camps, who need urgent humanitarian assistance. This is where our efforts should be focused. 

Is the US offering military assistance to Uganda? 

It is in everyone's interest that the Ugandans have the capability to protect their own people. We've given a small amount of non-lethal equipment and some training. There have been some grotesquely exaggerated reports about this in the media. One journalist thought we spent US $200 million, which is nonsense. Another said we spent $80 million, which shows he was confused. That amount is what we are offering for strictly humanitarian assistance. 

Between $1.9 million and $2 million is all we have given to the military so far, and we only started this after they withdrew from [the Democratic Republic of the] Congo, which was a condition. The military assistance so far is basically trucks and radios. The training we offer is in civil/military affairs, human rights, etc. 

What kind of human rights training? 

We've tried to bring attention to the issue of the rights of children in conflict, to prevent the recruitment of children and to ensure former abductees of the LRA [Lord's Resistance Army] are supported so they get the rehabilitation they need and are not treated as enemy combatants. We also have a USAID programme called community resilience and dialogue working towards a political solution to the conflict. 

Is the [Ugandan] government's response to this crisis adequate? 

There are improvements that can be made. The Barlonyo massacre [on 21 February in which the LRA killed over 300 civilians] certainly brought attention to the deficiencies in the protection the army is offering its citizens in the north, but there are also examples where the government has done better. Let's say the picture is mixed, but it's not completely satisfactory. 

Donors, particularly Sigard Illing, head of the delegation of the European Commission, recently got into a disagreement with the Ugandan government over the endorsement of a parliament resolution declaring northern Uganda a disaster area, which was rejected by President Yoweri Museveni's cabinet. What is the US stance on this? 

Well, firstly, what parliament did was just to recommend that cabinet declare the north a disaster area. The donors in a joint statement endorsed the resolution as a whole. 

But I think there's confusion in Uganda over this. The declaration of a disaster is routine in some countries: it allows a government to mobilise resources to cope with a crisis. But under Ugandan law there is no provision for a disaster declaration as such. All you have is a ministry for disaster preparedness and a capacity to call a state of emergency, which is something different. 

Our goal in supporting the resolution was to express solidarity with the victims of LRA brutality, and to recognise that the parliament resolution had unanimous support. But we're puzzled why they [government ministers] would single out one of our group [Sigard Illing] for attack. The statement of our support for the resolution was a joint statement. 

Museveni's reply to the parliament resolution was that the north is OK. He said most of the north is booming apart from a few pockets of problems, so it is unhelpful to call it a disaster area? What do you say to that? 

The following week I visited Kitgum and Pader [two of the worst-affected districts in the north]. The situation in Kitgum and Pader is a crisis. The ability of institutions to function is extremely limited by the conflict. Obviously, Arua [west of the war-torn parts of the north] is in a different situation. 

So what's the solution to this crisis? 

We all think that ultimately there will be discussions to end this war. We [the US] want to encourage conversations to end this war - that's not to say negotiation, which would imply two equal parties coming together to bargain. But we certainly are trying to get in contact with the LRA to build confidence, most importantly to open a path for humanitarian access to the north. This isn't something that's going to happen tomorrow. Patience is a virtue in any such attempt. 

The US State Department has listed the LRA as a terrorist organisation. What makes them terrorists? 

Their behaviour: killing innocent people, terrorising the civilian population, trying to intimidate people as a tactic. 

But if they are terrorists, why are you urging dialogue with them? I can't imagine America holding dialogue with Al-Qaeda, whose demands, unlike [those of the] the LRA, have been clearly spelt out. To do so would be "appeasing terrorists", wouldn't it? 

Museveni would probably say the same thing about the LRA. But the situation isn't parallel. For one thing, these are Ugandans who are perpetuating this crisis, committing atrocities against other Ugandans. Secondly, the nature of the terrorism is an ongoing pattern, not a surprise act where you attack and then wait a few years. It has to stop and we must use every means at our disposal to make sure that it does. 

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