Negotiating sustainable peace in the horn of Africa: a critical analysis of DDR in Northern Uganda

Abstract

The concept of Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration (DDR) has rapidly spread into the development and security discourse and has over the years come to playa critical role in the promotion of peace processes after conflicts. Effective and successful implementation of DDR is recognized as being exceedingly vital to building and ensuring sustainable peace in post conflict societies and virtually all the countries in the greater Horn have featured such activities. Due to the absence of an official DDR programme in Northern Uganda DDR is undertaken within the context of the Amnesty Act that was put in place as a renewable measure to encourage rebels to leave the insurgency without fear of prosecution. The study's main objective is to examine the process of DDR under the Amnesty Act and determine to what extent it has contributed to sustainable peace in Northern Uganda. The study tests if there is any significant difference between DDR as part of a negotiated peace agreement and informal DDR in contributing to sustainable peace. The study reveals that though marred with numerous challenges the Amnesty Commission has done a commendable job in demobilizing and reintegrating LRA reporters and the study concludes that despite the numerous challenges the rather informal DDR in Northern Uganda has contributed to peace in the region.