Reuters AlertNet reports that the Netherlands will withhold a quarter of its budget support to the Ugandan government over concerns about governance and macro-economic management. The Embassy said that the money would be diverted to humanitarian assistance through United Nations organisations in northern Uganda, where a civil war has raged for 19 years. Read more here.

On the eve of the British taking over the presidency of the United Nations, eight leading humanitarian agencies accused the UK government of neglecting Africa's longest-running war in northern Uganda.

"The war in northern Uganda has uprooted as many people as the Bosnian wars and killed more people than the wars in Liberia and Sierra Leone put together, yet in two decades the UN Security Council has never formally addressed it. As the UK takes over the Security Council presidency, this brutal war must be at the top of Blair's priorities," said Neill Garvie, Christian Aid's emergency manager for Uganda. Read more at ChristianAid's website.

The Vatican also recently issued a statement on the crisis, saying that the nature of the war brings ever closer "the threat of a real genocide of the Teso, Kuman, Acholi and Lango ethnic groups," calling for urgent international action.

The Philadelphia Inquirer has published an editorial today criticizing the United States government for "shrugging" at genocide in Sudan's Darfur region and northern Uganda. They write, "At least the United States and others on the United Nations Security Council can lay claim to being world-class dawdlers in the face of two interconnected human catastrophes. They certainly can't take credit for aggressively trying to end worsening crises in northern Uganda and Sudan's Darfur region."

The editorial continues, "The Bush administration's inadequate response will further tarnish U.S. moral credibility; the Security Council will provide more ammunition to its critics if it cannot agree on strong action." Read more here.

Reuters AlertNet reports that the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) has said he expects suspects to be handed over by mid-2006 so the new tribunal investigating three conflicts in Africa can start its first trials. The ICC, set up in 2002 as the world's first permanent global war crimes court, issued its first arrest warrants earlier this year, for leaders of Uganda's Lord's Resistance Army accused of stoking 19 years of conflict in the north of the country.

"We are confident that during the first half of 2006 individuals will be surrendered to the court allowing the commencement of hearings and trials," prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo told the annual meeting of the state signatories to the court's treaty. Read more here.

In light of the ICC indictments, Uganda-CAN encourages the United Nations Security Council to bring attention and resources to expedite the disarmament and demobilization of LRA rebels. The mandates of UN missions in Congo and Sudan should be expanded to work with the ICC for the arrest of top commanders. Finally, the UN Security Council must take substantive steps to bolster civilian protection and national reconciliation in Uganda.

LRA forces have abducted three Congolese gold prospecters in northeast Democratic Republic of the Congo, reported the regional head of the Congolese military in the SudanTribune.

Park rangers in the Garamba National Park in the Democratic Republic of the Congo have reported the presence of between 20 and 50 LRA fighters who have chosen not to leave the country. The Ugandan military has requested to enter DRC and engage the fighters themselves, though that request has been firmly resisted by Congolese and international leaders.

Reuters AlertNet reports that a United Nations official has declared that international pressure is urgently needed to end the war in northern Uganda. "We need massive international pressure, concentrated and sustained. It has been 20 years and it has got to be stopped," said Dennis McNamara, special U.N. adviser on displacement.

McNamara, just back from a week-long visit, said on Friday that while the LRA was guilty of continued atrocities, the government of President Yoweri Museveni had also "failed in its obligation" to assist and protect refugees who fled the fighting.

According to U.N. estimates, the mortality rate in some 200 camps housing some 1.7 million refugees was twice that of Sudan's Darfur, with more than 1,000 people dying each week -- many of them women and children -- from disease and violence. "This is one of the longest, largest, and least addressed humanitarian crises in the world," said McNamara. "It has uprooted as many people as the Bosnian war did 10 years ago, but gets only a fraction of the international attention."

AllAfrica reports that the UN has promised to increase its humanitarian aid to displaced northern Ugandan civilians in the upcoming year. The Special Advisor on Displacement to the UN Emergency Relief Coordinator, Dennis McNamara, said that “this is one of the longest, largest, and least addressed humanitarian crises in the world today."

The UN also called on the Ugandan government to fulfill its responsibility for the safety and well-being of the displaced peoples, saying “they need to do much more.” Uganda-CAN welcomes the UN’s decision to increase aid to northern Uganda, and adds its voice to the 50 humanitarian groups who recently called on the UN Security Council to end its shameful 19-year silence on the northern Ugandan crisis.

Today's New Vision reports that Sudanese Armed Forces, the Ugandan military, and the Sudan Peoples' Liberation Army are to undertake joint operations against the LRA.

Leaders from the three forces met in Uganda and signed a joint agreement, which also includes an extension of Uganda's ability to conduct military operations anywhere in Sudan to hunt for the LRA, as well as an agreement allowing Uganda use of the Juba and Yei airports in southern Sudan for the first time. Uganda's freedom of movement in Sudan now extends to January 19, 2006.

While military pressure is needed to catalyze an end to the war, the political roots of the conflict and ethical concerns of fighting child soldiers make a negotiated settlement preferable. As yet, no efforts have been made to strengthen the capacity of negotiations, led by former government minister Betty Bigombe.

Uganda's acting army spokesman said Friday that LRA second-in-command Vincent Otti and a band of approximately 400 fighters remain in eastern Congo. "As far as the UPDF is concerned, Otti is still in Garamba [National Park], inside Congo," the official reported.

U.N. officials in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, however, remain unconvinced. "For the moment, there is no tangible evidence to confirm an LRA presence," the spokesman for the U.N. mission to Congo (MONUC) said.

Ugandan President Museveni has actively requested that Ugandan troops be allowed to cross the border to engage the LRA fighters, though the international community, with fresh memories of Ugandan troops looting during Congo's bloody civil war, remain resolutely against that option and have committed to dealing with the rebel group effectively. Read more at AllAfrica.

Unconfirmed reports from the region have also arisen that Congo's national army hosted the LRA back out of the country several weeks ago.

Olara Otunnu, former UN Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict, spoke at his reception of the 2005 Sydney Peace Prize in Australia. Otunnu described the humanitarian crisis unfolding in his homeland of northern Uganda as a “methodical and comprehensive genocide”.

“An entire society - the Acholi - is being systematically destroyed –physically, culturally, socially and economically – in full view of the international community. This has been going on non-stop for almost 20 years but Western governments have turned a blind eye to a pliant regime and dictatorship under President Museveni that practices genocide,” Mr Otunnu said.

He further described the situation in northern Uganda as much worse than Darfur “in its magnitude and the scope of its diabolical comprehensiveness.”

UN Security Council action is urgently needed to expedite an end to the mass violence in Uganda. Look for Uganda-CAN's coming opportunities to call and write letters to see that policymakers prioritize this issue.

ReliefWeb reports today that Oxfam has said that the UN Security Council left the impression this week that it is dangerously out-of-touch with the human cost of the 19-year-old war in northern Uganda.

A UN Security Council mission to the region wrapped up today. The Council met Ugandan President Museveni yesterday to discuss ways of ending the civil war and humanitarian situation in northern Uganda and reported to the press that "strong progress has been made". This is despite increasing insecurity, mortality levels well above emergency thresholds and the recent murders of aid workers and a tourist.

"Oxfam expected the Security Council to face up to the reality of the humanitarian emergency in northern Uganda, and we are dismayed and alarmed that this doesn't appear to have happened. Yesterday, the French ambassador to the UN, who led the Security Council mission to Uganda, said he understands "strong progress" has been made. This is deeply disappointing coming from the Council at a time when suffering is increasing for nearly two million people and aid workers are being killed," said Emma Naylor, Oxfam's Country Program Manager in Uganda.

The Sudan Tribune reports today that Riek Machar, Vice President of the government of southern Sudan, has said that the Lord’s Resistance Army remains a major obstacle to southern Sudan peace. "We do not want to go back to war. We have seen enough and we want LRA to either leave southern Sudan, talk peace or we push them," Machar said at a memorial service for the late southern Sudanese leader, Dr John Garang, in Juba on Wednesday 9 November.

Reuters AlertNet reports that the MONUC, the UN mission in the DR Congo, has found no evidence that LRA rebels continue to seek refuge in the DR Congo. A group of 400 LRA rebels fled to the DR Congo in September, but reportedly left in early October. Last Saturday the Ugandan military claimed that LRA rebels had re-entered the northeastern DR Congo, and said that LRA leader Joseph Kony might have been with them. However, a sweep of the area by MONUC and Congolese troops has yet to find any evidence of an LRA presence.

Following the rash of recent attacks against foreigners working in Uganda and Sudan, Sean McCormack, spokesman for the U.S. State Department, issued the following statement:

"The United States condemns the recent targeted attacks on international humanitarian workers by the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) in southern Sudan and northern Uganda. These attacks have resulted in the brutal murder of humanitarian aid workers.

The murder of a British citizen in northern Uganda on November 8 follows a string of unprovoked and deliberate attacks on humanitarian workers in southern Sudan and northern Uganda. We offer our condolences to the families of the victims and call on the LRA to end their assaults on those assisting the displaced populations in the region."

A coalition of over 50 humanitarian organizations working in Uganda released a statement today noting the attacks and calling for a Security Council hearing on northern Uganda. A delegation from the Security Council left Uganda today after meeting with President Museveni.

The president of the International Criminal Court urged all member countries of the United Nations General Assembly to contribute what they are able in the efforts to arrest Joseph Kony and four other leaders of the LRA.

“I must be very clear on this point: co-operation in arrest and surrender of persons is necessary if there are to be trials,” he told the 191-member General Assembly Tuesday.

The ICC's involvement in northern Uganda further opens up opportunities to pay reparations to victims of LRA crimes, through the Court's Victims Trust Fund. Currently, many residents in northern Uganda harbor bitterness toward former LRA abductees, many of whom are guilty of acts of violence and yet are receiving resettlement packages from the government's Amnesty Commission. Reparations to victims would ease these tensions and restore relations in northern Uganda.

Read more at the Globe and Mail.

The SudanTribune reports that U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Robert Zoellick and Sudanese Foreign Minister Lam Okol are to chair U.S.-Sudan talks beginning tomorrow in Khartoum.

"...the talks of the two sides will touch on all the files and issues of concern to the two countries, including implementation of the comprehensive peace agreement, Darfur, the bilateral relations as well as the lifting of the American sanctions against Sudan," reads the article.

Uganda-CAN expresses grave concern that the roots of a two-decade old war and an insurgency roaming between three countries and causing the displacement of more than 1.5 million people are not issues to be addressed by the meetings. Evidence demonstrates that the Sudanese government continues to provide support for the Lord's Resistance Army and is stalling efforts at direct engagement with the rebel group. Moreover, for peace to take hold in Sudan, the LRA must be dealt with, as they are currently aggravating efforts to repatriate refugees and reconstruct the region.

In a powerful Op/Ed in yesterday's New Vision, Odongo Otto, MP from Arua, declares that northern Uganda is a disaster area, and that the United Nations must step in to take responsibility for civilian protection. Read more here.

Carolyn Davis, a long-time advocate for peace in northern Uganda, writes about the October 22nd Philadelphia GuluWalk in yesterday's edition of the Philadelphia Inquirer. Read more here about Davis' stirring account of the Philadelphia GuluWalk and her opinion of recent developments in regional peace efforts.

An editorial in yesterday's Financial Times examines some of the controversy surrounding the International Criminal Court's issue of arrest warrants for LRA leader Joseph Kony and four other LRA commanders in October. Some human rights groups, such as Human Rights Watch, support the warrants and emphasize the importance of pursuing justice for human rights violations.

Other actors - including Betty Bigombe (chief mediator to the LRA), Acholi religious organizations, some humanitarian relief organizations, and many civilians in northern Uganda - are more skeptical of the warrants' potential consequences. They fear that the warrants will prove to be a strong disincentive for the rebels to lay down their arms and will thus prolong the conflict and the suffering it is causing.

The Council of the European Union has issued a seven-point resolution regarding the conflict in northern Uganda, particularly noting the recent upsurge in violence targeting international aid workers.

Click below to read the full statement, which supports regional rehabilitation and reconciliation initiatives, as well as combatant reintegration. The Council further expressed their endorsement of any efforts to end the war peacefully, and urged the Government of Uganda to respect the territorial sovereignty of neighboring countries, apparently speaking to the recent calls by the Government of Uganda to allow Ugandan troops into eastern DR Congo.

» Read More

In his column for The New York Times, Nicholas Kristof writes about a conference in which liberals and conservative Christians met to discuss the Top 5 worst places to wake up in the morning: Darfur, North Korea, Burma, Congo and northern Uganda. He writes about how bi-partisan initiatives may present new opportunities to resolve these crises. Read his column here.

Uganda-CAN agrees with Mr. Kristof that this is a hopeful sign. Bipartisan commitment to address obvious gross assaults on humanity throughout the world holds great potential. We hope that such hopeful efforts will inspire the Bush Administration to bring much needed attention and engagement to these neglected crises.

In the wake of several killings of aid workers in northern Uganda, thought to be in retaliation for the recent indictments released by the International Criminal Court, the Presidency of the European Union has issued a statement regarding northern Uganda.

"I thoroughly condemn these appalling and vicious attacks. The humanitarian agencies are doing crucial work, assisting and bringing much-needed relief to hundreds of thousands of displaced people. These attacks only serve to increase and continue the suffering of civilians. The Ugandan Government, working with other states in the region, must do all that it can to protect civilians and to ensure the safety of aid workers," the statement reads.

Uganda-CAN applauds the attention given the crisis by the EU, though we lament that it took the killing of a handful of aid workers--while hundreds of thousands of Ugandans have already died due to the crisis--to make the news. Where is the disconnect?

The Daily Vision reports LRA rebels killed twelve game rangers in Garamba National Park in the northeaster DR Congo last Monday. The attack, which was the first time the rebels have killed members of the local population, took place after the game rangers pursued the rebels for having killed an elephant in the park.

The deaths of the rangers and the rebels continued poaching of park animals, which has further destabilized this already volatile country, highlight the need for a removal of the rebels from the DR Congo and a peaceful resolution to the conflict.

The Daily Vision reports that members of the UN Security Council will visit Uganda and four other countries in the Great Lakes region to highlight the potential for peace in the five countries. Led by the Permanent Representitive of Frace, ambassador Jean-Marc de laborer Sabliere, the fifteen-member delegation will spotlight recent advances in peace-building and discuss current conflicts in the area. The delegation will also discuss possible ways of ensuring that LRA members not guilty of the most serious human rights violations are granted amnesty.

Reuters AlterNet reports that the UN mission in the DR Congo, MONUC, has sent a team of observers to the northeastern region of the country to determine if there are any LRA rebels in the area. The mission comes in response to continued insistence by the Ugandan government that LRA rebels are still hiding in the northeastern DR Congo.

The MONUC military spokesman, Lt-Col Thierry Provendier, also revealed plans to send 150 MONUC peacekeepers to the area by the end of the week and said that "if there are LRA elements on Congolese territory, we will disarm them and repatriate them."

From Sister Fernanda, an Italian Comboni missionary and friend of Uganda-CAN who works with AIDS patients in Gulu -

Children in northern Uganda walk as far as ten kilometers every morning and every night, from homes in camps to town centers, to escape the violence of the rebel Lord's Resistance Army. GuluWalk: Gulu, the centerpiece of worldwide walks to raise awareness about night commuter children in northern Uganda, started on the evening of Oct. 21, at around 7:30 pm, at each of the places where the children in Gulu normally convene to sleep for the night. Members of several humanitarian organizations operating in the area, civil and religious leaders, and local authorities paid a visit to the children and listened to their stories.

In the morning, Oct. 22nd, all the children met in groups at a government site, called District Center, where a leader gave the green light for the walk demonstration. “Today the children are not alone, they have the political, social and religious leaders with them!” he said.

With banners, signs and music a huge number of both children and adults began to march through the city of Gulu covering it peacefully and colorfully. Among them there were Bishop Odama, Catholic bishop of Gulu, and several members of the Acholi Religious Leaders Peace Initiative, an interfaith organization working on peace building.

Then, the crowd gathered at a park just outside the city. The children, boys and girls, were the protagonists; with songs, poems, skits, and dances they narrated their woeful, painful, fearful and yet hopeful stories. One group voiced in song some challenging questions.

"Have you ever known the hunger pangs? Have you ever spent a night in the rain, on cold or wet stone without a blanket? Did you ever try to squeeze some inches in an overcrowded place, or try to sleep standing because of the mud on the ground? Have you ever spent the night shuddering with malaria bouts with no medicine available, not knowing where to go for help, thinking that maybe you would not see the next day?"

No one listening to them could hide tears of anguish and compassion.

Another group offered a poem asking, “What is peace? We hear the adults talking about it, but we don’t know what it means! We hear that if the government and the rebels will come around a table, peace may come. So we just wait because we really want to see it and enjoy the gift of peace in our young lives.”

The whole day was spent with the children. For one day, people in Gulu were a family. Emotions ran high as participants heard stories, shared pains, prayed and dreamed together that peace will come, that the situation will change, that justice will be flowing in this tortured land of the Acholi, that the land may know a future of joy where all can live and be loved as God’s children.

But there were also more than dreams. Then and there, participatns decided to ACT, to WALK, to TELL OTHERS, to LET THE WORLD KNOW about this, to ask the SOLIDARITY and ACTION of the human family so that these dreams may become true.

Toward evening everyone went home. The “night commuters” went to their safe shelters for another night under the sky. And you, reading this story, what are you going to do?

Reuters AlertNet reports that two personnel from a Swiss group involved in demining southern Sudan, the Swiss Foundation for Mine Action, were killed yesterday when their vehicle was stopped and attacked by armed men near the Ugandan border. UN officials suspect LRA rebels were responsible for the attack. If true, the incident would be the latest in a deadly string of suspected LRA assaults within the past week on international humanitarian organizations working in the region.