A coalition of 34 American religious, humanitarian, and political advocacy organizations have sent a letter to U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, calling for more sustained attention to the war in northern Uganda.

"Establishing a secure environment requires urgent leadership from the U.S. Government to put in place a comprehensive regional approach that addresses LRA cross-border movements and prioritizes a resolution to the conflict, while simultaneously ensuring civilian protection, humanitarian access, and the reintegration of former combatants," reads the two-page document.

The U.S. government is involved in northern Uganda on several levels, offering limited diplomatic support to peace mediator Betty Bigombe, providing humanitarian assistance, sponsoring a reconciliation project called Northern Uganda Peace Initiative, and training Ugandan defense forces in counter-insurgency operations to increase their effectiveness against LRA combatants. These efforts, however, are felt by many civil society groups to pale in comparison to the gravity of the crisis; moreover, the U.S. has been weak in its support for efforts to end the conflict peacefully.

Read the document in its entirety and view the list of endorsing organizations here.

As the war in northern Uganda enters its twentieth year, spanning three nations and causing an estimated 1000 deaths weekly in Uganda alone, the United Nations Security Council has passed its first resolution with explicit mention of the crisis.

The resolution,which resulted after a series of briefings on peace, democracy, and human rights in the Great Lakes Region of Africa, expressed the Council's "deep concern at the devastating impact of conflict and insecurity on the humanitarian situation throughout the Great Lakes region and their implications for regional peace and security, especially where arms and armed groups move across borders, such as the long-running and brutal insurgency by the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) in northern Uganda which has caused the death, abduction and displacement of thousands of innocent civilians in Uganda, the Sudan and the Democratic Republic of the Congo."

The resolution further called for the LRA to end its campaign of terror on innocent civilians, and for regional governments to fulfill their responsibility to protect civilians and to cooperate in finding resolution to violent conflict.

Civil society organizations, including Uganda-CAN, have called for further action to be taken by the international body, including the sending of a UN Envoy to northern Uganda by Secretary General Kofi Annan, the development of a commission to explore sources of LRA financing, the provision of increased material and diplomatic support to mediation efforts, and the deployment of human rights monitors to the area. While these requests have yet to be met, the passage of this resolution by the Security Council makes future Council engagement of the crisis more likely.

Reuters AlertNet reports that Archbishop John Baptist Odama spoke before the United Nations Security Council last week, imploring the international community to finally intervene in Uganda’s 20-year war, a protracted conflict marked by mass kidnappings of children and the indiscriminate killing of civilians.

"Some people described this war as the unforgotten war. To many others, this war is largely the most unknown war on the globe," H.E. Msgr Odama, the Archbishop of Gulu in northern Uganda, stated before the Security Council in New York. "I come here to bring the cry of the children, the cry of their dear mothers, and the cry of the families of dear children to the ears of the people who matter," Archbishop Odama said.

Archbishop Odama said that the conflict has been kept out of the international public’s eye in part due to the relatively low number of direct casualties, estimated at 200,000 people since 1986. The Ugandan government has also continuously labelled the war as a small internal conflict that it is slowly bringing under control. But the recent killing of eight UN peacekeepers in the neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo by LRA rebels belies that claim.

Archbishop Odama called upon the United Nations to prevail upon the warring factions to bring them into dialogue. He asked that the UN serve as mediator to bring about a lasting cease-fire, monitor claims of human rights violations, and oversee the reconciliation process and steps toward keeping a peace. He also asked that the UN establish a “Peace Corridor,” not only to be able to enforce peace agreements, but also to enable humanitarian agencies to reach the civilian population.

IRIN News reports that Britain has contributed US $11.8 million to fund emergency health, nutrition and HIV/AIDS projects in strife-torn northern Uganda, United Nations agencies said on Monday. The World Health Organization (WHO), the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) and the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) announced in a joint statement that the funds would be used to speed up humanitarian efforts in war-affected districts.

Today's Daily Vision reports that the Ugandan military killed six LRA rebels in southern Sudan last Friday. Eight women and children that were with the LRA rebels were captured.

Wednesday, U.S. Ambassador-designate to Uganda Steven A. Browning told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that he will work to advance U.S. goals in the country. Browning praised Uganda for economic growth and its approach to combating the HIV/AIDS epidemic. But Uganda still "faces significant challenges where it should make greater efforts," he said -- in resolving the conflict with the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), in advancing good governance by allowing opposition groups to participate fully in the electoral process and in fighting corruption. Uganda-CAN looks forward to working with Ambassador Browning to promote greater U.S. involvement in civilian protection and mediation towards peace in northern Uganda.

A powerful op/ed in today's Christian Science Monitor decry's the plight of internally displaced persons (IDPs) in the world today. There are over 25 million IDPs in 50 countries worldwide, and these numbers are steadily increasing. At least seven countries have over one million - including Uganda, in which over 1.6 million IDPs live in squalid and crowded camps in northern part of the country.

Because IDPs do not cross international borders, they often do not receive the same legal rights or assistance that international refugees do. They are often forgotten by the international community - witness the two decades of war and displacement in northern Uganda.

In the words of the author, "We must build a permanent constituency to assist and defend the rights of IDPs, and to solve the root causes of the conflicts that create the displacement in the first place."

The United Nations Security Council will be holding an open debate on Peace, Security and Development in the Great Lakes tomorrow at 10:00 AM in the Security Council Chambers. Uganda-CAN hopes that finally the UN Security Council will break their silence and take action to address the longstanding crisis and war in northern Uganda.

Reuters AlertNet reports that the Ugandan military is ready to "deal with" Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) rebels in neighbouring Congo who killed eight U.N. soldiers this week, President Yoweri Museveni said on Thursday.

LRA guerrillas moved into eastern Democratic Republic of Congo last year, and in September Museveni accused the United Nations and the transitional Congolese government of sponsoring terrorism by failing to disarm them and other Ugandan rebels. "We told the U.N. they should allow us to go and deal with them in Congo, because we know how to fight those criminals," Museveni said during celebrations at an airfield marking two decades since his National Resistance Movement seized power.

"The other day I saw (the LRA) had killed some of their people ... We are ready, if the Congolese government and the U.N. want us to deal with that issue, we shall deal with it."

Uganda-CAN questions President Museveni's statement that the Ugandan army "knows how to fight these criminals." First, the "criminals" are the majority children whom have been abducted and forced to fight in the rebel army. Second, the Ugandan army has failed for the last 20 years to defeat the insurgency and end this awful war. Uganda-CAN calls for the international community, led by the UN Security Council, to step up and engage this conflict that now affects three countries.

Reuters AlertNet reports that the UN Security Council has issued a statement condemning the LRA attack on UN soldiers in the DR Congo that killed eight Guatemalan peacekeepers on Monday. The UN force in the DR Congo, MONUC, has stepped up operations to disarm rebel groups in recent months to prepare for elections slated for June. The statement read in part, "The LRA have conducted a long-running and vicious insurgency in northern Uganda which has caused the death, abduction and displacement of thousands of innocent civilians in Uganda, Sudan and the Democratic Republic of the Congo"

However, the UN Security Council's strong words are tragically ironic in light of its inexcusable negligence of the conflict in northern Uganda over the past 20 years. Despite two decades of fighting, 25,000 abducted children, and massive displacement, the UN Security Council has never passed a resolution addressing the conflict in northern Uganda. Until it ends its unconscionable silence concerning the crisis, the UN Security Council's rhetoric decrying the continued suffering in the region will ring hollow.

The Daily Monitor reports that the European Commission (EU) has given 15 million Euros (about Shs32.4 billion) to support humanitarian assistance programmes in the war-ravaged northern Uganda. The funds will be managed and monitored by the Commission's Service for Humanitarian Aid (ECHO) and the Directorate General Humanitarian Aid.

The statement said the increase in funding was prompted by the revelation of very high mortality rates in 2005 in the region and the need to support primary health care in clinics closest to the displaced people. This includes prevention of malaria, scaled-up water supply and much needed family-based sanitation.

The Daily Vision reports that at least 15 LRA rebels and eight UN peacekeepers died yesterday in a battle in the northeastern DR Congo. The UN peacekeeping force in the DR Congo, MONUC, was on a reconnaissance mission in Garamba National Park when they clashed with the rebels. LRA rebels have been hiding in the park since last October.

Meanwhile, over 20,000 thousand Congolese have fled into western Uganda in recent days as renewed fighting has broken out between Congolese rebels and the Congolese army. Read more at Reuters AlertNet.

Editor's Correction: Uganda-CAN incorrectly wrote in an earlier blog entry that a Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) report stated that the situation in northern Uganda could be described as genocide. Our sincere apologies for this mistake.

Earlier today Bishop Ochola, a retired Bishop of the Diocese in Kitgum, Uganda, an area in northern Uganda whose people are suffering from the consequences of war, delivered a heartfelt speech in the Capital Building about the influence of the West in the war in Uganda. Bishop Ochola has a deep connection to the war not only because of his ethnic ties, but also because he lost his wife and daughter to the war. Throughout the speech there were times where he could not speak, and times when he cried because of the emotional pain that he has suffered throughout these years.

"The Conspiracy of Silence is a Sin" was the overarching theme of his speech. Bishop Ochola compared the response from the West thus far to the genocide in Rwanda that occurred a little over ten years ago, claiming that the world has abandoned the Acholi people just as the Tutsis were forgotten. “We will witness in Uganda what the world witnessed in Rwanda in 1994.” He spoke for his people saying that they are aware they have been abandoned. With tears in his eyes he claimed that the world is keeping quiet while we are losing 1,000 of our children every week. “The world looks on as these children are being abducted, killed, and forced to be instruments of death; killing their own relatives, stripping them of their humanity.” Ochola continued explaining that conditions in the camps are killing more than the armed conflict.

As Bishop Ochola was explaining the horrors that people are facing in northern Uganda, he also challenged the role of the government of Uganda and international governments in their role of protecting the Acholi people. Bishop Ochola did not place the blame solely on Museveni or any individual actor, but he did place emphasis on the Parliament of Uganda. He claimed that the Parliament of Uganda is using Museveni as a scapegoat to escape responsibility for the suffering of their people. Parliament does not want to take a proactive approach to bringing peace because of politics and not because of tribal differences.

The one person who Ochola did praise for their work regarding the peace process is Betty Bigombe. He outlined her attempts to initiate peace talks between the LRA and the government of Uganda. He appealed to the international community to stand behind Bigombe who has been the primary stronghold for peace talks for the war. Bishop Ochola recognized her as being the only person who has dedicated a concerted effort to bring together the LRA and the government of Uganda.

As Ochola brought his speech to a close, he appealed to the international leaders to stop chasing Kony and focus of stopping the war and protecting the Acholi people, which will coerce everything else to fall into place. He continued by saying that a Medicines Sans Frontier report stated that if the conditions in the north continue, the Acholi people will be heading for extinction. He closed by saying that the Acholi people are putting their faith in God’s hands because he will not abandon them. When people are forced to live in such horrid conditions, the afterlife is all that they have to look forward to.

Eight Guatemalan soldiers who were part of the UN mission to the Democratic Republic of the Congo were killed this morning in battle with the LRA. The soldiers were tracking LRA movements in a national park when they were engaged by 50-60 LRA forces, reports BBC.

The death of the peacekeepers will likely act as a morale boost to the LRA, who have suffered heavy losses recently and have been dismissed as defeated by the government of Uganda. Political fallout from the event is also sure to take place; Uganda's President Museveni has been requesting permission for his military to reenter the DRC (Uganda invaded during DRC's civil war in the late 1990's, and illegally extracted some of the country's vast mineral resources) ever since LRA movement to the country was first reported several months ago. The development is also likely to spark debate regarding the role of the international community in the conflict, which has remained conspicuously silent about northern Uganda. As the LRA represent a severe threat to regional security and the government of Uganda has proven unable and unwilling to deal with the rebel group effectively, UN intervention is needed urgently.

The Daily Monitor reports that the chairman of Uganda's Amnesty Commission announced that the amnesty law will be extended on February 15th for an additional six months. Under the law, former rebels (including LRA rebels) are allowed to surrender without prosecution and are given assistance reintegrating into society.

However, it is unclear whether arrest warrants issued by the International Criminal Court last October for Joseph Kony and four other LRA commanders will hinder the amnesty law's effectiveness. Some fear that the warrants will discourage LRA rebels from surrendering. None of the five indicted commanders have been apprehended as of yet.

The New Vision reports that the people of Amuru internally displaced persons’ (IDP) camp in Kilak county, Gulu district, have asked the government and the UN to wipe out the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) rebels so that they go back to their villages and grow food. State minister for northern Uganda rehabilitation Grace Akello was addressing the IDPs on Thursday evening, when the people gave her the message. “We want the government and the UN to help finish off the Kony rebels so that we can start growing food for ourselves. The food relief is not enough. We still fear that unless Kony and Otti are finished, the LRA rebels will still be a threat,” they said.

Sister Fernanda Pellizzer of the Comboni Missionary Sisters has sent Uganda-CAN a powerful reflection that she wrote in Gulu during the Christmas season. She writes, "Once again, more than 1.6 million people have celebrated Christmas in internally-displaced people's camps. It's the 19th straight Christmas of fear and suffering...In the Acholi district, there are 143 camps. In one of these called Lalogi, on Chistmas night, a youth was walking around the camps, ignoring the curfew. He was shot down and killed by the soldiers. The people rose in anger and moved towards the military headquarters. They carried stones in their hands, but the military had guns and opened fire. Four people were killed and sixteen seriously injured. What is there to say? What does the Child God, the Prince of Peace, have to think of all this?"

The letter continues, "It comes so natural for us to compare the Child God with those thousands of boys and girls who, every evening, come to sleep under the windows of Gulu shops, or in the hospital compound, or in school and church buildings, so as to be safe and protected from the cruel LRA (Lord’s Resistance Army), which, paradoxically, is made up 80% by children...At night, temperatures go down to 10-12 degrees and these child "night commuters" shiver in the cold with no blankets. They have no safe place to stay, just like the Child God who found no room in Bethelem. It seems there is no room for the Acholi displaced people in the hearts of the international community, in mass media centers, and perhaps in the hearts of the believing community. Their lives of endless misery, of untold fears, of pent-up anger for being refugees in their own land just make no headlines anywhere. There is growing sense of desperation for no one seems to care for them or to do something to put an end to their sufferings."

The Daily Monitor reports that a stench of burning human flesh saturated the air in the jungles of Omot in Pader as the Internally Displaced Persons stocked fire on the burning body of a Lords Resistance Army (LRA) rebel commander. The Uganda Peoples Defence Forces (UPDF) killed Capt. Kulio last week, but the residents snatched the body from the army and clobbered it to make sure it was 'totally dead'. The UPDF 5th Division Commander, Brig. George Etyang and the Division Spokesman Lt. Deo Akiiki had just finished addressing journalists on the achievements of an offensive code named "Operation Stop It" which was launched in mid- December to flush out remnants of the LRA rebels during this dry season.

AllAfrica.com reports that Uganda's Senior Presidential Advisor on Security, Gen. David Tinyefuza, has refuted recent claims by Olara Otunnu that the Ugandan government is committing a genocide in northern Uganda. Otunnu, a native of northern Uganda and the former UN Under-Secretary General and Special Representative for Children in Armed Conflict, has drawn a barrage of condemnation in recent months for his criticism the government's handling of the war.

In his column for the Daily Monitor, Charles Onyango Obbo has written that the love affair of the West with Uganda is ending. He writes, "The troubled transition in Uganda has also led to a fresh look at the rebellion in the north. The cause has now been adopted by Norwegian musicians and celebrities, and at the end of the week they are having a symposium on what is now referred to in international-speak as 'easily the worst humanitarian crisis' in the world."

The article continues, "The primary blame for the crisis in northern Uganda must be placed on Joseph Kony and his Lord's Resistance Army. But the failure to end it is by and large, the result in the deficit in the leadership of the president. He could have either defeated Kony militarily, in the phase when he was dead set against a political settlement, or put on the table a comprehensive negotiated peace arrangement once the government failed to decidely snuff out the LRA after nearly 20 years of war now, making it the longest-running conflict in Africa after the just-ended political settlement in southern Sudan."

Reuters AlertNet reports that the former U.N. representative for children in war, Olara Otunnu, said that the worst place in the world to be a child today is northern Uganda. “When adults wage war, children pay the highest price,” Olara Otunnu said in a speech in London. “Children are the primary victims of armed conflict.”

Almost 2 million people have been “herded like animals” into the camps in northern Uganda where 1,000 people are dying a week due to disease and violence, Otunnu said. He added that rape by government troops, many of them HIV positive, was common.

“An entire society is being destroyed in full view of the international community,” Otunnu said, calling on Western leaders to demand the Ugandan government dismantle the camps and send in international monitors. Otunnu, who was U.N. Under Secretary-General and Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict from 1997 to 2005, said the situation in northern Uganda was far worse than in Sudan’s troubled Darfur region.

An op/ed in the Stanford Progressive argues that the US must become more actively engaged in working for peace in northern Uganda. The op/ed calls for the US to appoint a high-level special envoy to northern Uganda that will pressure all actors involved to end the war. To read the entire op/ed, click here.

The United Nations Weekly Security Report for the week ending 8 January 2006 shows that contrary to the claims of many in the Government of Uganda, the war situation in northern Uganda is worsening. The report shows that significant numbers of Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) rebels haved moved from Pader, Apac and Lira into Gulu district (Eastern and South-Eastern areas), owing to large-scale UPDF operations against them in Pader in addition to effects of the dry season (bush burning and water scarcity). At the moment, Gulu is the most LRA-active district.

The most striking finding of the report is that the number of people being abducted by the LRA is currently greater than the number of LRA being killed or surrendering. This paints a picture much different from that being reported by the UPDF and the mainstream Ugandan media.

Uganda-CAN believes this report shows the urgency of international action by the United Nations Security Council to push for civilian protection and mediation to address threats to peace and security in northern Uganda, and also in southern Sudan and DRC.

Following the successful completion of the Global Youth Summit in Uganda this month, youth from Canada, the United States and Uganda have issued an alliance action statement. It reads, "We the Ugandan, American and Canadian participants of the inaugural Global Kimeeza: US/Uganda Youth Summit, do affirm our moral responsibility in ending the extreme human suffering created and deepened by the conflict in Northern Uganda, a place where over twenty thousand children have been kidnapped, ninety percent of the population has been displaced, and eighty percent of the combatants are youth and children..." Visit their Web site to read the full text of the statement.

The Daily Monitor reports that Senior Presidential Advisor on Security, Gen. David Tinyefuza, has dismissed claims that the 19-year-old war in northern Uganda is a genocide. Tinyefuza was on 99.3 KFM's Tonight with Andrew Mwenda Live, discussing with the former UN-Under Secretary General and Special Representative for Children in Armed Conflict, Mr Olara Otunnu, whether the war in north is a genocide or just a humanitarian disaster.

Olara, who was speaking on phone from New York, USA, described the situation in northern Uganda as genocide. But Tinyefuza dismissed his claims saying: "I find it strange that Otunnu looks at the government as perpetrators of genocide. What is happening in northern Uganda is an incidental insurgency."

Otunnu responded, "The human rights and humanitarian catastrophe unfolding in northern Uganda is a methodical and comprehensive genocide, conceived and being carried out by the government." Read more here.

The New Vision reports that the Chief of Defence Forces, General Aronda Nyakairima, has said that Lord’s Resistance Army chief, Joseph Kony, will never enter Uganda again. Aronda said Kony had been greatly weakened and had crossed 70km northeast of Juba. He was on Thursday addressing senior UPDF officers at the Nakasongola Air Division military base after commissioning the Nakasongola Military hospital. He said should Kony try to enter Uganda again, he would be killed.

“We have been spending a lot on war and doing less concerning the welfare of our officers all because we believe in priorities first. Now that the priorities are almost over, with the savings, we shall definitely do a lot on welfare,” he said. He said the officers who have been fighting the LRA would soon return.

The Refugee Law Project, one of Uganda-CAN's partner organizations in Uganda, has released the summary of its most recent monthly seminar, War and Humanitarianism, held December 15, 2005.

On December 15th, the RLP hosted a discussion with Dr Sverker Finnström (University of Uppsala, and an affiliate of Gulu University) and Mr Zachary Lomo (Director, the Refugee Law Project) on War and Humanitarianism. This final seminar of the 2005 series examined the often complex relation between conflict and humanitarianism, and the implications of the latter to the people who bear the brunt of conflict, and indeed the hitherto stalled processes of resolving the conflict.

The seminar summary is available on the RLP’s website in HTML and in PDF formats.

William Bionx Akena, Uganda-CAN news correspondent in Gulu town, reports -

Three Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) fighters were killed over the weekend in Kitgum and Gulu districts. Speaking to Uganda-CAN this morning, the northern army spokesman Lt. Chris Magezi said the army also rescued eleven abductees and recovered eight SMGs with several rounds of ammunitions. The northern army spokesman appealed to the LRA fighters to come out of the "bush" while the opportunity is still there with the Amnesty Law.

The Daily Monitor reports that the Ugandan government has instituted a strict new set of rules for foreign journalists and has given the newly-formed Media Centre responsibility for their accreditation. Several foreign journalists have complained that their accreditation has been delayed, while a those of a Canadian journalist and the BBC’s Uganda correspondent have been restricted.

The move comes at a time when the international press is growing increasingly critical of Uganda’s rocky transition to multipartyism, the government's arrest of opposition politicians, and current president Yoweri Museveni, who is campaigning to enter his third decade of rule.

The BBC’s Uganda correspondent, Will Ross, said that officials at the Media Centre informed him that the restriction on his accreditation was tied directly to his unfavorable portrayal of Uganda in his news dispatches. To read the entire article, click below.

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Today’s Sunday Vision reports that the LRA abducted eight civilians and killed three Friday in an early morning raid on Apac district in the Lango sub-region.

Five days ago President Museveni assured the people of Lango that the LRA was too weak to attack there, saying, “The people of Lango and Teso should go back home. Kony can not come back here.”

IRIN news agency, a UN body, has today released a report that says Uganda has been suffered badly from the LRA rebellion and political upheaval in 2005. The report notes the spread of the LRA rebellion into southern Sudan and the DR Congo, as well as the increasing misery in IDP camps that relief organizations have been unable to access due to the deteriorating security situation in northern Uganda.

The IRIN report also describes the rocky transition to multiparty politics in Uganda in 2005, including the arrest of opposition party leader Col. Kizza Besigye on charges of treason and rape. Besigye was recently released and is currently campaigning for president along with several other candidates, including incumbent Yoweri Museveni. Elections are scheduled for mid-February.

CNN.com reports that Louise Arbour, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, condemned the UPDF for its human rights violations in northern Uganda yesterday. Arbor is in the midst of a one-week trip to Uganda, the first ever by a UN human rights chief. She said that while the LRA is responsible for most of the human rights violations in northern Uganda, UPDF misconduct constitutes a “double violation” because it is a breach of trust and confidence….by an army [that is] supposed to protect the people.”

Arbour also said that she will confront President Museveni about the prevailing atmosphere of mistrust between civilians and authorities in northern Uganda. Additionally, she announced that the UN human rights body and the Ugandan government had signed an agreement that calls for it to set up offices in four of the districts affected by the war to support peace initiatives and monitor human rights. Read more at CNN.com.

AllAfrica.com reports that MSF (Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders) yesterday released its list of the ten most ignored humanitarian crises in world in 2005, including three crises in the Great Lakes region of Africa – northern Uganda, southern Sudan, and the DR Congo. Northern Uganda also suffers from another crisis on the list - the lack of research and development focused on adapting HIV/AIDS tools to impoverished locations.

An MSF official said, "Millions of people are struggling through crises in places that rarely, if ever, get mentioned in the U.S. news, and in our experience, silence is the best ally of injustice." To read the section of the MSF report dealing with northern Uganda, visit AllAfrica.com or click below.

The International Crisis Group has today released a report entitled “A Strategy for Ending Northern Uganda’s Crisis.” The report notes the decreasing security situation in the region – increasing LRA activity in the DR Congo, Sudan, and the northern Uganda – and states that elements of the Sudanese government are still supporting the LRA. The increase in LRA attacks has also reduced the access of UN and other relief organizations into IDP camps, worsening the already miserable conditions there.

The ICG report calls for the international community and the UN Security Council to assist the governments of Sudan, the DR Congo, and Uganda in developing joint strategies for ending the rebellion. It advocates a combination of renewed peace talks, efforts to apprehend LRA commanders indicted by the ICC, and better incentives to rank-and-file rebels to surrender as the best strategy to end the conflict. To read the entire report, visit the ICG website.

AllAfrica.com reports that hopes for peace in Darfur and southern Sudan are increasingly being threatened by violence. LRA rebels continue to disrupt reconstruction and refugee return efforts in southern Sudan by terrorizing the population with killings and abductions. Meanwhile, renewed violence in Darfur (western Sudan) since September 2005 has signaled a deteriorating security situation there.

Better prospects for peace in Sudan, northern Uganda, and the entire Great Lakes region in 2006 will require a greater effort from the international community and UN to commit resources and attention to ongoing conflicts. Get involved today!

An op/ed in today’s Daily Monitor argues that soldiers in northern Uganda are inadequately trained and paid, leading to outbreaks of violence against civilians. The article highlights Local Defense Units (LDUs) - local militias that serve as auxiliary forces to the national military (UPDF) - as especially underpaid and prone to stress. LDUs and UPDF regulars often receive little training in political and human rights issues, and are often deployed after only basic training in how to operate a gun. Read more here.

William Bionx Akena, Uganda-CAN news correspondent in Gulu town, reports -

On Sunday, some fifteen Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) fighters attacked a disco in Adjumani district, killing three people and injuring twelve others. UPDF military forces pursued these attackers, and hit the group Monday morning, killing two rebels on the spot. One of those killed is a LRA major whom they have not yet identified by name.

In Pader district over the weekend, three LRA rebels were killed. The UPDF army spokesman for the northern region said that the UPDF continues to pursue LRA elements in that district. Meanwhile in a related event, recently-promoted LRA central protection units intelligence officer Lt. Col. Dr. Acaya was shot dead west of river Unyama in Gulu district this morning. The UPDF recovered a list of newly promoted LRA commanders, telephone contacts of prominent people including the chief of defense force Gen. Aronda Nyaikarime, Bishop Odama and others.

Today’s Daily Monitor has published the second half of Olara Otunnu’s Sydney Peace Prize lecture about northern Uganda given last November. Otunnu, the former UN Under-Secretary-General and Special Representative for Children in Armed Conflict, has been an outspoken advocate for peace in the region.

Otunnu’s speech mentions the “Responsibility to Protect” declaration passed by the UN last September, which committs the UN to protecting civilian populations ravaged by war and violence. He laments that the UN has yet to act decisively on northern Uganda, despite the millions of civilians at risk of brutal violence and abduction each day.

In his speech, Otunnu also issues a moving call to action to the international community, saying, “I ask you to join in the campaign to break this conspiracy of silence and to end the genocide. I urge you to petition the leaders of the western democracies and the Secretary General of the United Nations to break their silence and act to end this genocide. I request you to engage your members of parliament, your places of worship, your friends and neighbours. This is genocide happening on our watch.”

To read the entire transcript of the speech, visit the Daily Monitor or click below.

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Today’s Daily Monitor reports that dry-season fires in northern Uganda have left tens of thousands of IDPs homeless since last November. Over 13,500 have lost their homes in Pader district alone, and many are forced to sleep outdoors. Crowded IDP camps, in which the flammable thatched roofs of homes often touch each other, are especially vulnerable to fire. A Pader district official said that decongestion of the camps is the only way to prevent further homelessness.

United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour will undertake an official mission to Uganda from 7 to 14 January 2006. The mission, the first by a High Commissioner for Human Rights, will focus on the general human rights situation in Uganda in keeping with her mandate; as well as on the protection of civilians, particularly Internally Displaced Persons; the implementation of economic, social and cultural rights; and the United Nations human rights presence in the country. In addition to Kampala, Ms. Arbour will visit Gulu in the north of the country and the Karamoja region, in northeastern Uganda.

Uganda-CAN hopes that the High Commissioner will use this visit to really examine the situation, which her colleague Jan Egeland called "the world's worst neglected humanitarian crisis." The time has come for the United Nations Security Council to finally act for peace in northern Uganda.

The Globe and Mail has published an editorial, titled "To intervene in Uganda," which decries the lack of action by the United Nations Security Council towards northern Uganda. The editorial reads, "Yet so far the Security Council has chosen to do nothing. Besides prolonging the misery of hundreds of thousands of people, this timidity is endangering the stability of an already fragile region. It also makes a mockery of the council's own resolutions to protect non-combatants, particularly women and children, caught up in armed conflicts."

It concludes, "The Security Council has scheduled a meeting for Jan. 27 to discuss recent developments in the Great Lakes region of Africa, including welcome moves toward peace and democracy. It would be an opportune time to put the spotlight on Uganda and its failure to suppress an insurgency that has destroyed countless lives and threatens the region's halting progress." Read the full text here.

News24 in South Africa reports that at least three people were killed and 12 seriously wounded when Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) rebels stormed a crowded discotheque in northern Uganda at the weekend and opened fire on dancers with automatic weapons, the army said on Monday. A group of about 15 heavily armed attackers burst into the dance hall near the town of Adjumani near the Sudanese border early on Sunday morning and began indiscriminately spraying bullets, said Lieutenant Chris Magezi, the army spokesperson for northern Uganda.

"They started shooting at the revelers on the dance floor and killed three of them, injuring 12 others whom we rushed to Ajdumani hospital in critical condition," he told AFP from the regional military headquarters in Gulu, about 130km southeast of where the attack took place. Magezi said the army pursued the group after the attack and killed two of them, including the man believed to be their leader, in a firefight early on Monday.

The Daily Monitor has published an Op/Ed from the Uganda Conflict Action Network, titled "Uganda Needs a Solid Peace Plan." It reads, "In this electoral battlefield, it is hopeful that a debate on the state of affairs in Uganda will surface. And in that debate, it is vital that the most pressing issue facing contemporary Uganda, the longstanding war and consequent humanitarian crisis in the north, be put at the forefront."

It continues, "In light of this hellish reality, the most important question facing Uganda today is how the country moves toward a more hopeful and humane future. Given the inadequacy of the status quo, how will future political leaders make the necessary changes to expedite the resolution of this war and end the suffering of the people? Any candidate who cannot provide a comprehensive and convincing response to this question does not deserve to take the helm of the nation at this crossroads. Uganda deserves a comprehensive peace plan." Click here or below to read the whole text. This editorial outlines the stance of Uganda-CAN as Uganda heads into elections next month.

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Today’s Daily Monitor has published the first half of Olara Otunnu’s Sydney Peace Prize lecture about northern Uganda given last November. Otunnu, the former UN Under-Secretary-General and Special Representative for Children in Armed Conflict, has been an outspoken advocate for peace in the region. His powerful speech begins “As we meet here today to focus on the fate of children being destroyed in situations of war, I must draw your attention to the worst place on earth to be a child today. That place is the northern region of the Republic of Uganda.”

To read the full text, visit the Daily Monitor or click below.

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The New Vision reports that the Archbishop of Gulu Archdiocese, John Baptist Odama, has appealed to Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) chief Joseph Kony and his rebels to come out of the bush and talk peace with the government. Odama said for the sake of peace, he would offer himself to be arrested on behalf of Kony if his fear is that he could be arrested by the International Criminal Court over the atrocities the LRA have committed.

He was speaking during peace celebrations organised by Gulu archdiocese in Adjumani district. Odama said he was offering himself for arrest because peace was so much desired by the people of northern Uganda. Emmanuel Cardinal Wamala praised Odama for his resolve, saying, “If you are arrested, all the bishops and other religious leaders will be ready to accompany you to prison.”

William Bionx Akena, Uganda-CAN news correspondent in Gulu town, reports -

Five bodies of civilians killed by suspected Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) rebels have been found in various places in Gulu district. Yesterday a combined effort by relatives of those abducted from Pece-Pawel pa Odyek and UPDF mobile troops recovered two bodies near Ogul primary school in Omoro County. The victims were abducted on the 29th and 30th of last month.

The search for more bodies continues today because there are reports emerging that many recent abductees have been killed. The army northern region spokesman Lt. Chris Magezi said it is on record that LRA rebels are killing whoever they abducted these days.

Today’s Sudan Tribune reports that the SPLM is still waiting to hear from the LRA on whether it will accept its offer to mediate a peace agreement between the LRA and the Ugandan government. An SPLM official said that Salva Kiir, head of the SPLM and president of the southern Sudanese government, will initiate peace talks between the two immediately if the LRA accepts its offer of mediation.

The official reaffirmed the SPLM’s commitment to a peaceful resolution to the rebellion. However, he warned that failure to accept the offer would result in joint operations between SPLM and Ugandan forces to defeat the LRA militarily.

William Bionx Akena, Uganda-CAN news correspondent in Gulu town, reports -

The army has called upon the civilians within the internally displaced people's (IDP) camps to be very careful about cultivating far away from the camps because of Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) attacks against them.

Speaking to MegaFM this morning, the northern army spokesman Lt. Chris Magezi said these cultivations are supposed to be supplements to the World Food Program supplies, but IDPs should not risk their lives going very far to cultivate. He also stated that the situation at the moment is calm, but not very safe. He said the army is always cautious and ready to protect the peace for civilians during and after this election period.

William Bionx Akena, Uganda-CAN news correspondent in Gulu town, reports -

A Sudanese bishop has apologized to the people of northern Uganda for the Sudanese government's support of the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) in the past. Retired Bishop Emeritus Taban Paride of Torid Diocese was speaking during the prayer organized by thousands of Christians from Gulu, Lira, Nebbi, Arua and southern Sudan. The bishop further urged all Christians to focus on the needed reintegration of ex-combatants, which must include truth-telling mechanisms and reconciliation. He called upon the LRA, Ugandan government and Sudanese government to trust one another and work to help end the long suffering of the people in northern Uganda.

William Bionx Akena, Uganda-CAN news correspondent in Gulu town, reports -

The Ugandan army has reported that it killed four LRA rebels in the districts of Kitgum and Pader yesterday afternoon. The Northern region Army spokesman Lt. Chris Magezi confirmed this to Uganda-CAN this morning, saying three rebels were killed at Bolo when the UPDF soldiers attacked them. Magezi said an officer identified as Lt. Otto Orebe was killed north west of Bolo in Awere sub-county, Pader district.

Magezi has appealed to the civilian population to be very careful with these rebels who are now moving in smaller groups. He also urged the rebels to take advantage of the amnesty law that remains in effect. He said resolving this war is long overdue and that the rebels should take it upon themselves as a new year's resolution to surrender for peace to prevail.

William Bionx Akena, Uganda-CAN correspondent in Gulu, reports -

A military court martial sitting yesterday at Lalogi Internally Displaced Person (IDP) Camp in Lira District of northern Uganda sentenced a local soldier to death for killing a camp resident on Christmas day.

The court found Private Rubangakene Joel guilty of killing Ojok Ojara on the 25th of December. Rubangakene is a member of a Local Defense Unit (LDU), recruited by the government locally to augment the services of the national military.

Ojara's killing sparked off a mob protest at an army barracks several days later later that was fired on by Ugandan soldiers, leaving six civilians dead with seventeen more remaining in Lacor hospital with bullet wounds. The Ugandan military detach based in the area is to be relocated, according to a directive from Ugandan President Museveni, and several soldiers have been court-martialed.

Many amongst the local population however think that the trial and sentenceing of Rubangakene is not purnishement enough to the army, arguing that the real culprits have not been brought to justice. Moreover, many remain angry that the government's policy of relocating army detachs that commit human rights abuses does nothing to punish perpetrators or prevent such abuses from occurring.

A local government official told Uganda-CAN that the killing has been politicized, and that President Museveni plans to use the incident to demonstrate his commitment to prosecuting violators of human rights. The government has been criticized by local and international human rights organizations for failing to protect the northern population from rebel Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) attacks and for creating an atmosphere of impunity for Ugandan soldiers.

Meanwhile, the bodies of three women suspected to have been kidnapped by the LRA two weeks ago where recovered last week in Bobi sub-county and laid to rest.

In today's Daily Monitor, Patrick Kiwanuka Mwanje has published a column, titled "It is Government and Not Donors Alienating the Northern Region." This column is a response to claims from Minister of State for Security Betty Akech that the war in northern Uganda persists because of donor mistakes.

He writes, "Can Betty Akech remind herself if a government which deports and holds firmly 1.7 million of its citizens in concentration camps under the most degrading human conditions possible; imprisons its opponents on trumped up charges; or bribes MPs (including herself); whose security agencies operate safe houses and subjects its citizens' private parts to be gnawed away by nyarwino (not Museveni) ants and crocodiles; a government paying billions of shillings for the killing and violation of its own citizen's rights; whose army's actions are described by its High Court's top judge as "a despicable act" and a "rape of the judiciary" reminiscent of the dark days of Idi Amin; whose ministers pour wines at diplomats without remorse and still continue to hold office; whose ministers and security officials steal the Global Funds meant for Aids control without remorse still get elected to high party off ices and are nominated for elections; a government whose tribal army continues to plunder and commit with impunity war crimes and crimes against humanity against its own people and against its neighbours; is a democratic government!" Read more here.

Rtd. Col. Kizza Besigye, the presidential candidate for the Forum of Democratic Change, was released from jail yesterday. Read more here. Besigye is one of five presidential candidates for the full Ugandan elections set for February 28. In the coming weeks, Uganda-CAN will be highlighting the platforms of the different candidates, particularly hghlighting their policy proposals towards the war in northern Uganda.

In the next two months, the standing parties will tour the country, making claims and promises while disparaging the reputation of their opponents. In this electoral battlefield, it is hopeful that a debate on the state of affairs in Uganda will surface. And in that debate, Uganda-CAN believes it is vital that the most pressing issue facing contemporary Uganda, the longstanding war and consequent humanitarian crisis in the north, be put at the forefront.

The war in northern Uganda has persisted for nearly 20 years with few prospects for resolution or relief. UNICEF reported earlier this year that crude mortality rates and under-five mortality rates for displaced children are far above emergency levels. More than 300,000 children under the age of five suffer from malaria, pneumonia, diarrhea and preventable diseases. Further, the Ugandan Ministry of Health and research partners concluded that there are 1,000 excess deaths every week related to the war. Over 1.7 million people remain confined in internally displaced persons (IDP) camps and more than 30,000 children have been abducted by the LRA. To ignore these numbers and the faces they represent is an abrogation of the most basic responsibility of government.

In light of this hellish reality, the most important question facing Uganda today is how the country moves from being home to “the world’s most neglected humanitarian crisis” toward a more hopeful and humane future. Given the inadequacy of the status quo, how will future political leaders make the necessary changes to expedite the resolution of this war and end the suffering of the people? This may be no easy answer, but there is no debate more worthy of the time and urgency of the Ugandan nation.

Some claim that bringing the issue of the war into the political fray is anti-government and misguided. We wholeheartedly disagree. Advocating that the war in northern Uganda be a central issue in electoral debate does not presume any particular policy stance. If those in power can argue that their policies are suitable and adequate, they should. Otherwise they should explain how they will use different approaches and strategies to build positive change. The people of Uganda deserve answers from their potential leaders on how their policies will empower the national government to meet the basic responsibility to protect its civilians.

Finally, we want to propose a framework for the four questions or topics to frame the debate on how government can best promote peace in northern Uganda.

1.) How can the government improve civilian protection structures in the IDP camps and better guarantee humanitarian access and aid throughout the north? The daily reports of continued attacks and abuse by LRA and UPDF soldiers underlines the urgency of this question. Further, the humanitarian indicators above demand better strategies to meet the basic needs of people living in camps.

2.) How can the government facilitate a political solution to the war that creates momentum for needed national reconciliation? Even with arrests of high-level LRA leadership, it is likely that violence will continue until there are mechanisms to promote dialogue and truth-telling to foster reconciliation and reintegration.

3.) How can the government best work with Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo to arrest LRA leadership and promote amnesty for mid and low-level LRA? In light of the issuing of ICC indictments and the subsequent new momentum, the government must decide how best to work regionally to end this cross-border war.

4.) How can the government best welcome the international community to provide support and assistance when it cannot meet its responsibility to protect its civilians? To date, the Government of Uganda has resisted the United Nations Security Council becoming involved in the resolution of the war and relief for the humanitarian disaster in the north. This is tenuous policy that we argue ought to be reexamined through new lens.

The Ugandan people deserve a debate from all who seek to represent them on how they plan to bring people together towards a more cohesive, prosperous national identity. That debate begins with addressing the gross atrocities and horrific suffering of the north. However, for this debate to arise, it will require the commitment and willingness of people throughout Uganda to see the suffering in northern Uganda as connected to their lives. It will require a new paradigm where the people of Uganda demand accountability and action from their leaders. Only through such participatory democracy can true peace and prosperity flow forth.

The Daily Monitor has published a look back at the year of 2005 in northern Uganda, highlighting the major headlines of the year. Unfortunately, the article does little to highlight the ongoing peace process and conflict resolution initiatives in the region.

2005 brought hopeful moments for northern Uganda, but ultimately the horror persisted as the war now enters its twentieth year, making it Africa's longest running war. The children of northern Uganda continue to face abduction and forced soldiering, while their families continue to face displacement in the most squalid conditions.

Last month, Olara Otunnu, former-United Nations special representative for children and armed conflict and long-time advocate for peace in northern Uganda, was awarded the annual Sydney Peace Prize. In his remarks, he said, "What is going on in northern Uganda is not a routine humanitarian crisis, for which an appropriate response might be the mobilization of humanitarian relief. The human rights catastrophe unfolding in northern Uganda is a methodical and comprehensive genocide. An entire society is being systematically destroyed - physically, culturally, socially, and economically - in full view of the international community." Click below to read the full text of his remarks.

Looking ahead, 2006 holds possibility. The ICC prosecutor has ensured that LRA leadership will be captured and tried by the end of the year. President Museveni has claimed the war will be over by April. There is momentum within the U.N. Security Council to pass a resolution for northern Uganda that may challenge the Ugandan government on its failed responsibility to protect.

These are hopeful signs, but Uganda-CAN knows better than rely on them. They have come about because of the pressure of countless individuals in the ever-growing northern Uganda peace movement; people around the world demanding that attention and resources be brought to bear on this forgotten war. As we move into 2006, Uganda-CAN will work evermore to monitor the situation and its actors, while leading advocacy initiatives for an end to this war and the return of peace to northern Uganda. Let's hope the 20th will be the last year of this war.

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