The current rate of death from the war in northern Uganda is three times higher than in Iraq following the US invasion, finds a new report released today. The release of the report by Civil Society Organizations for Peace in Northern Uganda (CSOPNU) reveals new facts and figures showing the brutal impact of the conflict. Almost two million people have been displaced by the war. A staggering 25,000 children have been abducted during the war. One quarter of children over ten years old have lost one or both parents. Read more at AllAfrica.com.

The LRA Monitoring Community Project has recently been launched to help local communities gather and supply information reports and intelligence on the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA). Check out the new site here.

In the past several days, reports have circulated that the UPDF has threatened to cut off protection for all non-food humanitarian convoys to IDP camps. In lieu of the Ugandan governments failure to provide for the needs of civilians confined to IDP camps, international humanitarian agencies are the primary source for medical and other relief to IDPs. The implementation of the UPDF's threat could have disastarous effects for displaced civilians, 1,000 of which already die every week from malnutrition, disease, and violence.

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A recent report released by the Refugee Law Project, a Ugandan human rights group and Uganda-CAN partner, and several other groups argues that a peaceful end to the LRA rebellion and resolution to the humanitarian crisis are inseparable. It argues that immediate steps should be taken to ensure that IDPs have freedom of movement, are adequately protected, and that humanitarian organizations are given unrestricted access to IDP camps.

The report also argues that while these immediate steps are important, indefinite displacement must not remain the status quo. It calls on the Ugandan government to commit to a peaceful resolution to the LRA rebellion and the return of IDPs to their lands in a process that includes their input and guarantees "access to livelihood opportunities". To read the full report, click here.

AllAfrica.com reports today that the Foundation for Human Rights Initiative (FHRI) has released a report accusing the Ugandan government of stepping up repression of independent media outlets and interference in the judicial system in the past several years. The report points to numerous arrests of journalists and the closure of independent radio stations as evidence of a recent media crackdown, and to the siezure of Uganda's High Court by the military last year as a sign of interference in the judicial system. The report also criticizes the Ugandan military for its use of torture and illegal detentions.

The UN mission in the DR Congo (MONUC) and the Congolese military captured a senior LRA officer, Captain Bosco Atubo, in Garamba National Park on Sunday. Garamba National Park, situated in the northeast corner of the DR Congo near the borders of Sudan and Uganda, has been occupied by LRA forces since last October. Both LRA leader Joseph Kony, who fled there only days ago, and his deputy Vincent Otti are currently believed to be there. LRA rebels have used bases in Garamba National Park to stage attacks in southern Sudan, and killed eight MONUC soldiers from Guatemala last month. Read more at the New Vision.

The New Vision is reporting that President Yoweri Museveni met with U.S. Senator James Inhofe (R-OK) on Sunday and discussed the humanitarian situation in northern Uganda. Senator Inhofe, a member of the Senate Committee on Armed Services, congratulated the president on his re-election and discussed possible U.S. contributions to resettlement efforts in the north.

Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni threatened yesterday to invade the DR Congo if LRA rebels based there attack Uganda. Speaking at an interview, the president said, "If they attack any part of Uganda, we shall follow them into Congo with or without approval." Museveni was reacting to news that LRA leader Joseph Kony fled to the DR Congo last week and joined his deputy Vincent Otti, who has been there since October of last year.

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President Bush today released his National Security Strategy report, an update of his 2002 plan for protecting America and directing relations with other nations. In the document, the President lists numerous remaining challenges which are demanding the world's attention and cites the war in northern Uganda as one such challenge, saying that the LRA "is exploiting a regional conflict and terrorizing a vulnerable population."

The document states, "Regional conflicts are a bitter legacy from previous decades that continue to affect our national security interests today. Regional conflicts do not stay isolated for long and often spread or devolve into humanitarian tragedy or anarchy... Outsiders generally cannot impose solutions on parties that are not ready to embrace them, but outsiders can sometimes help create the conditions under which the parties themselves can take effective action." The strategy report also recognizes that regional conflicts can lead to failed states and humanitarian disasters that can become a safe haven for terrorists.

It is the hope of Uganda-CAN that these recognitions and statements will lead to concerted action and leadership by the U.S. government to bring an end to the war in northern Uganda.

The New Vision is reporting that Joseph Kony has left his hideout in southern Sudan with seventy soldiers and joined his deputy, Vincent Otti in the Garamba National Park in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. A Ugandan Army spokesman confirmed yesterday that Kony had crossed the border and that the UPDF has subsequently sent reinforcements to Uganda's border with the DRC. “We have stepped up security and we are on high alert although Kony and his men are weakened. We do not want to take chances. We have to ensure that our people at the border are safe,” said Major Felix Kulayigye. Kulayigye also said that the UPDF had alerted DRC authorities and the United Nations to disarm or arrest the rebels since the Ugandan army is not allowed to cross the border to hunt down LRA soldiers. Unconfirmed reports from security sector humanitarian organizations in northern Uganda also suggest that LRA forces have recently moved into the Central African Republic. Read the full article here.

The Global Youth Partnernship For Africa will host an event in Washington D.C. this evening as part of its Think Again! town hall series that aims to bring together students, professors and practitioners to challenge stereotypes on Africa and to discuss successful stories that can be scaled to affect communities around the continent. The title of the event is, "Youth on the Brink: The Crisis of Citizenship in Northern Uganda" and will feature L. Randolph Carter, Director of Children and Youth Programs at Search for Common Ground. Go here for more information on the event.

Archbishop Christopher Pierre, the apostolic nuncio in Kampala, today urged President Museveni to work toward bringing an end to the 20 year old war in northern Uganda and to "end the suffering of the people... who are besieged by the terror of the Lord's Resistance Army." The article in Catholic World News makes note of the fact that church leaders in northern Uganda have consistently complained that although President Museveni has "the capacity to end the war promptly" he chooses to continue the struggle for political reasons. While President Museveni has favored a military solution to the conflict with the LRA, church leaders are advocating for a negotiated settlement. The Archbishop urged people to pray for the people of northern Uganda, in addition to providing humanitarian assistance.

The Daily Monitor is reporting that Dr. Peter Waldron, an American currently being held in Uganda on charges of illegal possession of arms and terrorism was collaborating with Congolese rebel militia to capture Joseph Kony, the leader of the LRA. Though Ugandan and US officials will not comment on the case, a "highly placed source" has said that Waldron planned to claim the $1.7 million US bounty on Kony's head. When the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Kony and his top commanders, it also promised a reward for his capture.

Waldron was arrested after a skirmish near his Kisigu home, which led authorities to an arms arsenal allegedly being compiled by Waldron and Dido Manyiroha who stands accused with the American and who is a leader of the Movement Révoluntionaire du Congo (MRC), a rebel outfit operating in Eastern Congo. The men were allegedly found in illegal possession of four guns and 184 rounds of live ammunition. A security source who declined to be named said, "[Waldron] made a deal with MRC to do an operation in Garamba Park where Kony and his group are said to be hiding. He promised to claim the reward on Kony's capture and share it with the group afterwards. He also advanced them $20,000 to organise the operation." The source continued, "MRC promised Waldron they have the men and the capacity to grab Kony because they are Congolese and they know the forests." Garamba Park is located on the border of Uganda and the DRC and slightly before the men were arrested, it was reported that Kony had moved into the park from southern Sudan.

There are many persisting questions concerning the arrest and the identity of Dr. Waldron, who was officially in Uganda as an information technology consultant to the Ugandan Ministry of Health. The Washinton Post is reporting that Ugandan police are saying that Waldron was planning to start a political party in Uganda based on Christian principles when he was arrested. He has also been linked to several evangelical organizations and some online sources are speculating that he has ties to the American government. A security source told The Monitor, "He is probably with the Central Intelligence Agency," but added that "no admission to that effect can be expected from the American government." The US Embassy in Kampala will not comment on the arrest due to Waldron's protection under the US Privacy Act, but a cabinet minister has said that the US government has contacted the Government of Uganda regarding Waldron's arrest.

Terrorism is a capital offense in Uganda under the Anti-Terrorism Act and the accused could face the death penalty if convicted. The Buganda Road Chief Magistrate has remanded Waldron and his six co-defendants until March 28, though Waldron's family and friends in America have launched a campaign to set him free portraying him as a victim of a government crackdown on free speech in Uganda and urging the US State Department to expedite his release.

Members of the Uganda-CAN team are currently on the ground in Uganda and continue to monitor the situation closely.

Go here to read the full text of The Daily Monitor article.

Both The New Vision and The Toronto Star are reporting today on the first trip of GuluWalk founders Adrian Bradbury and Kieran Hayward to the wartorn region of northern Uganda. In an article titled "Gulu camps in harsh conditions," The New Vision reports that the men described their first visit to the IDP camps, a fact finding tour of camps in Gulu, as "incredible" and quotes Bradbury as saying, "The Acholi living in camps are being treated like animals encamped in a zoo. No one should have to live like that. This is an unacceptable crisis that must be addressed by the Government."

The Toronto Star article describes the team's first encounter with the region's night commuters, children who are forced to walk several miles every night to the relative safety of town shelters to avoid being abducted by the LRA.

GuluWalk, based in Toronto, was started to voice the problems of the people in the camps of northern Uganda when last July, the two men walked 12 kilometres every night from Victoria Park subway station to Toronto's city hall and walked back every morning to symbolize the children's nightly commute in Acholiland. Matthew Odong, one of Gulu's primary religious leaders, told the men on Sunday that it was an "idea inspired by God."

Following a March 9 legislative briefing sponsored by the Africa Faith and Justice Network (Uganda-CAN's parent organization), the Congressional Human Rights Caucus and the Uganda Caucus and a screening of the film Invisible Children for members of the US Congress, The New Vision is reporting on upcoming global night commutes, planned by the film's producers for April 29. According to the article, it is the hope of Invisible Children to "enlist the time, talent and money of Americans" to draw attention to the plight of children in northern Uganda by getting thousands of Americans to lie down in the "streets of their towns for a humanitarian mission." The filmmakers have recently launched a nationwide tour to screen the documentary in more than 150 cities across the US. Read the article here.

IRIN reports that the recent crackdown on media critical of the Ugandan government continued yesterday as a Canadian journalist was denied entry into Uganda. Robert Kabushenga, head of the Ugandan government's Media Centre said that Robert Lambert, a journalist for the Economist magazine and several other prominent publications, "is an unwanted person in Uganda." He accused Lambert of "consistent misrepresentation and misreporting of the situation in the country."

Last week, allafrica.com reported that police in the northern Ugandan town of Gulu searched a radio station headquarters and detained one its senior managers after it aired a debate between candidates vying for the Gulu district seat, including opposition candidate Norbert Mao, who went on to win the election. An official from the radio station, Choice FM, said that military authorities in Gulu had summoned the same manager in late 2005 and demanded that he discontinue airing political talk shows. Also, several other radio stations in northern Uganda reported being harassed by local police for airing talk shows featuring opposition party viewpoints in the days leading up to the Feb. 23rd presidential and parliamentary elections.

A officer of LRA captured earlier this week by the UPDF, 2nd Lieutenant Richard Odong, has confirmed reports that LRA leader Joseph Kony is fleeing from southern Sudan to the DR Congo, where his second-in-command Vincent Otti has been since last October. Read more at the New Vision.

However, even as the Ugandan military claims that the LRA is nearly defeated and Pres. Museveni urges IDPs in northern Uganda to begin returning to their homes, the suffering of civilians in the region is intensifying. World Emergency Relief (WER), reports that a drought and massive hike in food prices has combined with the chronic inadequacy of relief efforts to make the humanitarian situation increasingly worse. “The situation is already at crisis point” comments Alex Haxton, WER’s Director of Operations. “Our staff on the ground are reporting tens of thousands of people in desperate need of urgent humanitarian assistance, and a significant rise in the numbers of severely malnourished children.”

This seemingly contradictory dynamic - a weakening rebel army, but intensified civilian crisis - suggests that the failure of the Uganda government, and international community, to protect and assist IDPs is primarily to blame for the continued crisis. If the people of northern Uganda are "caught in between the two fires" of the LRA and Ugandan government, it is increasingly evident that the latter is more substantial one. Stay tuned to Uganda-CAN's advocacy efforts in coming weeks as we urge the UN to fulfill its "responsibility to protect" the suffering civilians of northern Uganda.

A feature in the San Jose Mercury News tells the story of 12-year-old Dennis Ojok, a former child soldier in the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA). Abducted at age nine, Dennis was able to escape two years later. However, upon returning to his hometown he discovered that his only close relative, his grandmother, had since died.

Since then Dennis has become one of the tens of thousands of 'night commuters' in northern Uganda - children who walk 6-10 miles each night from the countryside to larger towns in order to avoid abduction (or re-abduction) by the LRA. And like many escaped child soldiers, Dennis faces the dangers of exploitation rampant in the towns and the difficulty of paying school fees largely on his own. To read more, visit the San Jose Mercury News.

The Ugandan military claims that approximately 70 of the 408 prison inmates who escaped from a prison in northwestern Uganda last month are attempting to join with LRA forces in the DR Congo. The prisoners escaped as prison guards were celebrating Yoweri Museveni's victory in the Feb. 23rd presidential elections. Read more at Africa News Dimension.

Today's New Vision states that the UPDF reportedly killed six LRA rebels, including one commander, in southern Sudan and northern Uganda on Monday. Ten wives and children of LRA fighters were rescued in the operations, and one other rebel captured.