An updated profile by the International Displacement Monitoring Centre shows that between 1.7 and two million people remain internally displaced in northern Uganda. While the number of attacks on civilians has decreased, LRA rebels continue to maintain a presence in northern Uganda and the overall security situation remains fluid and unpredictable. Abuses of civilians continue to be committed by the Ugandan military, and in particular by local defence units. Basic conditions in the majority of camps remain for the most part unchanged. The government recently launched its new mechanism to address the humanitarian situation. It appears, however, that this Plan’s implementation is hampered by a lack of participation by government ministries and a deficiency of resources.

Faced with indictment, LRA second-in-command Vincent Otti appealed to the International Criminal Court (ICC) to urgently consider sending a team to Garamba National Park in Congo. "ICC should quickly come to Garamba but without the warrant of arrest. We are ready to host them for three days so they get our side of the story," a Radio France (RFI) presenter quoted Otti. "We are ready to go to The Hague but first listen to us. We are freedom fighters," Otti was quoted as saying. Read more at The New Vision.

The spokesperson of the LRA says the International Criminal Court’s warrant of arrest of LRA leader, Joseph Kony, and three of his senior commanders should not be used to block the peace process. Obonyo Olweny who is currently leading the LRA peace delegation in Juba says the ICC can still pursue their options after the conflict has been resolved through dialogue, the Sudan Radio Service (SRS) reported. He says that it’s not only Kony and his senior commanders who are fighting the Ugandan government but there are other opposition forces. Read more at The Sudan Tribune.

Intelligence reports in Kampala say the LRA rebels have received $3000 from anonymous funders in the United Kingdom. "The money came in last week from their (LRA) contacts in UK. We have been monitoring the phones of the recipients. However, we cannot arrest them because we have no instructions to," an intelligence source told The New Times in Kampala. The source further revealed that the transfers were made through MoneyGram.

The International Criminal Court has summoned Joseph Kony to make a formal response to the war crimes charges hours after the leader of the rebel Lord's Resistance Army protested against accusations of killings and abductions perpetrated in his name. The ICC Chief Prosecutor, Mr Luis Moreno Ocampo, offered a safe passage to the most wanted rebel in Africa. "I invite Joseph Kony and the other commanders identified in the arrest warrants issued by the International Criminal Court to come forward to the Court and respond to the charges," Ocampo's statement reads in part. Read more at The Monitor.

The New Vision has published an editorial, titled "Come clean, Joseph Kony." In it, the editors write, "The evidence against him [Kony] is overwhelming – what has been documented, the testimonies of escapees, the records of neutral parties, all tell the story of extreme crimes against humanity." They further write that peace talks will be nearly impossible if Kony continues to systematically lie about the realities of northern Uganda.

Following a rare interview yesterday from LRA rebel leader Joseph Kony in which he denied committing atrocities, Ugandan Ochola John, 25, responds by telling his story. He was abducted by rebels from his village, Namkora in northern Uganda, which was attacked in February 2002. During the attack 50 people were axed to death and he was one of 35 abductees. During his abduction, LRA rebels cut off his ears, nose and hands. Read his account at BBC News.

Uganda poured scorn on Thursday on claims by Joseph Kony in a rare interview that he is innocent of war crimes, but said it would still send ministers to investigate the possibility of peace talks. Government spokesman Robert Kabushenga said Internal Affairs Minister Ruhakana Rugunda and Henry Oryem Okello, a junior foreign minister, would visit south Sudan's capital with security officials at the end of this week or early next. "Once they have met Kiir, they will advise Kampala on whether to expand the mission into a delegation to meet the LRA," Kabushenga said. Read more at Reuters AlertNet.

A former LRA rebel, Major Odongo Kao, has been arrested by security operatives at the Busia border with two women, including LRA leader Joseph Kony’s wife. They were found with five children trying to cross to Kenya. Northern military spokesman Lt. Chris Magezi said they were on their way to join Kony in Garamba National Park in DR Congo. "They were being facilitated by collaborators in Uganda, Kenya and the UK and had satellite phones to aid their escape to reunite with Kony. From Kenya they were expecting to be flown to Garamba," Magezi said. Read more at The New Vision.

President Museveni has finally accepted the possibility of sending a delegation to talk peace with LRA representatives. Speaking in an exclusive interview with the Daily Monitor on Tuesday, the President said he was sending a team to Juba to explore possibilities of talking to Kony. "We are sending a team to Southern Sudan on the invitation of H.E. Salva Kiir, first to do the preliminaries and then we can talk to those terrorists," Museveni said. Read more at The Daily Monitor.

The Ugandan government has dismissed as "ridiculous" rebel leader Joseph Kony's claims that his LRA was not involved in atrocities. International rights group Human Rights Watch expressed surprise at Kony's claim but said he must defend himself at the International Criminal Court. In his first journalistic interview, Kony told the BBC the LRA was not responsible for killings, maimings and abductions in northern Uganda. This interview will air tonight at 10:30 UK time on BBC Newsnight.

Uganda has been formally invited by the government of southern Sudan to attend peace talks with the LRA. "The invitation has been sent to us and we are preparing to send a technical team to meet with [southern Sudan's] President Salva Kiir and also sort out issues to do with the format of the talks, the agenda, the composition of delegations, and other procedural issues," said James Mugume, the permanent secretary in the Ugandan foreign ministry. Mugume denied reports that Kampala was not keen on reaching a peaceful settlement with the LRA. Read more at the UN's IRIN News.

Earlier this month, The Times' correspondent Sam Farmar ventured into the jungle of DR Congo for the first journalistic interview with LRA leader Joseph Kony. Farmer writes, "He is tall — perhaps 6ft 1in — and looks younger than his 46 years. He grins, exposing two chipped and blackened front teeth, then shakes my hand. 'I’m a freedom fighter who is fighting for freedom in Uganda,' he tells me. 'I am not a terrorist.'" In the interview, Kony claims he has 3,000 fighters and is fighting for both democracy and the Ten Commandments. Read more about this fascinating interview at The Times Online. Also, BBC2 will be airing Farmar's interview with Kony at 1030 tonight in the UK.

President Yoweri Museveni yesterday chaired a National Security Committee meeting that discussed the proposed peace talks with the LRA. "I am sure a position to send a delegation to Juba for talks with LRA is the main point on the agenda," a source said. The source said Uganda wants LRA rebels to disarm before it considers sending a delegation to Juba for talks. The LRA apparently wants the Government to ask the ICC to withdraw charges against Kony and his commanders, share cabinet portfolios with the Movement government and release all LRA fighters who were captured by the UPDF. Read more at The New Vision.

Moved by The Oprah's shows coverage of the plight of children in northern Uganda, Karin & Shane Whitley of North Carolina have begun selling t-shirts to raise money for advocacy organizations like Uganda-CAN and The Name Campaign. The shirts show arrest warrants for Joseph Kony. Click here to buy a shirt.

Senior UPDF military officers are reported to be taking advantage of the institutional breakdown in the LRA-infested Acholi sub-region to manipulate peasants and grab their fertile land. The Gulu LC5 Chairman, Nobert Mao, said on Monday that the "arrogant and indifferent" attitude of the UPDF commanders was hurting the victims of the prolonged banditry. "Our people are suffering double victimisation, they are huddled in underserved camps and now, they have been made serfs in their own motherland by hungry and unscrupulous people," Mao said. The Daily Monitor has learned that local Acholi leaders met for two days at the residence of the Acholi paramount chief Rwot Acana II on June 24-25 and constituted a 15-member ad hoc committee to regulate land business in the Acholi sub-region. "We are directing that the illegal acquisition of land, which is so rampant, must stop forthwith until the three districts of Gulu, Kitgum and Pader come out with a unified land policy," said a press release issued by the leaders. Read more at The Daily Monitor.

One of the most respected commentators on Ugandan politics and columnist for The Monitor, Charles Onyango-Obbo, has written a critical analysis of the latest events surrounding the Juba peace talks. Onyango-Obbo writes that, as of last October, two LRAs have emerged: "LRA Uganda" and "LRA Sudan." He argues that "LRA Sudan" is commanded by the Sudanese government in Khartoum as a proxy militia to destabilize the south and ensure the failure of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA). This has freed Kony's "LRA Uganda" from pressure to protect its bases and supply lines in southern Sudan. As a result, the Government of Southern Sudan has found itself vulnerable. In the confusion, Onyango-Obbo writes that Vice President Machar is using his contact with Kony to seek greater control over the region's affairs. Read the full column at The Monitor.

Uganda is willing to enter into talks with the LRA rebels, but is still "sorting out issues" surrounding the talks, a senior foreign affairs official said Tuesday. The government has received an invitation to peace talks from the southern Sudanese authorities. "The invitation has been sent to us but we are sorting out some issues before we send a technical team to the talks," James Mugume, foreign affairs permanent secretary, told Deutsche Presse-Agentur by telephone. Analysts are saying, however, that Uganda is reluctant to meet the LRA leadership because it does not trust the initiator of the talks, Southern Sudan's Vice-President Riek Machar. Read more at ReliefWeb.

Ugandan troops killed 8 LRA rebels in clashes last week, keeping up the pressure on fugitive guerrillas who have called for peace talks with the government, the army said on Monday. "Eight LRA fighters were killed last week as they tried to raid camps in the north," said Uganda’s army spokesman Major Felix Kulayigye. "Our position is clear: operations continue." Otherwise, northern Uganda had been relatively quiet in recent weeks. Read more at The Sudan Tribune.

The senior United Nations Special Rep. for Children and Armed Conflict today said that children in northern Uganda remain at grave risk because of abuses by the LRA. Radhika Coomaraswamy stressed that the rebel group still remains the largest threat to children in Uganda, with at least 25,000 children known to have been recruited during their 20-year campaign of terror in the region. In addition, she said that the humanitarian outlook for demobilized children remained bleak. Those children had only been re-integrated into camps, where life was terrible, and not into general society. There was a need for a more "holistic development vision" to allow them to have other livelihoods and to prevent them from slipping back into military activities, she said. Read more at The UN News Service.

Gladys Oroma, Uganda-CAN news correspondent, reports that five civilians including the deputy speaker of Gulu Municipal Council have been arrested by the UPDF over alleged collaboration with the LRA rebels. According to the charge, the five gave assistance to the LRA in the form of bullets, gum boots, satellite phones and one million Ug. shillings. The deputy speaker Gulu Municipal Alex Okot rejected the claim by the army. He instead said the army shot a bullet between his legs during the time of his arrest and seriously tortured him while in a dark house at the barrack. When contacted for comment, UPDF Northern Spokesman Lt. Chris Magezi said he never received any information about the arrest of the five people.

Gladys Oroma, Uganda-CAN news correspondent, reports that the Acholi Paramount Chief, Rwot David Onen-Acana II has said the Southern Sudanese leadership consulted him in February 2006 for the proposed peace initiatives now underway in Juba. The Rwot said this during the second annual retreat by Acholi Programme for Acholi leaders at his palace that is funded by European union. Over 85 Acholi leaders including members of Parliament are attending the two days retreat. The first retreat was held at Paraa Safari Lodge in the Murchison Falls Game Park, last year from 23rd to 26th June, to respond to the crisis in the region.

Former LRA spokesman Sam Kolo and former LRA master-planner Kenneth Banya have expressed doubt that rebel leader Joseph Kony is serious about negotiating a peace settlement with the Uganda Government. "Kony coming seriously to these peace talks is a dream," Kolo said. "Kony has no strong political will. He is an opportunist who wants to strike gold. Peacemaking is the new money making, it is a business," Kolo adds. However, there is reason to believe that both Banya and Kolo are compromised by their involvement with the government. Kolo recently testified against opposition candidate Kizza Besigye in a treason trial. Further, on the ground in Uganda, it is not just the political will of Kony and the LRA that is being questioned. Many local leaders are questioning why the Government of Uganda has not yet dispatched a delegation to Juba to engage peace talks.

Last week, US Assistant Sec. of State for African Affairs Jendayi Frazer met with President Museveni and toured northern Uganda to see first-hand the effects of the war. Frazer visited the World Vision Rehabilitation Center for forty minutes and also met with the Acholi Religious Leaders Peace Initiative. In a press conference last Tuesday, Frazer declared US support for the peace mediation efforts of Vice President Riek Machar. She said, "We believe that the priority has to be peace. As for the pursuit of that peace, we are quite open on how we achieve it. But that is the priority: to stop the war. And if the government of Uganda can come to some agreement with the LRA, that has to be the priority." Read the full transcript of the press roundtable at The East African.

Though the Government of Uganda has declared the war over and situation under control, the security situation in northern Uganda remains tense. Small groups of LRA have been sighted in both Gulu and Kitgum districts over recent weeks. Further, a group of LRA abducted six people in Alito sub-country in northern Apac. Also, seven people were abducted from Gulu district last week. Though the number of such attacks is very low, they are still existent. In Apac District, the number of recognized displacement camps has increased from 15 to 20, and the displaced population from 98,193 to 128,190.

The Christian Science Monitor reports that peace talks between the government and LRA could begin as early as this week. Local leaders are cautiously optimistic that these talks could finally draw the war to an end. Local leaders have called on the ICC to provide space and flexibility for this opportunity for peace to be fully engaged. "Peace has a higher value than anything else," says Norbert Mao, a top local government official. "I believe in the [ICC]. It is a great thing. But the chief prosecutor's mother is not in a displaced-persons camp.... We are grappling with, and living, a difficult reality." Read more at The Christian Science Monitor.

William Bionx Akena, Uganda-CAN news correspondent in Gulu, reports that at least seven people were abducted by LRA rebels on Thursday evening in Bungatira sub-county in Gulu district. The northern military spokesman Lt. Chris Magezi confirmed this, saying the seven were in their gardens when the abduction happened.

As the profiles of the 15 appointed by Joseph Kony as negotiators continue to be unveiled, The New Vision reports that one is an employee of the British aid agency, Oxfam, working in Juba. Sunday Ochaya is originally from Kitgum district in the north. Read more at The New Vision.

William Bionx Akena, Uganda-CAN news correspondent in Gulu, reports that the conditions in the displacement camps remain horrific. Visiting a camp seven kilometers outside Gulu town, he witnessed severe food and water shortages. For a population of 26,800 people, the camp only has two boreholes. Further, camp residents spoke of the strains in the civilian-military relationship. One camp leader said that UPDF had tortured IDPs who went to plant tomatoes in the garden. There were further allegations of rape against young women in the camps. The northern military spokesman denied all these accusations, saying that all military who commit crimes are dealt with accordingly.

Sudan's security forces last week killed four LRA rebels, a Sudanese official has said. Clement Wani Konga, governor of Central Equatorial state, said the LRA had been raiding residential areas of the southern Sudanese state to seize food. This activity comes as the Government of Southern Sudan continues to try to establish peace talks between the LRA and Ugandan government. Read more at Reuters.

Regional stability including the insurgency in northern Uganda and trade will be top on the agenda during a two-day state visit to Uganda by the Chinese Prime Minister, Wen Jiabao. Read more at The Daily Monitor.

The mandate of the team appointed by President Yoweri Museveni two years ago to negotiate with the LRA rebels has expired. The presidential peace team led by internal affairs minister, Ruhakana Rugunda, has no powers to conduct negotiations on behalf of the government at present, a senior official has revealed. Government sources said for the peace team to be active in the talks to take place in Juba, Museveni has to sign an instrument energizing their mandate. Read more at The Monitor.

Riek Machar, vice president of southern Sudan, has said that more than 90% of LRA rebels have left their refuge in Sudan, showing that his mediation strategies have been a success. Machar said LRA fighters had crossed into the DR Congo, but U.N. and Congolese officials in Kinshasa said they had no evidence of that. Machar said his administration’s attempts to mediate an end to the conflict have been stalled because the Ugandan government has not sent negotiators to Juba. Yet, in Kampala on Thursday, Ugandan Defense Ministry spokesman Maj. Felix Kulayigye said, "We are waiting for Southern Sudanese authorities to tell us 'Conditions are right, so come.'" He did not elaborate on the required conditions, but added, "Nothing is holding us back, except the final communication from Juba." Read more at The Sudan Tribune.

Top Ugandan government officials are doubting the credibility of the LRA delegation in Juba to negotiate a peace deal. Deputy State Minister for Foreign Affairs Henry Oryem Okello yesterday said the government encourages the mediation efforts of Dr. Riek Machar, but will only speak to a genuine LRA delegation. "Once he [Machar] softens the situation and is dealing with the right people, we can send a team to Juba," a government source said.

The current LRA delegation in Juba named by Kony includes Crispus Ayena Odong, a Kampala lawyer and a confessed NRM supporter who contested but lost the race for deputy Secretary General of the NRM party. The secretary to the defense ministry and later secretary of the military commission of Tito Okello’s military junta, Col. Wilson Owiny, is further on the LRA list. Also on the list is Rock Okidi, a Uganda-turned US citizen, from New York. Okidi has been at the center of controversy between Uganda and the US. Read more at The New Vision.

The United Nations should raise the threat of force against LRA rebels, and put pressure on Sudan and Congo, to ensure the group is serious about peace talks, a Ugandan envoy said. Uganda's representative in Juba said his government would soon send a delegation to meet LRA representatives waiting in the town to start negotiations, although he did not specify a timeframe. "The military option must not be forgotten," Ambassador Busho Ndinyenka told Reuters in an interview late on Thursday. "They must know that if they are not serious about talks there is a military option." Ndinyenka said Uganda also wants to see more pressure put on Congo's government to deal with the LRA, one of many armed groups operating in the east of the vast country. Read more at Reuters AlertNet.

US aid to Uganda will go up by $40 million next year. This will bring the US total aid to $196 million in support of various activities including human capacity development, health, education and economic growth among others. Read more at The Monitor. Uganda-CAN urges USAID and its implementing partners to see that much of this aid is directed toward the resolution of the conflict in northern Uganda and secure return of IDPs to their homes.

Uganda should cooperate with her neighbours to have LRA leader Joseph Kony killed or captured, the US Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Jendayi Frazer has said. Frazer said the LRA issue was no longer solely a Ugandan issue, but an international affair because Kony and his fighters had killed other nationals and was a threat to peace in the region. "The war in northern Uganda should be put to an end, by either killing Kony, capturing him and bringing him to justice or he surrenders due to the pressure," Frazer said. "We believe that the priority has to be peace for everybody," she added. She said she would make a report to US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and a course of action wouldbe decided. Read more at The New Vision.

President Yoweri Museveni is seeking U.S. backing for his troops to re-invade the Democratic Republic of Congo. In a meeting with the US top diplomat on African Affairs Jendayi Frazer, Museveni reportedly said, "Uganda should either be allowed to track down remnants of Joseph Kony's LRA inside the DRC on its own or operate together with the Congolese army and MONUC." Read more at The New Times.

The situation in the war-torn northern Uganda took center stage on Tuesday in the British Parliament, with members demanding that their government must put pressure on the Government of Uganda to table an immediate course of action to bring the suffering to an end. Members urged their Government to make aid to Uganda "more conditional" as a way of bringing the conflict to an end. The MPs called on the British government to "prioritise the issue much more heavily." They said there was need to "press" UN Security Council Resolution 1663 to put in place a UN special envoy. All the MPs who contributed to the debate said they had been in Uganda recently and visited the northern region. They said the UPDF was strong enough to sort the problem out, "but corruption, abusive behaviour, poor organisation and equipment shortages" rendered it unable to deal with the LRA. Read more at The Monitor.

Tomorrow's Daily Monitor is running an Op/Ed written by Uganda-CAN, titled "Government Needs to Involve IDPs to Achieve Meaningful Peace Pact." In the editorial, we write, "In the midst of elite-level politicking, we fear the people of northern Uganda suffering in camps may be left behind. Their lack of participation and empowerment in the very processes that will determine their future makes the processes likely to fail." Uganda-CAN calls on the Government of Uganda and all stakeholders to implement an effective strategy for the secure return of IDPs to their land. Read the full text of the article at The Monitor.

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

In an interview this morning, the leader of Muslims in Gulu, Shiek Musa Khelil applauded efforts to establish a peace process between the Government of Uganda and Lord's Resistance Army (LRA). He said, "A lot of blood has been lost already...it is about time that the Government of Uganda brought an end to this untold suffering of the people of Acholiland." He further said that everyone is a stakeholder in this peace process.

US Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Jendayi Frazer, has said the U.S. government supports peace talks between the Uganda government and the rebels of the Lords Resistance Army. "We believe that the priority must be peace and if the government of Uganda can come to some agreement with the LRA that has to be the priority," said Frazer. She said, "The priority has to be to get him out of the bush no matter how they do it." Frazer traveled to Gulu yesterday in order to see first hand the effect of the conflict on the people of northern Uganda. Read more at The Monitor.

Just yesterday morning, Uganda-CAN asked you to write your U.S. congressional representatives, telling them to support the peace process. Our voices are being heard! However, more can and should be done. Click here to write and tell the U.S. Congress to put more than words behind this opportunity for peace!

Riek Machar, south Sudan's vice-president, told Reuters on Tuesday the Hague-based International Criminal Court (ICC) should publicly endorse his government's peace initiative with the LRA. "If the ICC came out to say that they would give the peace process a chance before the legal process is done, then we would resolve the conflict in the region," Machar said. "If they did that, they would give the peace process a big boost, it would assist the Ugandan government to boldly say 'we are going to negotiate'," he said. Machar said Switzerland had agreed to support his initiative, adding the Netherlands and Italy also appeared ready to assist. Read more at Reuters AlertNet.

UNHCR today marks World Refugee Day and has called for more long-term support for the millions of refugees around the world. While the number of refugees has declined in recent years, the number of internally-displaced peoples has increased. In northern Uganda, 1.7 million people remain displaced in the most horrific conditions.

In a meeting with U.S. Assistant Sec. of State for African Affairs Jendayi Frazer yesterday, President Museveni said Uganda should either be allowed to track down remnants of the LRA inside the DR Congo on its own or operate with the Congolese Army and MONUC. Read more at The New Vision.

In recent weeks, the Government of Southern Sudan has facilitated peace talks between the Government of Uganda (GoU) and Lord's Resistance Army (LRA): perhaps the most robust peace initiative in the 20 years of the conflict. However, in a drastic turn of events, government officials said last week that they would not send a delegation to these talks. Remarking that the LRA is not a Uganda problem anymore, government spokesmen said that they would not negotiate because of ICC indictments issued for the top five LRA commanders.

This refusal is a serious failure of the GoU’s moral and legal responsibility to protect its citizens and work toward regional security. The government has a duty to exhaust all opportunities to end violence against its people. The talks in Juba are one such opportunity. Further, the five indicted leaders are not the ones representing the LRA in Juba. The 14 LRA negotiators there represent the whole of the rebel army with which the government can and should negotiate.

Second, the government claims ICC indictments do not allow it to guarantee the safety of LRA rebels. However, this statement misses an important question: how can the Ugandan government guarantee the safety of rebel commanders that are not even within their own borders? Instead of continuing its litany of excuses, the government should put the needs of its citizens first and engage peace talks. Uganda-CAN urges the United States to support the mediation of the Southern Sudanese and help bring the GoU to the table.

Click here to email your Congressional representatives and urge them to support this opportunity to end the 20-year war, before this opportunity is lost to indifference!

In response to a lobbying initiative supported by Uganda-CAN in conjunction with several major humanitarian relief organizations operating in Uganda, the U.S. budget supplemental bill signed recently by President Bush appropriated an additional $35 million for the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance. This money will be used in northern Uganda and in the Democratic Republic of Congo for emergency health measures, and will have a significant impact on improving conditions in camps for displaced people.

Furthermore, the Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance has also responded to lobbying, agreeing to appoint a full-time staff person to northern Uganda. Uganda-CAN applauds these efforts to ease the burden of suffering caused by this 20-year war, and thanks all of its supporters who wrote letters and made calls on these successful initiatives!

Crispus Ayena Odong, a Kampala lawyer, is among the 15-man delegation LRA rebel leader Joseph Kony appointed last week to represent the LRA in peace talks in Juba. Odong, who runs Ayena Odong and Company Advocates is a former corporation secretary of National Enterprises Corporation (NEC), a trading arm of the Ministry of Defense. Riek Machar, the Vice President of Southern Sudan, further said of the delegation, "Dr Lensio Onek has also been appointed as their foreign affairs coordinator and facilitator, for the duration of the talks." Machar also reportedly said, "Kony is waiting for the response of the government on the selection of its delegation." Read more at The Monitor.

United States Assistant Secretary of State for Africa Jendayi Frazer is currently in Kampala. Earlier today, Assistant Secretary Frazer held a two-hour talk with President Museveni, and the LRA crisis was a significant point of discussion. Ambassador Frazer plans to travel tomorrow to Gulu to see the situation firsthand.

Uganda-CAN is grateful to Assistant Secretary Frazer for her visit to the region, and hopes that she uses the opportunity to learn more about the conflict and how the U.S. can help end it. To see Uganda-CAN's ideas about how the U.S. Government can be most helpful, click here. For the official press release regarding Assistant Secretary Frazer's visit, click below.

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This month, the Rt. Rev. MacLeod Baker Ochola, retired Anglican bishop of Kitgum, addressed the 75th General Convention of the Episcopal Church of the United States on the situation in northern Uganda. In his speech, Bishop Ochola said, "I have come therefore to appeal to you, my brothers and sisters, in the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ, to make our invisible children of Northern Uganda become visible again. I call upon you to remember our forgotten people of Northern Uganda and to reach out and touch us in Northern Uganda who have been demonized and stigmatized for the last 20 years." Click below to read the full text of Bishop Ochola's speech.

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The Government of Uganda plans to spend $10 million to resettle internally displaced persons in northern Uganda. Presenting the country's 2006/7 budget estimates to parliament on Thursday, Finance Minister Ezra Suruma said the money would also be used to alleviate poverty in the region over the next 12 months. "Northern Uganda continues to have the highest incidence of poverty due to the persistent insecurity over many years," Suruma said.

Last week, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said in a report that up to 393,000 persons had already returned home in regions of Lango in the north and Teso in the northeast. However, a series of assessments in areas of return conducted in April indicated a challenging amount of work ahead. OCHA said the assessment revealed a "lack of teachers in schools due to lack of staff housing; lack of equipment and school materials; extremely poor condition of the health services, including the need to refurbish the infrastructure." Also for the people who remain in camps, mortality rates remain dire. Read more at UN IRIN News.

LRA spokesman Obwony Olweny has told journalists in Juba that they are optimistic that the talks with the Government of Uganda will have a positive outcome. In a rare press conference, Olweny said, "The delegation would like to state categorically that ... LRA soldiers did not attack Juba or any village nearby." Olweny wore a dark blue suit with a yellow tie, a far cry from the guerrilla fatigues of his colleagues who have roamed northern Uganda and southern Sudan for almost two decades. Read more at The New Vision.

Uganda has no immediate plans to send officials for peace talks with LRA rebels, the government said on Saturday. "We have no immediate plans to send anyone," said government spokesman Robert Kabushenga. "We have laid out our position very clearly. We cannot talk to any of the rebels who are wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC)." Kabushenga said, "He is now a big problem for south Sudan. Congo is obliged to hand him over to the ICC, and MONUC is there too," he said. Read more at Reuters AlertNet, and read Uganda-CAN's statement on peace talks here.

The Ugandan government is still interested in peace talks with the LRA, Henry Oryem Okello, the State Minister for International Affairs has said. "We genuinely want to participate in the talks," Oryem said yesterday. On Thursday, Uganda at the eleventh hour informed Salva Kiir, the President of Southern Sudan that the government will not be sending a delegation to Juba for the talks as it has planned. According to Ugandan officials and the SPLA, the information which was relayed by Uganda’s consulate in Juba to Salva Kiir did not give the reason why the negotiating team was being held in Kampala. But Oryem said the government would engage in the talks on the condition that the LRA is genuine in bringing an end to the 20-year-old insurgency. “We will only deal with the genuine representatives of the LRA,” Oryem emphasized. Read more at The Daily Monitor.

Members of the human rights committee of the German Parliament have promised to ask for more action from their government and the international community to end the 20-year Lord’s Resistance Army rebellion in Northern Uganda. The committee headed by Christoph Straesser (Social Democrats, SPD) said many people were suffering as a result of the war and violation of human rights. He visited internally displaced persons’ (IDP) camps, night commuters’ camps and met district officials from Gulu and Kitgum districts on Wednesday. Read more at The New Vision.

As news surrounding potential peace talks in Juba has been unfolding, Uganda-CAN has been consulting with its international legal sources about the responsibilities of various stakeholders. An article in today's New Vision reports that the Government of Uganda (GoU) will not send a delegation to the peace talks. Uganda-CAN believes (if this news is accurate) that this is a serious abrogation of the government's responsibility to protect its citizens and work toward regional security. The government has a duty, through its constitution and signing of the UN charter, to exhaust all opportunities to minimize and end violence against its people. The peace talks in Juba represent one such significant opportunity that could end the war in the north and improve regional security.

It is true that the GoU is a party to the Rome Statute. Yet, as a sovereign state, Uganda is the ultimate arbiter of how to manage its national security interests and defend against internal conflict. Article 53 of the Rome Statute specifically considers scenarios where insisting on prosecution should defer to the "interests of victims" or other "interests of justice," such as circumstances in which peace may be negotiated. This is one such case. Uganda-CAN urges the Government of Uganda and other stakeholders to put the needs of peace and protection for civilians in northern Uganda first.

According to an article in today's New Vision, the Government of Uganda will not send a delegation to Juba for talks with the LRA. This comes on the same day that The Daily Monitor reports that a government delegation is leaving for Juba. "It is absolutely impossible for us to sit and talk to people who have been indicted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) and wanted by Interpol for war crimes and crimes against humanity," a senior government source said yesterday. In another development, the UPDF brigade in Sudan’s eastern Equatoria said on June 12 it hunted and killed six Kony rebels on the Juba-Torit road, southeast of Juba city. Read more at The New Vision.

The Ugandan delegation leaves today for Juba for talks with the rebel Lords Resistance Army. The government delegation, set to arrive in Juba this morning, was invited by the South Sudan President, Mr Salva Kiir. Officials at the Ugandan consulate in Juba confirmed the meeting between the LRA and the government but preferred Kampala to give an official statement. The Minister for Internal Affairs, Dr Ruhakana Rugunda said, "an appropriate authority will, at an opportune moment, issue a statement."

Britain’s U.N. Ambassador Emyr Jones Parry, who is leading the Security Council’s visit to Africa, told reporters "the Security Council has asked for a full account of the activities of the LRA. It believes that the regional dimension of the LRA is a threat to peace and the stability of the region, and it would very much like this scourge to be eliminated." Asked whether the council wants Kony and the others arrested during peace negotiations, Jones Parry said if a political process can draw the bulk of "the more innocent" LRA victims away from the group "that’s to be encouraged." Read more at The Daily Monitor.

The International Criminal Court (ICC) has insisted that new efforts to engage LRA rebels in peace negotiations will not impede the arrest and prosecution of the indicted rebel leaders. Francisca Sumay, a public information officer from the chief prosecutor's office at the ICC, told IRIN by phone from The Hague that the court expected the affected countries to take up their obligation to implement the arrest warrants issued against five LRA leaders. "The governments of Uganda, Sudan and Democratic Republic of Congo are obligated to give effect to the arrest warrants, and we are confident that they will honour their joint commitment to do so," Sumay said, citing Article 86 of the Rome Statute. Read more at Reuters AlertNet.

The UN Under-Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs has faulted the Sudanese and Ugandan governments for agreeing to talk with LRA leaders accused by the International Criminal Court (ICC) of crimes against humanity. "Those who are indicted have been indicted because they are responsible for mass murder of the worst possible kind, and so those who are indicted should go and face justice in The Hague," said Jan Egeland on Monday. While the five indicted LRA leaders must be brought to justice, "the rest can go back to school, where most of them were kidnapped from when they became terrorised into becoming child soldiers," he told reporters. Read more at The New Vision.

The East African has published an editorial in which they write, "A little scepticism, in the circumstances, is healthy, but the prospects for peace in northern Uganda would be better served were the government to take up the rebels' offer. Better to let the LRA fail to honour their word and face the wrath of the international community than squander an opportunity to end the 19-year insurgency in the north." Read more at AllAfrica.com.

Rebel leader Joseph Kony of the LRA has named 14 negotiators that will permanently stay in the Southern Sudanese city of Juba until the proposed peace talks with the Ugandan government are concluded. Kony at a three-day weekend meeting with Riek Machar in Abi, urged Uganda to prevail upon the International Criminal Court in the Hague (Netherlands), to drop the war crimes charges against him and four of his commanders if the peace talks were to continue. Kony's anointed negotiators arrived in Juba yesterday afternoon aboard an Antonov Aircraft belonging to 748, a private airliner. According to sources in the Sudanese People's Liberation Army (SPLA) - Kony appointed Dr. Lensio Onek, a resident of Magwi, in Southern Sudan to head the team. Onek is said to be an Acholi and has been in contact with the LRA for 15 years. The observers include; two Britons and two Italians. Kony's delegation also includes; five LRA rebels reportedly from Kenya, Britain and America. Read more at The Monitor.

A meeting of Catholic religious leaders in Uganda has ended with a call on the media to give a true picture of what is really going on in the northern part of the country. The religious leaders say that despite the media reports that indicate that the war has ended or is ending, what is on ground is different. Read more at The African News Dimension.

In recent weeks, President Museveni and representatives of the Ugandan government have said that the war is over, the LRA is defeated and the situation is under control. Uganda-CAN believes these statements not only misrepresent the situation on the ground, but also exacerbate the disenfranchisement of the displaced people in northern Uganda. LRA activity and attacks continue within northern Uganda, and over 1.7 million people remain confined to displacement camps of the worst conditions. Last month, USAID confirmed an earlier study that showed over 900 people are dying each week in these camps. We call on the Government of Uganda and other stakeholders to increase high-level engagement in the region to bring security so that all IDPs can return home.

The United Nations and the government of the Democratic Republic of Congo are to blame for Uganda's failure to wipe out the Lord's Resistance Army rebels, President Yoweri Museveni said during his state-of-the-nation address last Thursday. Museveni said LRA rebels had been defeated and that remnants of the group were now hiding in the Garamba National Park in the northeast of the Congo. He said they were now more of a problem for the authorities in Kinshasa, the Southern Sudan and the UN. "As of now, Kony is not our problem," said Museveni. Read more at The East African.

The South Sudan vice-president, Dr. Riek Machar, on Saturday made a 300km journey to Maridi, west of the capital Juba, to consult the LRA leader, Joseph Kony, Juba sources said yesterday. They said the LRA delegation, now in Juba, is composed of the organization’s external wing representatives from the USA, London and Nairobi who flew in for talks with Machar and Sudan’s Vice-President Salva Kiir. Read more at The New Vision.

Uganda-CAN has learned that the announcement that the Government of Sudan would comply with ICC indictments to arrest Joseph Kony and three other LRA commanders referred to the government in Khartoum, not the Government of Southern Sudan that will mediate talks. Thus, while peace talks remain uncertain, they may still begin in Juba.

Radhika Coomaraswamy, the new special representative of the United Nations Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict, recently visited northern Uganda to assess the situation of children. UN IRIN News interviewed her at the end of her visit. Read excerpts from the interview at AllAfrica.com.

Gunmen in southern Sudan have attacked the outskirts of the city of Juba, killing nine people. Residents said the gunmen belonged to the Ugandan rebel Lord's Resistance Army. The attack comes just after LRA leaders arrived in Juba having been invited by south Sudan Vice-President Riek Machar for peace talks with the Ugandan government. Read more at the BBC News.

Efforts by authorities in southern Sudan to mediate in the conflict between the Ugandan government and the rebel Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) appeared to be stalling at the weekend after Kampala refused to meet the insurgency's leadership because it had been indicted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for war crimes. "Nobody can meet with those who are indicted," Okello Oryem, Uganda's junior foreign minister, said on Saturday. "As far as we are concerned, the LRA is a regional problem now - not a Uganda problem. Those countries in which they hide, namely South Sudan and the DRC [Democratic Republic of Congo], have a responsibility to act, along with the UN forces [in Sudan]." Read more at Reuters AlertNet.

The Seventh Parliament of Uganda, on April 7th, 2006 enacted the NGO Amendment Bill, 2001 into law. Uganda-CAN has learned that President Museveni recently signed the bill into effect. The passing of the NGO Amendment Bill by Parliament greatly restricts the operational space in which Ugandan civil society can mobilize to contribute to the development of Uganda including the promotion of a responsible and accountable government. The NGO community strong opposed this bill and sent a petition to the Office of the President. The passing of this bill will inevitably have far reaching consequences on the current partnership between NGOs and Government. Further, it raises questions about the commitment of the Ugandan government to a democratic and free society.

The Sudanese Government has agreed to collaborate with the International Criminal Court and arrest Ugandan rebel leader Joseph Kony. In a statement yesterday, the UN court’s chief Prosecutor, Luis Moreno-Ocampo, said, "The Sudan, a non-state party who had harbored the LRA in the past, has voluntarily agreed to execute the (ICC) warrants." Ocampo dismissed recent attempts to negotiate a political deal, saying Kony was simply trying to "buy time" like he had done in the past. He said escalating international and regional pressure against the LRA was bearing fruit, forcing the LRA to flee their safe havens to Northern DRC, with the result that attacks in Northern Uganda had "declined dramatically." Read more at The Monitor.

Riek Machar, deputy head of the south Sudan government, has told the London-based Al-Sharq al-Awsat that Juba, capital of the south, will host unique talks between the leaders of rebel Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) and the Ugandan government, under Sudanese-international sponsorship. He added that the talks will begin next week. Machar said, "The talks will begin upon the arrival of the delegation of the Ugandan government, in the presence of international parties, led by Switzerland, Italy, and Norway". He said that "some European countries support his initiative to end the war," which has continued for 20 years in northern Uganda and the south of neighbouring Sudan and DR Congo. Read more at The Sudan Tribune.

Radhika Coomaraswamy, the Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict, on Saturday urged the Ugandan military to remove children from its ranks and take steps to reintegrate them into civilian society. Coomaraswamy said that she found some children in UPDF and local militias during her recent tour of northern Uganda. The UPDF has also been accused of recruiting children whom they have rescued from LRA rebels into their ranks. Read more at The New Vision.

The Uganda Joint Christian Council (UJCC) and the New Sudan Council of Churches (NSCC) have urged the Government of Uganda to embrace the initiative of Salva Kiir, First Vice-President of Sudan, to mediate in the northern Uganda conflict. They have also called upon the leadership of the LRA to take advantage of the forum offered by the Government of Southern Sudan to seek a negotiated solution to the conflict. "We appeal to the international community to support the mediation effort by the Government of Southern Sudan," they said. Read more at The New Vision.

Two civilians were killed by the Ugandan military in an IDP camp in Gulu District last Friday. Residents of the camp said that the two men killed were returning to the camp from their gardens before being arrested and later shot by UPDF soldiers, while a UPDF spokesman called them "chicken thieves" and said they stumbled into an ambush. Residents of the camp have complained of UPDF misconduct in the past, and the incident exemplifies the heightened insecurity and military-civilian tensions prevalent in northern Uganda. Read more at AllAfrica.com.

Lt. Chris Magezi of the UPDF said that the Ugandan military killed 16 rebels this week druing battles in northern Uganda and southern Sudan. Magezi also said that LRA rebels attacked a village in Apac district in northern Uganda, killing one person and abducting five others, four of whom have been rescued. Read more at The Monitor.

The government peace team would like to meet people who are serious with talks not those who will be engaged in protracted peace negotiations, Okello Oryem, the minister in charge of international affairs, said on Friday. He said the southern Sudan government will lead the preliminary talks before the Ugandan side departs for Juba, southern Sudan, adding that the government is holding consultations to find out whether the rebels are genuinely interest in the talks. "It is necessary that we that we meet people who can make decision immediately and those that will not ask for continued consultations which will derail the talks," Oryem said. Read more at the Xinhua news agency.

The Uganda government must help to account for thousands of "lost and largely forgotten" children who have been abducted by the rebel Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) during the 20-year conflict in northern Uganda, Save the Children has said. "Every day is another day when children are at risk of abduction. Another day of lost education. Another day a child risks contracting malaria. Another day a child can be exploited. And every day, more children are born into these dire circumstances. Enough is enough," said Jasmine Whitbread, chief executive of Save the Children UK, who visited northern Uganda this week. The Save the Children delegation also suggested the Uganda government appoint an ombudsman for children, who would act as their main defender. It also urged the UN Secretary-General to appoint a special envoy for northern Uganda. Read more at UN IRIN News.

The top rebel leader of the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) Joseph Kony has to face the law despite calls for peace talks, outgoing Minister of Defense Amama Mbabazi has said. "With the ICC arrest warrants plus the recently passed amnesty amendment bill, there is no way Kony will survive prosecution," said Mbabazi. However, Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni said in May he will guarantee the security of the rebels provided they ended the rebellion before the end of July, following the southern Sudan government's offer to mediate the talks between the LRA and Ugandan government. Read more at the Xinhua news agency.

Over 100 UPDF 4th Division soldiers are training in child rights protection and promotion in the war-ravaged north. On Wednesday, Save the Children Uganda officer for education, Sammy Poro, called them to become child rights advocates among colleagues. Poro said, "If you protect one child from danger, you will have done a great job to this nation." Read more at The New Vision.

8,744 Americans have petitioned US President George Bush and the US Congress to act decisively to end the war in northern Uganda, a statement from the Uganda Conflict Action Network said. The petition was delivered to the White House and key members of Congress on Tuesday. Read more at The New Vision.

An advance team of Ugandan Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) rebels has arrived in south Sudan’s capital of Juba to begin negotiations with the Ugandan government, Sudanese government officials said. The Vice President of Southern Sudan Riek Machar told reporters that the advance team was "for peace talks." Another source in the south Sudan government said deputy leader Vincent Otti was expected to attend the talks as the head of the LRA delegation. A Reuters witness saw around six LRA members in the RA International hotel in Juba. The source said the delegation arrived four days ago. Read more at The Sudan Tribune.

Today's Wall Street Journal includes an article about the difficulties of peace and justice in war-torn northern Uganda. Visit WSJ.com or pick up a copy today to read the story. This is another sign of the growing attention by the international press to the "world's worst neglected humanitarian crisis."

David Batstone, columnist for Sojourners Mail, has just visited northern Uganda and writes today about "Uganda's cycle of slavery and revenge." Read his column at SojoMail.

Kathleen Mackin, a former Washington-based Uganda-CAN intern, shares the following reflections on night commuting, suffering, and political apathy from her current research post in Kitgum district of northern Uganda -

"In the last week I have also gotten to go to a reception center, where children who have escaped from the bush are taken to be reintegrated back into the community. It was so odd to look at these little children and think about them being killers. Many were injured and many of the girls had babies. I was sitting next to this one boy and as I was looking down at his legs there were so many scars. Ann said that he had been shot several times and spent months in a Sudanese hospital. I am sure it was a miracle that he was even alive...

This week Ann has gone to Kampala leaving me to hold the fort. I will often sit a roadside stand on the way home and talk to the neighbors. This one particular evening I was talking to two gentlemen and they were asking me the usual questions about the states. One was particularly drunk and started me asking why the U.S. wasn't doing anything to help end the war. Why weren't they sending soldiers? I told him the obvious a