Speaking on the eve of the deadline by which the rebels are to gather in two assembly points while talks continue to end the brutal 20-year war in northern Uganda, LRA deputy commander Vincent Otti indicated the agreement was collapsing and the rebels would not fully assemble until UPDF forces withdrew from the area. Otti accused the Ugandan army of using the agreed assembly areas to set up a military trap. "We will not assemble because that is their plan," Otti said over satellite telephone from his jungle hideout on the Sudan-Congo border. Uganda's government responded that peace talks would continue, despite what it called repeated efforts by the rebels to stall the process by staging walk-outs. Read more at Reuters AlertNet.

Hundreds are feared dead after fighting broke out yesterday between the Sudanese Army and former fighters of the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA). The fighting in the southern town of Malakal began three days ago and escalated into full-scale warfare yesterday. International Affairs Minister Henry Okello Oryem said that Kampala was "closely watching the situation." He continued, "We have made contact with Juba and the office of the mediator. He [Riek Machar] tells us that everything is on course and we should be on standby to go back to Juba...Whatever is happening will not affect the peace process." Riek Machar yesterday called for investigations into the military altercations and said everything is being done to restore order in Malakal. Read more at The Monitor.

Women from northern Uganda have been finally allowed to join the Juba peace talks as observers. Dr. Riek Machar, the chief mediator of the talks has asked the director of the Women’s International Cross Cultural Exchange (WICCE), Ruth Ochieng, to forward to him names of women who are interested. This has followed calls from Ochieng for gender consideration in the peace negotiations in Juba. She argues that women survivors have the right information to enable both parties to resolve the conflict and embrace peace. She demanded that the agreement should include ending all forms of violence against women. Read more at The Monitor.

The Acholi Parliamentary Group (APG) has said the Government should deploy a team of landmine experts to the villages in the north before internally displaced persons (IDPs) return home. APG said there were so many landmines, bombs and other weapons that were scaring the IDPs from leaving the camps. "Let the men lead the way to the villages and put up structures and clear the bushes before collecting the women and children from the camps." Read more at The New Vision.

The Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) is the inspiration for a rebel group featured in the latest James Bond movie, Casino Royale. The movie opens with a muddy murram road, thick woodland and an army Land Rover car with a Ugandan number plate before the words "Mbale Uganda" appear on screen. In Mbale, the film shows a ruthless warlord leader, the character supposedly modeled on LRA leader Joseph Kony. Read more at the The Monitor. We hope this subtle mainstream media coverage of the LRA might inspire people around the world to care about the crisis in northrn Uganda and act to support a peaceful resolution to the war.

The LRA has suspended its participation in peace talks with the government, accusing the Ugandan army of killing three of its fighters heading towards an assembly point in southern Sudan. The LRA said its leaders would stay away from the talks until the UPDF withdraws from positions east of the River Nile and returns back into Uganda. "We cannot afford to lose our troops whilst we are talking peace," LRA delegation spokesman Obonyo Olweny said. "The government of Uganda should not use the time of peace talks to prosecute war and achieve military victory...If they want war, let them come out clearly and say they do not want peace and fighting resumes," he added. Army spokesman Major Felix Kulayigye rejected the accusations and said the LRA was just stalling. Read more at the BBC News. While we continue to monitor this news, Uganda-CAN urges the parties to adhere to the extended Cessation of Hostilities Agreement to show true commitment to peace.

And we're back! After a two-week hiatus thanks to a faulty web server, our web specialists have managed to revive our site. We apologize for any glitches, but at least we're back to reporting the news!

The Ugandan government plans to meet LRA collaborators in Nairobi, Kenya this week in the hopes of wooing the LRA High Command in DR Congo's Garamba Park to finally denounce their rebellion. A final meeting of the government team to set out the agenda for the Nairobi meeting will be held in Kampala today. Internal Affairs Minister and leader of the government Juba negotiating team Dr. Ruhakana Rugunda will chair today's meeting, sources say. Rugunda, however, denied there were plans to meet LRA collaborators. Former LRA spokesman Richard Matsanga, a.k.a. David Nyekorach Matsanga, a Ugandan dissident based in London, through the Africa Strategy, a NGO founded by former Zambian President Kenneth Kaunda, is said to be the brain behind these Nairobi talks. According to an official, the government has agreed to meet LRA in the Diaspora as part of several fronts intended to adapt without alienating the on going peace talks in Juba. Read more at The Monitor.

Vincent De Visscher, head of the European Union mission in Uganda, has said that the peace talks should be brought to Uganda. He said this would enable Ugandans to monitor and contribute to them. De Visscher, however, said pardoning the LRA, who have been holding the people in northern Uganda hostage for 20 years, was unacceptable. This was during his first visit to the north to assess the situation and return of displaced people from the camps to their homes. De Visscher castigated the Acholi in the diaspora for associating with LRA, saying they should come to Uganda like Kizza Besigye and present their ideas democratically. Read more at The New Vision.

We apologize that UgandaCAN.org has been down due to technical problems. We will soon return to providing the best news and commentary to help you end the 20-year war in northern Uganda.

The First Post, a British magazine, reports that the discovery of oil in eastern and possibly northern Uganda may be a factor in the Ugandan government’s decision to seriously engage the LRA in the current peace talks in Juba. According to the article, the Ugandan government is seeking to stabilize the region after drilling by Tullow Oil indicates that 500m barrels of high-quality oil can be recovered from a site in Hoima district. Hoima is south of the areas affected by the LRA rebellion; its proximity near the border with the eastern DR Congo makes it vulnerable to a volatile region full of rebel militias.

The article also reports that there are rumors that oil has been discovered in Arua, a district in northeastern Uganda where southern Sudanese have fled LRA attacks as recently as last year. Arua also borders southern Sudan, where oil has played a major role in the civil conflict there. Although the discovery of oil in Uganda is certainly not the primary catalyst of the Juba peace talks, it may be affecting the political calculations of the parties involved in the talks. Read more at The First Post.

The LRA delegation to the Juba talks has presented a new proposal that calls for the creation of a central government ministry responsible for the rehabilitation, reconstruction, and recovery of war affected areas “and other regions affected by natural or other disasters”. The proposal, designed to move the talks towards a comprehensive peace agreement, also calls for the ministry to work in consultation with the LRA, local leaders and the donor community. The Ugandan government delegation rejected this proposal, as well as LRA proposals for special protection for its fighters. Read more at AllAfrica.com.

Yesterday, we wrote: "At this point, we cannot help but wonder what interests the Bush Administration is worried about hurting or losing if it shows any support for this historic [Juba] peace initiative."

Possibly related to that question, The East African reports today that the "U.S. has dramatically increased its involvement and arms sales to the Horn of Africa and East Africa in the last three years and plans to consolidate its focus on sub-Saharan Africa by unifying its military command structure." This comes as direct U.S. arms sales to East Africa and the Horn of Africa countries – Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda Uganda and Zambia – have increased from under one million dollars in 2003 to over $25 million in 2006. Weapons sales by authorised private weapon companies have also soared. Uganda leads the region with nearly $9 million in purchases from US authorised private arms dealers. Overall, direct US weapons sales increased from $39.2 million in 2005 to nearly $60 million in 2006. Read more at The East African.

Is this profitable arms trade or increasing military investment in the region somehow hindering our ability to put our weight behind an African initiative to end Africa's longest running war? It would seem a grave mistake to miss this opportunity to help build peace and stability in the region. The counter-terror work of the U.S. military in the region will certainly be much easier with the cessation of violence. Not to mention that U.S. support for this local initiative could be a positive boost in the international "battle for hearts and minds" that remains decisive.

We at Uganda-CAN maintain a focus on the northern region affected by the UPDF-LRA fighting, however it is important to note that other forms of violence persist in the region, including in north-eastern Uganda. Today, the UPDF reported that it had killed 12 people in weekend bombing raids against tribal warriors accused of shooting at a military helicopter over Uganda's north-east Karamoja region. However, sources in the area said the death toll was much higher and spoke of residents reporting as many as 500 people killed, with many more injuries from the bombing near the Kenyan-Ugandan border town of Kotido. Army spokesperson Major Felix Kulaije dismissed reports of mass casualties as "nonsense" but confirmed that military aircraft had conducted bombing. Despite his denial, community leaders in the area near Kotido said the bombings had targeted densely populated villages. Last week, the military said at least 27 people, including 16 soldiers, were killed in the same area in battles between the army and Karamojong tribal warriors whom the government is attempting to disarm in order to pacify the region. Read more at The Mail & Guardian.

Last Thursday, the U.S. State Department issued a press statement, saying that the U.S. Government "welcomes" the renewal of the Cessation of Hostilities agreement between the Ugandan government and LRA. The statement said, "We welcome this development and urge adherence to the agreement as a step toward a peaceful solution to the long-standing conflict in northern Uganda and the region." In recent months, however, U.S. commitment to a peaceful resolution to the 20-year war has been called in question by a continued failure to publicly support the peace talks in Juba. Last month, 700 U.S. citizens traveled to Washington D.C. and urged the U.S. Congress to support the talks, which it has done in a number of statements. Yet still, the Department of State has remained silent. Several political, cultural and religious northern leaders have also traveled to the U.S. to urge support for the talks, yet their requests have been ignored. We have learned that some in the State Department have wanted to support the talks, but have been blocked by the White House.

At this point, we cannot help but wonder what interests the Bush Administration is worried about hurting or losing if it shows any support for this historic peace initiative. Is it worried that it could hurt its alliance with President Museveni, whom has been a strategic ally in the war on terror? Is it worried that it could hurt the working relationship between the UPDF and the U.S. Combined Joint Task Force in the Horn of Africa (CJTF-HOA)? Is the it worried that it could lose the U.S. military's air base at Entebbe Airport? Is the it worried it could hurt foreign military sales to Uganda? Is it worried that it could hurt its business interests in the country at a time with China's influence on the continent is growing? Whatever it is, it appears that the White House is putting perceived geopolitical, military or economic interests before the interests of northern Ugandans in peace after 20 years of brutal war.

LRA leader Joseph Kony has asked for a meeting with the United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Jan Egeland when he visits the region next week. Egeland, who is traveling to Juba, has been rallying moral and financial support for the Juba peace process. Martin Ojul, head of the LRA delegation in Juba, said the rebels expect the UN chief to exert more pressure on the International Criminal Court to drop its indictments against the top LRA leadership. In the meantime, the Ugandan government has accused LRA rebels of failure to assemble and stealing food outside assembly areas. "Five days after signing the agreement, there is no rebel in Owiny-Ki-Bul and Ri-Kwangba," said the government delegation spokesman Capt Paddy Ankunda. Last Wednesday's agreement gave the LRA three more weeks to assemble in both points. If the LRA wants to continue to make demands for the withdrawal of ICC indictments and more, they would be wise to show clear compliance with the new agreement and begin assembling. Read more at The Monitor.

Ugandan and South Sudan security officials have told The Monitor that recent killings of civilians in southern Sudan signals the birth of a "new LRA" with support from the Khartoum regime of President Omar el Bashir. Officials who spoke on condition of anonymity said the Sudanese Government is renewing support for several militias it supported prior to its January 2005 signing of a Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) with the southern Sudan Peoples Liberation Army. Many believe that Khartoum wishes to destabilize the South before a referendum on its secession (as guaranteed in the CPA) can be held in five years. Southern Sudan is well-known to be rich in resources, including oil: resources to which Khartoum does not want to lose access. Fifteen people arrested two weeks ago for the killings of 41 civilians near Juba have reportedly confessed to links with Khartoum. It should not be forgotten that Khartoum provided massive amounts of aid and arms to the LRA throughout the 1990s. Many fear a rekindling of this relationship or similar relationships could mean continued conflict for not only northern Uganda, but the entire region. Read more at The Monitor.

The LRA has asked for a break in the Juba peace talks so that its negotiating team can tour the north for "consultations and confidence building." However, their demand was scoffed at by the Government as "untimely, time-wasting and an untenable attempt to conduct a referendum." According to sources at the closed session in Juba, the LRA's request stems from their outrage at accusations from northern leaders that the LRA delegation, constituted mainly by the Acholi diaspora, was not executing rebel leader Joseph Kony’s mandate 'to deliver peace.' LRA delegation chairman Martin Ojul said the people in the north and east of Uganda had been misinformed about the peace talks and his team’s commitment. Read more at The New Vision.

On 30 October, the Minister of Relief and Disaster Preparedness announced that all internally-displaced peoples camps in northern Uganda will be dismantled by 31 December as a way of making people resettle home. Uganda-CAN has since learned that the Government position is actually that leaving the camps by the end of the year will be encouraged, but "voluntary." As processes of return and resettlement do begin, many are fearful that their land rights will be violated and that changes in land tenure will allow for mass commerical use of some land while dispossessing others. Uganda-CAN has produced a number of pages and resources that examine "Land Insecurity in Northern Uganda." This also includes an interview with Judy Adoko of the Land and Equity Movement in Uganda. As these processes do begin, it is essential that the Government and donor partners show great care and sensitivity to these land issues in order to avoid new conflicts arising.

Ben Miller, a junior at the University of Tennessee, writes in last week's KnoxNews, "I am just this kid from Knoxville, but I've been blessed to learn about this [the war in northern Uganda] and will continue making noise in our community until people start paying attention to it and do something as well." Ben challenges the media to give more coverage to the crisis: "My point is, the American people want to know more. We need to know more, but there isn't much in the news about it. This should be on the front page; yet I must research and go out of my way to learn more about it." Ben is right. If this conflict were happening in North America or Europe and it involved white children suffering, we'd be hearing about it every day from the media. We wouldn't tolerate it and we'd demand that our politicians act to end it. Our government would be pressured to use all possible diplomatic, economic and military tools to stop the suffering. It would be absurd and outrageous for the U.S. government to remain silent when a historic opportunity for its transformation came about. Yet, that's exactly what's happening with northern Uganda and the historic peace talks in Juba. So it raises the question: what is the difference here that keeps the White House silent at this chance to end one of the world's most brutal wars? Is it race? Is it Africa? Is it the media? Is it our failed responsibility as citizens to make enough noise?

President Museveni and his South Sudan counterpart, Salva Kiir, have agreed to the withdrawal of UPDF forces east of Juba Nimule Road, sources report. The withdrawal of forces from Palotaka and Tibika bases in eastern Equatoria is a pre-condition the LRA set before their fighters reassemble at Owiny-ki-Bul, one of two designated assembly points in South Sudan. Though this development had a direct bearing on Wednesday's signing of an extension to the August 26 truce, all parties, at the request of the mediator, agreed to leave it out of the agreement text. Palotaka has been UPDF's major base since March 2002 when Khartoum and Kampala entered an agreement allowing the UPDF to hunt the LRA in South Sudan. Tibika houses the UPDF communication centre in South Sudan. As both delegations reconvened yesterday at Juba Raha Hotel, there was a sense that they may take a two-week recess to monitor the progress of the new Cessation of Hostilities Agreement extension signed this week. Read more at The Monitor.

Adrian Bradbury, co-founder and director of GuluWalk, is a guest contributor today to UgandaCAN.org. GuluWalk Day 2006 happened in 83 cities in 15 countries on October 21, mobilizing over 30,000 people to walk for an end to the war.

We’re sorry.

That’s not going to ease the pain or make up for our neglect. Regardless, it needs to be said.

We know that for more than 20 years you have been terrorized by the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) and have been forced by your government into squalid displacement camps that lack even the basic necessities.

We have sat idly by as 30,000 of your children have been abducted and used in this brutal conflict as frontline soldiers and sex slaves. An entire generation of children, the world’s most valued (or so we claim), has been abandoned.

Yet, beyond all of that civilian despair and political animosity, the LRA and the government of Uganda have set their differences aside and are now engaged in serious peace talks, fragile as they might be.

Meanwhile, my home, Canada, and other key donor nations of Uganda - - the United States, the United Kingdom, Netherlands and Norway - - continue to support humanitarian aid in the region, but have been negligently silent on the peace process. In fact, there has not been one public statement in support of the peace talks and we have shamefully left the government of South Sudan to go it alone.

There is simply no excuse for our complacency, and complete and utter disregard for human life in northern Uganda. I suppose an apology really isn’t enough.

» Read More

News today that the LRA and Ugandan government have signed an extension to the cessation of hostilities truce is quite welcome and good news for the people of northern Uganda. Though the peace talks in Juba may be tainted by egoes and hypocrisies, their continuation since July has created zones of peace in the north. In the Langi and Teso regions, hundreds of thousands of people have begun returning home and farming. Even in the Acholiland, the sight of people walking along the roads to farm is a new and exciting sight. Also, the number of child "night commuters" has dropped to a low of 7,894. There have been virtually no abductions or attacks against civilians in northern Uganda since the talks began. With this success, it would be irresponsible for the parties in Juba to not do everything in their power to keep the peace talks on track. Whether it be militaristic posturing by President Museveni or unreasonable demands by the LRA, any potential subversion of the peace process will be remembered as a gross failure to care for the welfare of war-weary northern Ugandans.

Children in the war-weary north are pleading for the government and LRA to commit themselves to successful peace talks. The children from Lira, Pader and Gulu districts today presented a memorandum at a press conference organised by Save the Children in Uganda. "We hope nothing will happen to the peace talks. If the peace talks in Juba collapse, we don’t know what will happen. We are hearing counter accusations between the LRA and the government. Can’t they trust each other in what they are saying? We hope they keep the dialogue going. Beginning a new life is not difficult as long as you have peace," said Bernard from Gulu. Read more at The New Vision.

The UPDF has outlived its stay in southern Sudan following the expiry of a protocol that sanctioned a UPDF offensive against the LRA in Sudan, government sources confirmed yesterday. UPDF's presence in Sudan at the moment is based on a "gentleman's agreement" with Khartoum and Juba. Security sources in Kampala told said the UPDF's continued presence in Sudan, largely unsecured by any formal agreement, is because the South Sudan authorities consider the peace talks a genuine opportunity to end hostilities - and have consequently not renewed the old protocol. Read more a The Monitor.

After much disagreement, the LRA and Ugandan government have signed an extension to the August 26th cessation of hostilities truce. Under the new deal, LRA fighters have one more month to gather at the two assembly points in southern Sudan. The extension addresses rebel demands by creating buffer zones around those two assembly points. "The peace process is rekindled. We are back on track," government spokesman Paddy Ankunda said today. Chief negotiator Dr. Riek Machar expressed his relief at Wednesday's deal. "We hope today's agreement creates a much better atmosphere," he said. Read more at BBC News.