A report released this week by Civil Society Organizations for Peace in Northern Uganda (CSOPNU) highlights the need to disarm former LRA rebels and other civilians possessing illegal arms in order to achieve a sustainable peace in northern Uganda. CSOPNU, a coalition of 77 local and international NGOs, cautions that failure to improve security and build trust between the Ugandan government and LRA could hamper efforts to reduce the proliferation of small arms in the region. Already armed robberies by criminals have been on the rise in northern Uganda, even forcing some displaced persons who have gone home to return to displacement camps. A representative of the Ugandan government expressed support for the report’s recommendations, saying, "The Government is determined to develop northern Uganda, with or without Kony's signature (on the peace deal). We negotiated in good faith so we are acting for the good of the people in the region." Read more at allAfrica.com.

According to a UN report released this week food security and access to healthcare, education and clean water continue to be dangerously low in the Karamoja region of Uganda. It forecasts that 700,000 Karamojong may need food aid through to the next harvest in July 2008, while over 10% of all civilians suffer from acute malnutrition. The report notes that the Ugandan military’s disarmament campaign continues to be linked to recent spikes in aggression and security incidents in the region, despite an alleged decrease in human rights abuses committed by the UPDF during the operations.

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The Monitor and New Vision are reporting that the chief mediator Reik Machar, the LRA negotiation team and northern Ugandan leaders have returned to Juba after LRA chief Joseph Kony failed to meet with them. The peace delegation had been waiting since May 10th to meet with the rebel leader in the South Sudan town of Nabanga in an attempt to reinvigorate the stalled peace process. Kony’s failure to show raises further grave doubts about his commitment to the peace process and willingness to sign a final peace agreement. Although the Ugandan government’s official reaction to the failed meeting was to defer to the chief mediator’s advice on how to move the process forward, The Monitor today quoted a “top government official” warning that Kampala is “losing interest in the talks and that may mean other options.” Read more at The Monitor and New Vision.

One of the most overlooked consequences of the conflict in northern Uganda is the displacement of civilians in distant Ugandan urban centers such as Kampala and Jinja. Numbering between 300,000 and 600,000, the urban displaced have been excluded from recovery initiatives targeting war-affected communities and neglected by humanitarian organizations. In northern Uganda, improved security and humanitarian aid has allowed displaced persons still there to begin returning to their lands and communities. Failure to improve assistance to and recognize the rights of urban displaced persons hampers their hopes to do the same and risks undermining larger efforts to rebuild the region and comprehensively address issues of transitional justice.

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The New Vision reports that LRA leader Joseph Kony has once again kept his guests in suspense. A team of elders and leaders from northern Uganda have been waiting for him at Nabanga for the last three days, but by press time, the rebel leader had not shown up. Yet, international relations minister Henry Okello Oryem said Kony’s advance team, led by Lt. Col. Opio, the commander of Independent Brigade, was in Ri-Kwangba. "The local leaders and the LRA peace delegation are in touch with Kony and they expect to meet anytime," he said. Security sources yesterday confirmed that between 100 and 200 LRA fighters were moving to the meeting point of Ri-Kwangba.

The Monitor reports that the failure by a group of visiting American editors to travel to war-affected northern Uganda has angered leaders in the region who accuse the senior foreign journalists of ignoring the ruinous effects of the 22-year war. "We are disappointed with the delegation from major US publications that have deliberately chosen not to travel to northern Uganda," Gulu District Chairman Norbert Mao said, "By not going to the north, they [American journalists] are perpetuating the conspiracy of silence [by the government] on the suffering of the people in the north." Media publications represented include the Los Angeles Times, Boston Globe, Congressional Quarterly, the BBC, Oprah Magazine, Yahoo, Rocky Mountain News, Newsweek International, National Geographic and Business Week.

The UN’s latest brief on displacement and population movements in eastern DR Congo notes an “upsurge” of LRA activity in the northeastern region in recent months. Attacks by LRA and Mayi-Mayi rebels there caused the displacement of 47,000 persons in 2007, and the brief notes that continued LRA activity and the potential deployment of the Congolese national army (FARDC) could cause further displacement. Read the full brief here.