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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.

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.

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?

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.

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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.