Our partner (and soon successor) campaign, Resolve Uganda, has announced the 2008 Lobby Day for Northern Uganda! This will be the best chance ever for Americans to make sure their voices are being heard by policymakers and to help achieve lasting peace for the people of northern Uganda. The event, titled "Be a Piece of the Peace: Lobby Day for Northern Uganda," will take place 24-26 February 2008 in Washington D.C. It will include lobbying meetings, panel discussions, film screenings, trainings and much more! Click here to sign up.

As negotiations between the Ugandan government and rebel LRA aimed at ending more than 20 years of civil war continue, NGOs from around the world are calling on all regional and international stakeholders to see the peace process through to a successful conclusion. "The people of northern Uganda and throughout the region have suffered for too long," says a statement released last week by more than forty-five humanitarian, faith-based and civil society organizations.

» Read More

The South African-based Institute for Security Studies has published a report that Peter Quaranto (that's me) authored, titled "Emerging Threats to Peace in Northern Uganda." I write, "Ongoing peace negotiations between the Government of Uganda and rebel Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) have defied a two-decade history of failed peace initiatives...In the coming months, the Juba peace process faces its greatest test: can it ultimately escape a history of militarization, rebel volatility and regional instability? All three of these emerging threats are recurring spoilers; they are the very problems that have undermined past peace initiatives throughout the conflict’s two-decade history. Given the chance again, they will do the same." These three threats are: (1) escalating plans for regional military action in January 2008 if talks remain stalled; (2) volatility and fractures within the rebel ranks; (3) deterioration of the fragile peace agreement in southern Sudan.

The report concludes, "The ultimate goal is giving war-affected communities the space and time they need to consider their priorities and elicit creative solutions. Rash regional military action and rebel intransigence constrain that space and limit that time. Worst of all, they make peace in northern Uganda far more elusive. For if the emerging threats prevail, the Juba process will not overcome, but instead, add to the long history of broken peace initiatives and protracted violence. That is a history that Africa, let alone northern Uganda, is ready to move beyond." Access the full situation report here.

The new Resolve Uganda web site is finally up and functional! In the coming days, we'll be redirecting this site to Resolve's Uganda Conflict Watch blog. It's sad to see Uganda-CAN go after almost three years, but I promise you that we'll be providing the same quality of news & analysis at Resolve Uganda. The whole writer's gang is making the move: myself, Paul, Kenny, Stephen, Michael, Alison...and we hope you'll join us! Thanks for your loyalty and support, and most of all, your resolve for peace in northern Uganda.