Building on over 30 organizations from Uganda and around the world uniting this week in a message of support for ongoing efforts to salvage northern Uganda's peace process, Resolve Uganda is asking individuals to add their names to this impressive list. The goal is to get 10,000 signatures before tomorrow when the chief mediator and local leaders are scheduled to meet with LRA leader Joseph Kony. Click here to sign and share this petition with your friends, so that northern Ugandan leaders know they have the support of people around the world who still believe that peace is possible.

ReliefWeb has published the press release about the global NGO statement released today. It reads: As Ugandan civil society leaders meet to clarify transitional justice mechanisms in advance of their scheduled May 10th meeting with Lord’s Resistance Army leader Joseph Kony, NGOs from around the world have united in a message of support for local efforts to salvage the peace process to end northern Uganda’s 22-year war. They are calling for patient and persistent engagement to ensure that humanitarian progress achieved during the Juba negotiations is sustained.

"Over one million displaced northern Ugandans continue to face the difficult task of trying to create a life in the absence of peace and in fear of a return to violence," says the statement released today by more than thirty humanitarian, faith-based and civil society organizations from Brussels, Geneva, Gulu, Kampala, London, New York, Oslo, Pader, Toronto and Washington DC.

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Despite delays in getting LRA rebel leader Joseph Kony to sign a peace agreement, Resolve Uganda says hope still remains for an "imminent end to Uganda’s 22-year war." Peter Quaranto (that's me!), senior researcher for the group, spoke on Voice of America today about the stuttering peace process. "Those of us who are involved in the peace process are disappointed by the continued delay, in signing by Joseph Kony. But I think that the message that we're trying to get out, which is not getting heard enough, the message we're hearing from civil society, from the mediator, from the UN special envoy is the need for patience, the need for creativity, that there is still hope that this agreement can be signed," Quaranto said.

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The Sudan Tribune has published our latest press statement, titled "With Caution and Creativity, Hope Remains for Imminent End to Uganda's 22-Year War." It reads:" "After weeks of intense speculation, Joseph Kony, the elusive leader of the rebel Lord’s Resistance Army’s, has continued to delay signing a final peace deal that would bring an official end to his 22-year rebellion and Africa’s longest running war. Though this development presents a setback to the negotiations process, caution and creativity on the part of negotiators and mediators can still encourage Kony to sign the agreement. If the LRA leader ultimately discontinues his engagement of the process, the Government of Uganda, with the support of its international partners, should act unilaterally to implement key components of the Final Peace Agreement (FPA), a move that would sustain the progress toward peace made during the past two years.

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AllAfrica.com is featuring Resolve Uganda's newest press release hot of the press. It reads, "After nearly two years of negotiations, the Government of Uganda and rebel LRA are likely days away from signing the historic Final Peace Agreement (FPA) that will end Africa's longest running war. However, the intransigence of a few individuals in the rebel army still threatens to delay the final signing and disrupt implementation of the agreement. With the signing deadline a week away, international human rights activists are urging both parties—with the backing of the U.S. and international community—to sign the FPA and immediately begin implementation to allow the over one million displaced people to return home and begin rebuilding their lives.

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Our sister (& political action) website of Resolve Uganda has posted the texts of all the agreements signed thus far at the Juba peace negotiations. Click here to access this excellent resource.

Uganda-CAN co-founder and now Resolve Uganda executive director Michael Poffenberger is quoted in today's Washington Post in an article about prospects for peace and justice in northern Uganda. The article reads, "But before signing the peace accord -- something many Ugandans had hoped would happen later this month, following a permanent cease-fire reached last month -- Kony has demanded that the international court drop the [ICC] arrest warrants and indictments against him and two deputies now in hiding...The standoff has highlighted a debate with potentially far-reaching implications for other countries seeking to end civil wars marked by atrocity and displacement: How can international demands for justice be balanced with local demands for peace?" Read the full article here.