Continued uncertainty over security in the region is causing IDPs to delay their return to their original villages. Earlier this year, the government set a deadline of 31 December for all IDPs to vacate the camps that have been set up during the 20-year period of war. Yet, the IDPs remain unmoved. "People here are still not moving, not leaving the camps. They are thinking about it, planning to do it eventually," a camp leader at Acholibur, Pader District, said. "Everyone is tired of staying in the camps, but people aren't sure of these peace talks. This is not the first time the rebels talk about peace and nothing changes." In addition, the enormity and complexity of the task to send IDPs home means that the process can only move at a snail's pace. For example, IDPs remain concerned about protection of their rights to land. 2007 could bring better fortunes for IDPs, but it remains too early to tell. Read more at Reuters AlertNet.

Legislators from the Acholi sub-region say they are ready to discuss Acholi land matters with President Museveni, but in Gulu and not Rwakitura as proposed by the President. The Chairman of the Acholi Parliamentary Group Livingstone Okello-Okello said on Monday that they are eager to discuss serious issues concerning Acholi land with the President. "Why call us in Rwakitura? Does he want to brainwash us?" Okello-Okello asked. "We are ready and eager to raise many important concerns on Acholi land to Mr Museveni but we should meet him in Gulu or any other district in Acholi land not Rwakitura. The land he wants to discuss is in Acholi and not Rwakitura." Read more at The Monitor.

Refugees International, after a recent visit to northern Uganda, have sent out a press release and recommendations concerning the displacement situation in the war-torn area. They write, "Despite improvements in security and an unprecedented opportunity to resolve the 20-year conflict in northern Uganda peacefully, the humanitarian situation for over 1.5 million internally displaced people (IDPs) remains difficult...While some people are leaving the camps, it is not a full-fledged return process since very few displaced people are returning to their original villages. Most Acholis remain in desperately overcrowded camps with substandard services. Acute problems in the camps include pervasive gender-based violence, fires that damage homes, and poor access to proper water and sanitation services, which resulted in a recent cholera outbreak...Distrust of the government's intentions is still widespread."

In response, RI makes the following recommendations:

1.) Donors continue to fund humanitarian activities in the camps. Programming should reflect the particular pattern of movement in each district;
2.) UNHCR ensure that its protection strategy keeps pressure on district and central government to respect the rights of all displaced people, including those still in the camps. The population movement committees must be continued and fully supported as UNHCR takes over from UNICEF as the head of the protection cluster;
3.) The new Humanitarian Coordinator ensure that protection is a top priority and work with the protection working groups to address problems;
4.) The Government of Uganda provide incentives and additional assistance to its employees in northern Uganda to fill key positions such as teachers, health workers, and legal aides in the north;
5.) The Government of Uganda increase its contribution to its $200 million Peace, Development and Reconstruction Plan from the current $10 million it has pledged; and
6.) UNDP rapidly accelerate its programs, particularly focusing in livelihood development, in Acholiland.

Land ownership is the most controversial issue in the north and northeastern Uganda as the internally displaced people move back to their homes, according to a new report by Foundation for Human Rights Initiative (FHRI). The report notes that land conflicts had led to family and clan clashes resulting in death. Livingstone Sewanyana, the FHRI executive director, launched the report on Wednesday and suggested that a land policy for northern Uganda be made and the population sensitised. He also called for the trengthening of land tribunals to deal with land conflicts. Read more at The New Vision.

Heads of States from the Great Lakes Region are gathering in Nairobi this week to sign a regional Pact on Security, Stability and Development. The Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre and the International Refugee Rights Initiative have heralded the process as holding out great hope for the approximately 9.5 million IDPs and nearly 2 million refugees in the region. Collectively, the Great Lakes host’s more than half of Africa’s internally displaced population. Read more at the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre.

Members of the Acholi Parliamentary Group (APG) yesterday refused to accept an invitation by President Museveni to his upcountry home in Rwakitura until some confusion surrounding the request is sorted out. The President reportedly wanted to discuss land-related issues with the MPs. Livingstone Okello-Okello, the chairperson of the APG said, "Some letters addressed to some members of the APG, including mine, are inviting members of Parliament from Lango Region to a meeting on Wednesday (December 27), while other letters addressed to some members of Lango Parliamentary Group (LPG) are inviting members of the APG to a meeting on Monday (December 21)." The APG further raised concerns that the President has invited NRM district executives and Acholi cultural leaders. The Acholi MPs also demand that the invitation should have an agenda. Read more at The Monitor.

Micro-Finance Minister Salim Saleh, the President's half-brother, has scoffed at Acholi MPs who are accusing him of land grabbing in their sub-region. Gen. Saleh said that as a Ugandan, he has a right to lawfully acquire land in any part of the country. Livingstone Okello-Okello, the chairperson Acholi Parliamentary Group, said last week that Harriet Abel, one the alleged land grabbers is Gen. Saleh's "social friend." The MPs allege that Abel is opening up large farms on other people's land using UPDF soldiers to scare the original owners off the land. The MPs in particular accused Gen. Saleh of conspiring with individuals to grab their land when owners are still in camps. Read more at The Monitor.

President Museveni has written to the Acholi Parliamentary Group inviting them for a meeting on December 21 at his country home in Rwakitura. Livingstone Okello-Okello, the chairperson of the Acholi MPs, said, "We are meeting on Monday afternoon as the Acholi Parliamentary Group to discuss the President's invitation. The invitation has also been extended to the NRM district executives from the region." The proposed meeting comes against a backdrop of suspicion from Acholi MPs that the government has a hidden agenda of disenfranchising their electorate; that the government plans to 'grab' land in the sub-region by selling it to local and foreign investors, which would leave many Acholi landless. Read more at The Monitor.

The UN's IRIN News reports that the relative peace in northern Uganda, brought by the Juba process, has spurred thousands of internally displaced people (IDP) to start moving from camps back to their villages. However, the returnees face enormous challenges. For example, cattle were once a cherished symbol of wealth for the region's Acholi people, but they were virtually wiped out during two decades of war – effectively destroying the source of money for education and family welfare, and a source of protein for thousands of families. In addition, as Uganda-CAN has reported on before, the return of IDPs may spur land conflicts if the government is not sensitive and committed to protecting people's land rights. Still, Ugandan officials say despite the slow pace of the talks, the security situation in the war-ravaged region has improved dramatically. The continuation of the peace talks and political will to meet these arising post-conflict challenges could not be more essential. Read more at IRIN News.

The situation in northern Uganda has remained largely calm over the last two weeks. The extended Cessation of Hostilities Agreement is still holding, though both sides have accused the other of not complying with its terms. While there have been no attacks or abductions, there are reported cases of criminal activity of small armed groups in the region. Still, with this relative calmness, displaced persons have been able to move more freely and some are accessing land up to 8 kilometers away from their camps. Also, according to UNICEF, the total number of child "night commuters" in Kitgum, Gulu and Kalongo districts has reduced from 7894 in September to 6344 in October. In Gulu however, there was an increase from 2867 to 2956. Reasons for this increase are unknown. Developments in the Juba peace process will be crucial in coming weeks to see that peace can finally be consolidated to allow for people to return home and begin rebuilding their livelihoods.

Opposition MPs boycotted a sensitisation workshop on land rights organised by the Ministry of Lands, Housing and Urban Development in Gulu yesterday. They said they knew more about Acholi land than the Government officials who came to sensitise them. Instead, they told a press conference in Kampala that investors were welcome to Acholiland as long as they shared the profits with the landlords. However, in his opening speech at the meeting, the Acholi paramount chief Rwot David Onen Acana II, criticized the MPs who failed to turn up, accusing them of not respecting the traditional leaders and politicising the matter to gain popularity. "The issue of land is a matter of life and death," Rwot Acana said. "It should not be mixed with politics. There is nowhere you can discuss land issues better than here. The Government should come out with a clear position on Acholi land. We should not look at those opposition MPs who are making noise about our land like fools." The Rwot warned that land disputes will increase as the insurgency ends and people return to their homes. Read more at The New Vision.

The Daily Monitor has printed a staff editorial urging the Government to show fairness when dealing with Acholi land concerns and fears. They write, "With probable peace on the horizon, some members of the Acholi community have become increasingly jittery about as yet unverified - but public - information that there are grand designs to appropriate large tracts of the fabulously fertile virgin land for large scale agriculture. The case for investment should be made clearly to avoid confusion and suspicion." They continue, "Above all, government and the combative MPs on the other side must climb down from the confrontational path they have both led. Incitement to violence must be resisted in as much as provocation should be abhorred. The Acholi land question is a delicate one which should not be reduced to a right versus might fight." Read the full editorial at The Monitor.

The Acholi Parliamentary Group (APG) has rejected the proposal to sell or lease any land in their northern sub-region to investors. Instead, the APG says the only acceptable way is for Acholi landowners to convert their land into shares in the investors' companies. While other parliamentarians returned to Kampala for the reopening of the Parliament, the Acholi MPs are busy traveling their districts, addressing five rallies a day per constituency, sensitising their people on the 'danger' of leasing or selling their land. A primary condition the Acholi MPs are setting is that all IDPs should return to their homes before any investor's application is entertained. The second condition is that the landowners get equity in the investments. Read more at The Monitor.

Though Uganda has historically held a reputation for having controlled its HIV/AIDS problem, Matthew Wilhelm-Solomon writes that the extent of the virus in northern Uganda is perhaps more severe than figures indicate, especially "as the expansion of combination antiretroviral therapy to the camps has been severely limited due to dangerous access routes and impoverished resources." He writes, "Yet, the spectre of AIDS haunts the calm that has come to the region...AIDS is the second highest reported reason for death after malaria in the region according to the World Health Organisation." Health organizations are working to combat the disease through prevention and treatment, but the toll of violence and horrid conditions in IDP camps make such work extremely difficult. Read more at Pambazuka News.