Ugandan Vice President Gilbert Bukenya has said peace is returning to northern Uganda as a result of the Juba peace talks. As a result, Prof. Bukenya has called upon the internally displaced persons in the region to concentrate on four enterprises of upland rice growing, bee, poultry keeping and dairy farming as transformation from tradition to modernity. "I am glad peace is coming fully. These two groups (LRA and government delegations) have been struggling in Juba . But now they are signing most agreements. That is a good sign that things are getting better," Prof Bukenya said. Bukenya was last week speaking at Adak farm in Lalogi Sub County in Gulu district and Lolim in Amuru district, where he launched upland rice planting. Read more at The Monitor.

The Inter-Agency Standing Committee Working Group in Uganda has released numbers on population movement in northern Uganda. At the end of 2005, the estimated camp population was 1,842,501 people. As of the end of April 2007, the estimated number in those original camps is 1,090,629. An estimated 365,319 displaced people are either in new "decongestion" camps or in transit, while an estimated 383,253 have returned to their villages of origin. These numbers highlight progress made as a result of the Juba peace talks and new humanitarian programs. However, they also show that a large number of people remained confined to squalid displacement camps. As put by Olara Otunnu in an editorial this week, "With the cessation of hostilities and the withdrawal of LRA from Ugandan territory, following the government’s own logic, there is no longer any pretext for holding people in concentration camps. Why then is the dismantling of the camps not front-and-centre of the Juba talks?"

Acholi parliamentarians have repeated their claims that army officers are involved in grabbing land in northern Uganda. Reagan Okumu (Aswa) and Michael Ocula (Kilak) told Parliament that soldiers were being taken to the region to guard stolen land, while others were involved in grabbing land. Defence minister Crispus Kiyonga promised to follow up the matter, but the Chief of Defence Forces, Gen. Aronda Nyakayirima, denied the allegations. Read more at The New Vision.

The new UN Under-Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs, John Holmes, spent Tuesday night at Namokora internally displaced people’s (IDP) camp in Gulu district. Holmes spent most of the night sitting round a bonfire with the displaced people who shared what they thought is the best way to stop the 21-year war. "The people want to go back to their homes but are waiting for the outcomes of the ongoing Juba peace talks. They are following the progress of the talks closely because they fear that without a peace agreement, the situation may worsen and they will be forced out of their homes again," he told the journalists at the camp. Read more at The New Vision.

UN humanitarian chief John Holmes visited northern Uganda for the first time today, spending time in IDP camps in Kitgum district. Holmes, new to the job this year, stressed that much work needs to be done to end the humanitarian crisis in the north even though the situation has improved since peace talks began last summer. He called for a “triple effort” from the humanitarian community: continuing assistance to those living in IDP camps, aiding those in the process of returning home and supporting those who have already returned to their communities. Read more at UN News.

A US$6.8 million donation from the European Commission's Humanitarian Aid Office (ECHO) and other recent contributions will allow the World Food Programme (WFP) to restore food rations for 1.28 million internally displaced persons (IDPs) in northern Uganda to their normal levels in June. The WFP was forced to cut rations by as much as one-third in April, due to a funding shortage. WFP has so far received only little over half of the US$134 million it will need to feed the nearly two million IDPs in northern Uganda. Read more at ReliefWeb.

A special feature in today’s BBC News tells the stories of war-affected families in northern Uganda’s Lira district. It follows the lives of several families that are rebuilding their homes in the village of Apungi and shows how LRA attacks and abductions have affected their lives. It illustrates the challenges faced by families struggling to cope with loss of family members and rebuild shattered livelihoods. The improved security created by ongoing Juba peace talks between the LRA and the Ugandan government has allowed many displaced persons in Lira district to begin returning to their homes. However, returnees face significant obstacles, such as lack of government services and land insecurity. View the interactive special at BBC News.