John Prendergast of the International Crisis Group has written a powerful Op/Ed for AllAfrica.com on the "Test Case for Accountability." He writes, "The stakes are high - for the ICC, Uganda and for international efforts at accountability. A comprehensive strategy is needed to ensure success. And success must be defined to mean the end of the insurgency, not just through prosecution of its leaders...A comprehensive strategy would involve two tracks: coercive and diplomatic..."

"The Security Council should also mandate the UN peacekeeping missions in the Congo and Sudan to pursue the demobilization, disarmament and reintegration of LRA units stationed in these two countries...Given the threat to international peace and security represented by the LRA's three-country military posture, the UN Security Council should authorize targeted sanctions on anyone found to be providing sanctuary or sustenance to the LRA in any way...The second track should seek to rapidly enhance the incentives aimed at luring non-indicted LRA commanders out of the bush. Ugandan mediator Betty Bigombe should put forth a comprehensive Ugandan proposal for peace using the leverage offered by the ICC." Read more here.

The New Vision reports that the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) have accepted mediation from Sudan’s southern government, dominated by the former rebels of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM). SPLM spokesman Walid Hamid on Sunday said the LRA, whose leaders are believed to be hiding in southern Sudan, had responded through the Internet to an SPLM offer to mediate talks.

“The (southern) vice-President, Riek Machar, said they had agreed for the government of southern Sudan to mediate, though no further details were available,” Hamid said. The SPLM has had no direct contact with the LRA, he said. Senior SPLM sources said they had sought a face-to-face meeting with the LRA but were awaiting a reply. Read more here.

The Daily Monitor reports that the British High Commissioner to Uganda, Mr. Francois Gordon, on December 14 appealed to the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) rebels to make concrete proposals before the world can positively response to their call for peace talks.

"The region needs a ceasefire. You must stop attacks on roads, civilians and stop ambushes. This should not be seen to look like your usual dry season propaganda," Gordon said. He was speaking to the people of northern Uganda on Mega FM radio station during a one-day familiarisation tour of Gulu.

Since the LRA's second-in-command Vincent Otti phoned the local BBC radio station in mid-November to request peace talks, there has been much speculation regarding the commitment of both the government and the LRA to such talks.

Though the government initially welcomed the peace overtures, it has since expressed its skepticism. According to government spokespeople, seasonal food shortages and mounting military pressure on the rebel group have led them to request mediation, and, they argue, the LRA would only use the time to regroup without actually committing to peace.

Local leaders have mixed opinions. Elected district administrators in Gulu, Kitgum, and Pader have expressed agreement with the government. The Kitgum district chairman was called by Otti recently, and commented, “Otti sounded desperate. I told him that they (LRA) are not serious on peace talks and only use it to re-organise and continue killing of civilians."

Civil society organizations and religious leaders, however, disagree. "The people of northern Uganda cannot continue to live with a future of insecurity and suffering. While a glimmer of hope exists, we must grasp it and give it peace a chance," local civil society umbrella group CSOPNU said in a statement. "Let us not lose hope in trying: we must grasp this opportunity and give peace a chance."

Both the Uganda Joint Christian Council and the Ugandan Catholic Bishops' Conference have called for government engagement in dialogue as well. The Bishops further called on Museveni to initiate a national reconciliation intiative to heal Uganda's entrenched divide between northerners and southerners.

But with support for dialogue lacking from the international diplomatic community in Kampala, chances of government engagement of the LRA offer seem slim. The government will continue its military campaign, which it claims is having serious success in battling the LRA--with two to five rebels killed daily--in partnership with southern Sudanese forces.

Recent reports place the number of LRA at approximately 4000, however, and the rebels being killed are all abducted children. For these reasons, Uganda-CAN calls on the Government of Uganda to show faith in the possibility of a negotiated settlement and to take the LRA offer seriously.

According to the Sudan Tribune reports, the government of Southern Sudan has said that the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) has, in principle, accepted the peace initiative being made by Sudanese First Vice-President Salva Kiir to mediate between it and the Ugandan government in a bid to resolve the political problems.

Speaking to the press, the vice-president of the Southern Sudan government, Riek Machar, has called for the adoption of peace and dialogue with the LRA. He further called on the USA to remove the name of the LRA from the list of terrorist organizations.

He said that the Southern Sudan government has received response from the LRA through the Internet after the president of the Southern Sudan government, Salva Kiir, proposed three options of dealing with it, adding that it (LRA) has, in principle, accepted Vice-President Kiir’s peace initiative. Read more here.

The New Vision reports that the Uganda Joint Christian Council (UJCC) has renewed its call for dialogue to end the 20- year Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) rebel war in northern Uganda. Top leaders of the body made the call yesterday during a press conference at the UJCC offices at Old Kampala.

Top leaders said tomorrow they would undertake a National Launch of Prayer for Reconciliation and Peace in Northern Uganda at Nakivubo Stadium from 10:00am to 1:00pm. His Eminence, Jonah Lwanga, His Grace the Archbishop of the Church of Uganda, Luke Orombi and His Eminence, Cardinal Emmanuel Wamala have invited the public to the prayers. "We have dedicated every last Sunday for prayers for the northern conflict. This month will be a month of prayers for northern Uganda. We shall continue praying next year and until peace returns."

The New Vision reports that Betty Bigombe, the chief mediator between the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) and the Government, has said that any chance geared towards peace must be exploited to the maximum by the Government. "The latest peace gesture is not out of the blue. I have been influencing the rebels quietly to come to the round table. The ICC knows what I am doing because I am constantly in touch with them," Bigombe said yesterday. Welcoming the rebels’ latest call for peace talks, Bigombe said they should be given the benefit of doubt, instead of being dismissed as, "Kony buying time to reorganise."

Uganda-CAN calls on the Government of Uganda to fully engage this potential opportunity to bring an end to the long-running suffering of people in northern Uganda. The Government should present a comprehensive peace proposal that addresses amnesty, reintegration and resettlement for LRA rebels, with the potential of third-country hosting for LRA leadership. Failure to fully engage this moment will give substance to suspicion by many that the Government of Uganda is not fully committed to protecting its citizens in the north.

Reuters reports today that Vincent Otti, the deputy chief of northern Uganda's Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) rebels said he would contact the government on Saturday via a top religious leader. Otti reiterated his willingness to face international justice.

In the telephone call, Otti said Catholic Archbishop John Baptist Odama would be told when and where mediators could meet the LRA, and called on the government to give them safe passage. "Peace will come in Uganda very soon if the government accepts," Otti told local KFM radio late on Friday. "If they do not agree to talk to us, then there will be big trouble."

After 19 years of conflict, Otti said the people of the north were now calling on him to negotiate. "They said we should talk this over so they go home in the village to dig. That's why I said I don't fear anything like the ICC," he told KFM. "Kony and I, we are the leaders, then we should lead them back home all, then we should be arrested."

In addition to Odama, who heads a multi-faith peace team in the north, Otti said the LRA trusted Internal Affairs Minister Ruhakana Rugunda and former minister Betty Bigombe. He also said the rebels trusted Uganda's long serving President Yoweri Museveni -- long their sworn adversary.

Uganda-CAN calls on the Government of Uganda and the international community to seize this potential opportunity to bring an end to the war.

Archbishop John Baptist Odama of Gulu district in northern Uganda has welcomed rebel interest in peaceful negotiations, reports AllAfrica. "Now we wait for your concrete step towards peace. We do not want you to continue to fight. Come into the open and transform your promises for peace in concrete actions," he said.

The Government of Uganda, however, has not been so welcoming. Uganda's Information Minister responded to the LRA call for peace talks by saying, "We are really not taking this seriously at all. This is not a new tactic."

Uganda-CAN laments the government's lack of willingness to consider this possibility as serious. We call on senior U.S. State Department officials to call Museveni to task for not seeking a peaceful end to the conflict.