The peace process with the talks between the Ugandan government and LRA seems to be on track. About 30 percent of the IDP population has moved from IDP camps to return sites and even 5 percent of them have gone back to their villages in Gulu district alone. According to UNHCR, about 55,000 IDPs have returned to their villages in Acholi, in addition to 431,000 who have gone back home to the Lango sub-region. Of those still in camps in Acholi, 359,000 people had by June moved to new sites, leaving 698,000 in former camps, compared with only 35,000 in camps in Lango by June.

The government has put in place an elaborate document dubbed Peace, Recovery and Development Plan for northern Uganda (PRDP), which is a national strategic frame work upon which all INGO,s working in the north operates within.

Almost all LRA’s have left northern Uganda and are converged in assembly points in Garamba forest in DRC and Rugkwamba in Sudan. On July 15, 07, the Chief of Defence Forces announced that ‘There had been no LRA soldier or activity for one whole year in Northern Uganda. There are no more ambushes on the Nimule-Juba road.’

Project Preparation
The two-person team has been very busy in July to meet with local and international groups in Uganda, both in Kampala and in the Gulu, Amuru, Kitgum and Pader Districts.

What they have found so far, after about half of their projected stay in the area, is that there is a need for a NP project in Northern Uganda provided NP would be able to raise the resources needed quickly enough. The ground at the moment is conducive to begin a civilian peacekeeping project in Uganda. Given the fact that the peace process is taking place in Juba in southern Sudan, the government of Uganda has requested development partners in the north to shift operations from emergency to recovery and reconstruction in terms of intervention.

• As many INGO’s are overwhelmed with hard ware aspect of recovery and reconstruction, there exist a gap of soft aspect of the same. There is a need to move with IDP population to return sites and even to their villages./li>
• NPs niche to work and live in close proximity with vulnerable communities would make NP come in with an added value in northern Uganda. NP working especially in districts with less INGOs presence (with international staff on the ground) would validate NP’s unique intervention strategy in civilian peacekeeping.

Potential activities to start with in Northern Uganda

• Facilitating communal dialogues and mediation by supporting local structures to help address land wrangles, reintegrating returnees given amnesty by government. This can be achieved by working with local council of elders, local government agents and local partners. This would go along way to build relationship and improve trust among community members.
• Accompany returning IDP population to their original homes for a “go and see visit” before they can make a voluntary decision to return home. The target would be those IDP population that are traumatized and are afraid to go back. This activity will be for confidence building and can offer some psychological preparation to individuals to start reconnecting with their homes areas mirroring that cosmic vision of their native place.
• Monitoring of return trends and identifying gaps as many INGOs are unable to reach to remote and furthest return villages due to over stretched resources or due to negligence of those areas due to unpleasant terrain and distance. NP’s niche has been to work among those people who have been not reached with resources by bringing their case on the table and linking them with resources.

Report written by Oloo Otieno/ Shall Sinha and Christine Schweitzer (Programme Director)