November 2007
The peace talks in Juba have been on hold for the last three months to allow the Ugandan Government and LRA to consult and prepare for the crucial next stage, negotiations on specific domestic justice mechanisms.
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Uganda Project Monthly Reports
October 2007
SITUATION ON THE GROUND
- Government of Uganda consultation going on
- Rumors of split in LRA ranks
The ongoing consultations by the Government of Uganda’s (GoU) delegates on the Juba peace process are proceeding positively. They are intended to involve the communities in the North with the peace process. Out of the three meetings Oloo attended two were well attended and community participation was promising.
September 2007
In northern Uganda by the end of last June to September, it is estimated that 916,000 people remained in camps, mainly in Acholi sub region, while 539,000 had returned home. Some 381,000 people had moved to new transit sites\ settlements near their villages source UNHCR. People have tested the fruits of illusive peace, significant dividends of the cessation of hostilities agreement and the pace process includes:
- Improved security that has created enabling environment for some IDPs to return home
- Unlimited humanitarian access
August 2007
In northern Uganda by the end of last June to September, it is estimated that 916,000 people remained in camps, mainly in Acholi sub region, while 539,000 had returned home. Some 381,000 people had moved to new transit sites\ settlements near their villages according to UNHCR. Significant dividends of the cessation of hostilities agreement and the pace process include:
- Improved security that has created enabling environment for some IDPs to return home
- Unlimited humanitarian access
- Reduced attacks against civilians both in Uganda and Southern Sudan
July 2007
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.
June 2007
The Ugandan government and Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) rebels have signed a new agreement in the latest round of talks. A five-part peace process is envisaged, with the issue of war crimes remaining a problem with the ICC indictment on the one hand, and the attempts by both Uganda and LRA to find alternative ways of addressing human rights abuses locally rather then sending Kony and his people to The Hague.
Project Preparation
May 2007
In May the negotiations between the Ugandan government and the LRA continued.
Project Preparation
The preparations for the arrival of the two-person team that began its work on 20th June continued during May.
Report written by Christine Schweitzer (Programme Director)
April 2007
The interrupted peace talks between the Ugandan government and the LRA have been resumed on the 26th of April, thanks to successful mediation by former Mozambique president Joaquim Chissano and others. They signed an agreement binding them to finding ‘lasting solutions to the causes of the conflict’.
Project Preparation
While there was no activity in April, it has by now been decided that a 2-person team will go to Uganda in June as Advance Team to reassess the situation and begin preparations for an eventual fuller deployment of a NP team to Uganda.
March 2007
The cease-fire between Uganda and the LRA seemed to have broken down, fuelling fears that the war may restart. However, international mediation efforts in March by the UN (led by the Uganda envoy of the UN, former Mozambique President Joaquim Chissano) and the international NGO Pax Christi have been giving reasons to hope that this was rather a temporary set-up than a permanent collapse. New (informal) talks between the government and the LRA took place at the very end of March in Mombasa, reaching according to a report by Pax Christi “significant agreements” on extending the truce.
February 2007
End of February bad news came from Uganda : The Lord Resistance Army announced that it would not renew the 8-months truce with the government that expired on 1 st of March. The talks between the two sides had collapsed in December over disagreement of the role of Sudan in hosting the talks. The LRA demands a new venue and different mediators.