Stalled peace talks and mounting safety concerns in northern Uganda have seen World Vision get involved in attempts to help end the suffering of women and children being held by the rebel forces.
Child soldiers are a particularly horrifying feature of the war in northern Uganda. JON WARREN
Elders, district officials and World Vision representatives in Gulu are heading to southern Sudan to talk with Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) rebels to encourage them to work with the Ugandan Government to establish peace.
Gulu district presidential representative, Colonel Walter Ochora, said it will be good for World Vision to meet with the rebels and present their plan for rehabilitating those still in captivity and fighting.
“World Vision has done outstanding work of rehabilitating these ex-rebels and I think it would be an honourable gesture for some of its officials to travel with us to talk to the rebels and encourage them to talk peace and return home,” he said.
The civil war between the LRA and the Ugandan Government has raged for more than 20 years but last year showed the first truly promising signs of coming to an end.
A temporary ceasefire was signed in August 2006, and a schedule was drawn up for permanent ceasefire talks to be held in Sudan. These have been ongoing, but have hit trouble in the past two weeks.
LRA leaders have issued threats of a return to violence and an end to the temporary peace if the location of the talks is not moved. They say Sudan’s government is biased, and are insisting a relocation of the talks to either South Africa or Kenya.
The threat means the peace talks came to a halt on January 11 and fears in the region have been increasing since, say World Vision staff working in northern Uganda.
There have so far been no attacks in the areas World Vision works in northern Uganda, but staff have been warned about increasing their level of awareness and vigilance.
“We need to be careful as we carry on our work,” said World Vision Uganda security officer Julius Wegoye.
Apart from the immediate security worries, there are grave concerns for the region’s future if the situation does not stabilise soon.
With the signing of the temporary peace deal in August, internally displaced people (IDP) – many of whom have taken refuge in camps for many years – started the long process of preparing to return to their homes. There are fears at World Vision that the recent threats may knock this process back, and see many people return to the large, overcrowded IDP camps.
World Vision continues to support the peace process as the best means to end the suffering of hundreds of thousands people (especially children) trapped in the misery of the northern Ugandan conflict.
The organisation also appeals to the international community to maintain the pressure on the parties in the talks to opt for a peaceful resolution.
World Vision hopes that in spite of the feared resurgence of LRA activities, international agencies can still be granted safe passage for the much-needed humanitarian assistance.
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