The current efforts to resolve the 18-year conflict in northern Uganda is “a historic opportunity to end the country’s humanitarian emergency”, according to the United Nations emergency relief coordinator and under-secretary general for humanitarian affairs, Jan Egeland.
Egeland commended Ugandan government efforts to end, through dialogue, the conflict with the rebel Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) in northern Uganda, which has displaced more than 1,6-million people.
“This is a historic opportunity to bring to an end one of the worst humanitarian emergencies in the world,” a press statement issued by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (Ocha) on Wednesday quoted Egeland as saying after a meeting with President Yoweri Museveni in the Ugandan capital, Kampala.
Ugandan Foreign Ministry officials said Museveni expressed his willingness to work closely with the UN in moving Uganda’s reconciliation process forward. This will include the UN assisting post-conflict programmes and integration of ex-rebels back into society.
“They discussed mechanisms of integrating former LRA rebels into society, the reconciliation process and what the UN will do to help,” Foreign Affairs Permanent Secretary Julius Onen said.
Ocha said the Ugandan leader welcomed the UN offer and that the reintegration of former LRA fighters will be done through a programme of assistance, education and job creation.
“He [Museveni] also welcomed the UN offer of contributing to a wider process of principled reconciliation,” it noted.
In anticipation of a potential breakthrough in peace talks with the LRA, Ocha added, the UN has started planning for the voluntary return of internally displaced persons.
The LRA has fought the Ugandan government in a violent campaign that has killed thousands of people. The rebels have also abducted thousands of children for forcible recruitment into the rebel army. The girls are turned into sex slaves for the commanders.
Recent efforts to end the conflict peacefully have been spearheaded by a former Ugandan minister, Betty Bigombe. The government has consequently decided to observe a limited ceasefire until December 15 to allow Bigombe and other elders from the region to convince the rebels to lay down their weapons. — Irin