UN humanitarian affairs chief urges dialogue with rebels

The United Nations Under-Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief, Jan Egeland, said on Friday that the UN was encouraging and prepared to fund Ugandan peace talks. On arrival at Entebbe airport, Egeland said the UN had resolved to strongly urge both sides in the conflict to engage in peaceful dialogue. "I’m here to engage the government and the LRA [Lord’s Resistance Army] rebels to find a peaceful solution," he said. "Though it is not easy, the two sides need to come to the table and enter negotiations to end this unnecessarily long conflict. The UN is ready and willing to fund that process to its conclusion." Egeland's comments follow recent remarks from the head of the delegation of the EC to Uganda, Sigurd Illing, stating that no matter how impossible it seems, the Ugandan government must "try to find an alternative" to the military approach to the crisis in the north of the country. They also follow a visit to Gulu, in northern Uganda, by the Dutch minister for development cooperation, Agnes van Ardenne, in which she suggested that "we should bring President [Yoweri] Museveni and [LRA leader Joseph] Kony to a negotiating table". Diplomatic sources told IRIN last week that donors were becoming increasingly vocal with the Ugandan government, urging it to make positive moves towards a peaceful settlement in the north of the country. But the defence ministry spokesman, Maj Shaban Bantariza, said calls for peace talks were already being honoured by the government. "The president has appointed a team with MPs, army generals, and religious and cultural leaders with a view to initiating dialogue. But the LRA are simply not there to talk to. So perhaps those urging talks can explain to us how dialogue can start when one party will not talk." Egeland will hold meetings with senior government officials from the disaster preparedness and refugees ministry on Friday, led by first Deputy Prime Minister Moses Ali. He will then visit Kitgum, in northern Uganda, and then Soroti, in eastern Uganda's Teso region, which has been an LRA target since June.