Historic opportunity for northern peace process - UN

The current efforts to resolve the 18-year conflict in northern Uganda is "a historic opportunity to end the country's humanitarian emergency", the UN emergency relief coordinator and the under-secretary-general for humanitarian affairs, Jan Egeland, said. 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 over 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 on Wednesday, quoted Egeland as saying after a meeting with President Yoweri Museveni in the Ugandan capital, Kampala. Ugandan foreign ministry officials told IRIN that Museveni expressed his willingness to work closely with the UN in moving Uganda's reconciliation process forward. This would 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, told IRIN. OCHA said the Ugandan leader welcomed the UN offer and that the re-integration of former LRA fighters would be done through a program of assistance, education and job creation. "He [President 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 had started to plan 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 15 December to allow Bigombe and other elders from the region to convince the rebels to lay down their weapons.