New coalition formed to tackle northern conflict

Twenty-five civil society organisations in Uganda have announced the formation of a new coalition aimed at ending insecurity in northern Uganda. The Coalition of Civil Society Organisations for Peace in Northern Uganda (CSOPNU), as it is known, was formed on Tuesday, after members met to express growing concern over the escalating "cycle of violence" in the north. In a statement issued on Wednesday, the coalition said its mandate was to stimulate debate on some of the causes of the long-running conflict in the north and search for solutions. The statement said the coalition wanted to contribute to a "timely and successful resolution" of the conflict between the rebel Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) and the government. "Citing the terrible suffering over the past few years of up to 500,000 internally displaced persons, and the lack of a coherent government policy to bring peace to the sub-region, the CSOs [civil society organisations] see the roots of the conflict partly in the ethnic, regional and religious differences within Uganda," the statement said. The low-intensity conflict, in which LRA has been "terrorising" villagers and abducting civilians since the 1980s, has caused untold suffering to the people in northern Uganda, according to the statement. Renewed LRA attacks over the past two weeks are producing new waves of internal displacement and putting a strain on ongoing relief and development work in the region, humanitarian sources said. Humanitarian reports from the northern town of Gulu indicated that NGOs had halted their operations in villages and were now confining their operations to the major towns of northern Uganda because of the rise in insecurity. All roads linking the northern districts of Gulu, Kitgum, Pader, Lira and Pakwac have become unsafe due to increased rebel activity in the area over the past week, thereby limiting the movement of relief workers, the sources told IRIN. "The situation is very confusing," they said. "We don't know much about the numbers of rebels moving around nor what their intentions are. This is not a good sign." "Bringing the current insecurity to a timely and successful resolution, and breaking the cycle of violence, needs to be given the highest attention and priority by government, donors, the affected people, all Ugandans, the international community and local and global civil society," the coalition's statement concluded.