Actress calls for peaceful resolution of northern conflict

British actress and film award winner, Helen Mirren, who has been visiting war-affected areas of northern Uganda, called on Saturday for the parties involved in the conflict to resolve it peacefully. "This war has been forgotten by the world, it is a war in which children are used as cannon fodder," Mirren, said at the end of a five-day mission organised by British aid agency, Oxfam. "What I saw is an extraordinary situation not replicated anywhere." The rebel Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) has fought the Ugandan government in the region for 18 years, in a conflict that has killed or maimed thousands of people and forced over 1.6 million out of their homes to seek shelter in camps across the region. "I saw the night commuters [children who leave their homes every evening to sleep in towns for fear of being abducted by the LRA] and it was an incredible sight," Mirren said. "I just cannot believe that this sight has not been given the attention it deserves." The LRA has targeted children throughout the war, many of whom it either forcibly recruits to fight in their rebel ranks, while the girls are often turned into sex slaves for rebel commanders. Relief agencies estimate that up to 20,000 children have been abducted across the region. Mirren promised to highlight the plight of the people in northern Uganda, once she returns to London, in the hope that the international community will give the crisis due attention. While the conflict has raged for nearly two decades, there is a new glimmer of hope that it could end soon. A new mediation effort led by former Ugandan minister Betty Bigombe, got underway in November. The government has announced a ceasefire, while the rebels have said they are wiling to negotiate with the government. The government has made significant concessions, including extending its limited ceasefire to 7 December, while the LRA have reciprocated by declaring a general ceasefire in northern Uganda and southern Sudan. In November, the UN Security Council urged Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni to end the conflict, which has caused a major humanitarian crisis in the country's northern districts. The rebels, led by a former catechist, Joseph Kony, initially said they were fighting to topple Museveni's government and replace it with an administration based on the Biblical Ten Commandments. However, it has not been possible to get a clear understanding of what the group's aims are because it maintains little contact with the outside world.