February 12, 2008: The renewed peace
negotiations are not going well. The LRA negotiating team staged a walkout,
protesting what it called U.S. interference. The LRA negotiators were referring
to an American proposal made this year that senior LRA leaders (like Joseph Kony)
should surrender to the Ugandan government. The LRA has also unveiled a new
demand. The LRA wants 35 percent of the Ugandan Army's command slots to be
allotted to "people from northern and eastern Uganda." The core cadres of the
LRA come from the Acholi tribe, which lives in northern Uganda.
February 8, 2008: In northern Uganda,
food supplies for IDPs (internally displaced persons) are low. This will affect
the Ugandan government's resettlement and returnee programs. The programs are
part of the peace process with the LRA.
February 7, 2008: Because of alleged
LRA attacks in South Sudan, several senior South Sudan leaders have called on
the government of South Sudan to quit acting as mediator in the peace talks
between the LRA and the Ugandan government.
February 4, 2008: The government denied
accusations that Ugandan soldiers were involved in the violence in Kenya. This
charge has been made several times in the last three weeks by various Kenyan
groups in western Kenya.
The US military's Combined Joint Task
Force-Horn of Africa (CJTF-HOA) has been helping pay the costs for drilling
water wells in northern Uganda (Lira,
Pader and Kitgum districts).
