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FM AMEMBASSY KAMPALA
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INFO RUEHKH/AMEMBASSY KHARTOUM 0535
RUCNIAD/IGAD COLLECTIVE
RUEHXR/RWANDA COLLECTIVE
RUEHTO/AMEMBASSY MAPUTO 0382
RUEHSA/AMEMBASSY PRETORIA 3173
RHMFIUU/CJTF HOA

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 KAMPALA 000240 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPARTMENT PASS TO USAID AND OFDA 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PHUM PREF PREL MOPS ASEC CASC EAID UG SU
SUBJECT: NORTHERN UGANDA NOTES (January 27-February 9, 2007) 
 
¶1.  Summary: Post presents the thirteenth edition of Northern Uganda 
Notes to provide information on the situation on the ground and USG 
activities aimed at meeting Mission's objectives in northern Uganda. 
 These objectives include promoting regional stability through peace 
and security, good governance, access to social services, economic 
growth, and humanitarian assistance.  Post appreciates feedback from 
consumers on the utility of this product and any gaps in information 
that need to be filled.  End Summary. 
 
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PEACE AND RECONCILIATION PROCESSES 
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¶2.  The Juba negotiations have yet to resume because the Lord's 
Resistance Army (LRA) refused to return to Juba.  The LRA continues 
to insist on a venue change to Kenya or South Africa and the 
replacement of Sudanese mediator Riek Machar.  In an effort to 
encourage the parties back to the negotiating table, the European 
diplomatic missions in Kampala called on the parties to resume the 
talks and find a long-term solution compatible with local community 
wishes, national laws, and the Rome Statute of the International 
Criminal Court.  The Department's press statement released on 
February 1 raising concern that shifting the talks or replacing the 
mediator will prolong the suffering of the northern Uganda people, 
sparked an "emergency" meeting of the LRA delegates camped in 
Nairobi, according to spokesman Godfrey Ayoo.  The Kenyan Government 
also subsequently issued a statement that it would not host the 
peace talks on February 4.  The LRA is focusing its efforts on 
changing the venue to South Africa. 
 
¶3.  Vincent Otti stated that if the GOU does not want to move the 
peace talks, then "that is the end of the peace talks.  We need 
somewhere else.  If they reject, we can go back to war."  The LRA 
leader may have been reacting to comments by President Museveni on 
local radio in Gulu that he was considering "Plan B", a military 
option. 
 
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SECURITY UPDATE 
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¶4.  The numbers of night commuters have decreased to 2,700 in 
December 2006, according to UNICEF.  These numbers are down from 
23,885 in December 2005.  UNICEF cites the improved security 
situation for the dramatic decrease.  Surveys done by 
non-governmental organizations indicate children that continue to 
commute do so for reasons other than fear of abduction.  Some face 
protection issues such as domestic violence.  Other reasons are the 
desire to be with peers in a well-lit environment, and availability 
of services. 
 
¶5.  Reports of small groups of LRA in northern Uganda continue. 
District officials reportedly made contact with a small group of 15 
LRA near Atanga IDP camp in Pader District that never moved out of 
northern Uganda.  Members of the group told the officials that they 
only wanted food and were not in the area to cause problems.  Action 
Contre le Faim (ACF) said it made contact with a group near Koch 
Goma camp in Amuru District.  Despite reports and sightings of LRA, 
UNHCR, and UN Office of the Coordinator for Humanitarian Affairs 
(UNOCHA) report no discernible IDP movement from new sites back to 
established IDP camps. 
 
¶6.  Alice Lakwena, the founder of the Holy Spirit Movement and 
cousin to LRA leader Joseph Kony, who died on January 18 in a 
refugee camp in Kenya, was buried in her ancestral home in Gulu 
district on February 3.  The Government of Uganda arranged the 
return of Lakwena's body from Kenya and paid for the burial costs. 
 
¶7.  Re-establishing rule of law and a functioning judicial system is 
moving slowly and illustrates other coordination and planning 
problems that are arising.  Local district officials are concerned 
that newly arrived constables have no food and are dependent on 
either the military or WFP for rations.  UN Office of the High 
Commissioner for Human Rights reports that the paralegals with the 
Legal Aid Project assisting the courts in Gulu have stopped work 
because they have not been paid by the Uganda Law Society.  The 
paralegals have been assisting judges recently deployed to Gulu to 
remove the backlog of court cases. 
 
¶8.  USG Activities:  Embassy poloff attended a briefing by the UN 
Resident Coordinator on February 1.  He said that the various 
sightings of small groups of LRA in northern Uganda caused the UN 
humanitarian organizations to rethink and prepare for the worst case 
scenario.  This scenario would be precipitated by the failure of the 
peace talks and immediate resumption of hostilities in southern 
 
KAMPALA 00000240  002 OF 003 
 
 
Sudan or a violent attack perpetrated by the LRA in northern Uganda. 
 The UPDF might force IDPs back into camps and the humanitarian 
situation deteriorates.  In the UN's most likely scenario, some form 
of the cessation of hostilities agreement is maintained.  The 
security situation improves and the peace talks continue at a slow 
pace.  Spontaneous population movements increase. 
 
¶9.  During the same briefing on security issues, Acting Permanent 
Secretary for Foreign Affairs James Mugume told poloffs that 
 
SIPDIS 
Congolese President Joseph Kabila promised that he would work with 
Uganda to resolve the LRA issue peacefully at The Great Lakes Summit 
in Nairobi. 
 
¶10.  On February 8, USAID's Peace Support Team met with five female 
parliamentarians from northern Uganda who recently traveled to the 
U.S. as part of the Initiative for Inclusive Security.  Their 
recommendations include ensuring a minimum of one-third women's 
participation in the formal negotiating teams at Juba, inclusion of 
women on the confidence-building teams, and support for expanded 
local processes to prepare communities for peace, reconciliation, 
and reintegration of soldier, abductees, and IDPs.  The group also 
called for increased representation of women on the Joint Monitoring 
Committee and the Peace, Recovery, and Development Program of the 
North. 
 
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HUMANITARIAN ASSISTANCE AND ECONOMIC RECOVERY 
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¶11.  The Government continues to lack a clear, consistent message on 
returns.  The Minister of Disaster Preparedness, Relief and Refugees 
traveled to northern Uganda on February 1 and said that he would 
like to see as many IDPs return as soon as possible to their land. 
At the same time, the Resident District Commissioner (RDC) in Kitgum 
has only approved 33 areas safe for return.  Coordination problems 
among UN Agencies persist, often resulting in an incomplete 
understanding of the dynamics of population movements with the 
potential result of poorly conceived funding decisions leading to 
inappropriate interventions. Humanitarian organizations were 
reporting that population movements in the Acholi sub-region 
continue unrestricted with the exception of Kitgum District. 
 
¶12.  USG Activities: Ambassador Browning launched USAID's Global 
Development Alliance with Coca-Cola on January 23.  The $500,000 
private-public partnership, The Northern Uganda Watersprings 
Initiative, will improve access to potable water for returning 
communities. 
 
¶13.  USAID's Deputy Director launched the private-public GDA with 
Dunavant, the largest cotton purchaser in the world, on January 30. 
The $1.9 million project, including USAID's $550,000 contribution, 
is opening up 12,000 acres of land for 12,000 internally-displaced 
persons for cotton and food crops. 
 
¶14.  USAID/OFDA approved $1.3 million for the Food and Agricultural 
Organization (FAO) to purchase and distribute tools and seeds.  The 
tools are needed to clear land that has remained fallow for many 
years prior to the March planting season. 
 
¶15.  Office of Food for Peace approved a contribution for World Food 
Program Uganda's protracted Relief and Recovery Operation of $4.4 
million for Fiscal Year 2007.  To date, Food for Peace has 
contributed 22,850 metric tons of emergency food aid to WFP Uganda 
at a value of $17 million. 
 
¶16.  An USAID/OFDA technical assistance team traveled to Kitgum, 
Pader, and Gulu to study water, sanitation, and food security issues 
to determine FY07 funding for these sectors.  The team also met with 
the Combined Joint Task Force-Horn of Africa civil affairs teams, 
the Minister of State for Water Resources, and various 
non-government organizations and district officials.  Some of the 
team's recommendations included: continued flexibility in OFDA's 
response to the northern Uganda situation; more emphasis on 
sustainable low-cost, hand-dug wells; protection of water sources; 
rehabilitation of hand-pumps; hygiene promotion; public-private 
partnerships to enhance sustainability of motorized pump systems; 
and the provision of tools and seeds to returnees. 
 
¶17.  The State Department's Office of Diplomatic Security formally 
approved the opening of a temporary office in Gulu by USAID.  This 
office will be staffed by one expatriate and five local employees 
and will be housed in the Bank of Uganda building. 
 
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FROM THE MEDIA AND WEB 
 
KAMPALA 00000240  003 OF 003 
 
 
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¶18.  Several countries, including the U.S. and Canada issued press 
statements to encourage the parties to resume the peace talks. 
 
¶19.  The Department released the following statement on February 1. 
"The United States appreciates the Government of South Sudan's 
efforts to mediate a peaceful resolution of the 20-year old conflict 
with the LRA.  We have followed closely the many rounds of the 
GOSS-mediated talks to date in Juba.  We are concerned that demands 
to change the mediator and the venue of the talks will only delay 
peace in the region and further the suffering of displaced northern 
Ugandans.  Our priority remains peace in northern Uganda.  We 
continue to provide humanitarian assistance to the displaced persons 
living in LRA-affected areas, promote reconciliation, and support 
the reintegration of former abductees and ex-combatants into their 
communities." 
 
¶20.  Also on February 1, Canada released this statement from 
Minister of Foreign Affairs Peter MacKay. "The current peace process 
represents the best opportunity in two decades to build a lasting 
and peaceful solution to the conflict in northern Uganda.  This 
opportunity must not be lost, since a return to hostilities would be 
tragic for the people of Uganda and other areas affected by the 
hostilities, including Sudan and Democratic Republic of Congo. 
Canada supports the continuation of the talks in Juba and calls upon 
all parties to make progress toward a final negotiated settlement." 
 
¶21.  The NGO Invisible Children launched a campaign to match 1,000 
U.S. secondary schools with counterparts in northern Uganda and 
southern Sudan.  For top fundraising schools, Invisible Children is 
offering an all expenses paid trip to northern Uganda during the 
summer of 2007 to rebuild schools for which they collected 
donations. 
BROWNING