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UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs 14 November 2006

UGANDA: UN to participate in monitoring ceasefire agreement

KAMPALA, 14 Nov 2006 (IRIN) - The United Nations will join the team monitoring the cessation of hostilities agreement between the Ugandan government and the rebel Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) in an effort to bolster the peace process, a top United Nations official said on Tuesday.

Jan Egeland, the UN's Emergency Relief Coordinator, told reporters in Kampala that the world body would provide observers and logistical support to the monitoring team in the form of helicopters.

"We will provide logistical support to the team and also provide people who can participate as observers," Egeland said.

Egeland, who is stepping down next month from his post, said he was leaving the country more optimistic than ever before that there was a chance the "carnage in northern Uganda" may end, after securing a commitment from both sides to end the conflict. But he warned that the peace process was on the edge and could quickly unravel.

"I have seen more suffering in northern Uganda than in any other place in the world," he told reporters. "But I got commitment from both sides. The LRA told me that they want to come back and get integrated into Ugandan society though there is still mutual suspicion between the two sides. We should not lose this opportunity."

Egeland's meeting with Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni centred on the peace process and measures to expedite it, including concerns held by the LRA that the Ugandan military was still in the proximity of the assembly points, Egeland said.

"There is already an agreement between the government of Uganda and that of southern Sudan for re-deployment [of the Ugandan military in southern Sudan] that should enable safe assembly of the LRA especially in Owiny Ki-Bul. I think there has been a genuine problem for the LRA to easily assemble," he said.

"During a three-hour meeting, President Museveni confirmed to me that they will stick to the agreement and they will re-deploy to enable the assembly at both sites," Egeland added.

Egeland met LRA leader Joseph Kony on Sunday at Ri-Kwangba, one of the two assembly points in southern Sudan, where LRA fighters are expected to gather after a landmark cease-fire agreed with the Ugandan government in Juba, capital of southern Sudan.

He described his meeting with the rebels as historic, saying Kony was "soft-spoken, apprehensive and reserved". He regretted having failed to secure the release of women and children in LRA custody, but said it was refreshing that the LRA promised more engagements on the matter.

The rebel group signed a new truce this month with the Ugandan government, paving the way for further talks to end the war and allow the two million people who have been displaced by two decades of fighting in the region to return home.

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This material comes to you via IRIN, a UN humanitarian information unit, but may not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations or its agencies. If you re-print, copy, archive or re-post this item, please retain this credit and disclaimer. Quotations or extracts should include attribution to the original sources. All materials copyright © UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs 2006