LRA consultations on justice & reconciliation continue this week in West Nile

The LRA begin their second consultation in northern Uganda today in Adjumani, the community of the Madi People in Uganda’s West Nile region. In the first round, the LRA delegation met with religious and local leaders, women’s groups, and victims from the Acholi people. Kenneth Oketta, the prime minister of the Acholi Cultural Institution, spoke on Voice of America about the candid exchanges at these meetings. "The reaction is positive and full of excitement. It went on very smoothly and frankly, and there was high participation by the people invited," Oketta said. Oketta said some of the questioning suggested the people were skeptical of the LRA but still are willing to believe their sincerity. "They are willing to forgive them because they are desperate, and they have learned that during the last one year, the success for peace is the LRA because when they stopped fighting after signing the cessation of hostilities, there has been a lot of peace and people are home without any arrangement at all either from government or from the army of Uganda." During consultations last week, the LRA delegation reportedly gave money to a man whose right hand was chopped off by the rebels in 1989.