Kony contacts UN envoy Chissano, donors fail to respond to humanitarian needs

July 8th, 2008 by paul in: Main Site, Update from HQ
UgandaCAN.org, our sister blog for conflict news and analysis, is temporarily down. Here's a quick fix of developments in northern Uganda and the region to hold you over until UgandaCAN.org is up and running. Also, tune in to our Weekly Roundup on Friday for more updates and news.
  • Joseph Kony contacted UN special envoy Joaquim Chissano last weekend, who said that the LRA chief expressed his desire to end the conflict and requested a meeting with chief mediator Reik Machar. Machar told the press that he hopes to convince Kony to sign the Final Peace Agreement (FPA) negotiated this spring in Juba, but no specific arrangements for a meeting have been made as of yet.
  • The UN released its mid-year review of the 2008 Ugandan humanitarian appeal, tracking the response of international donors to funding appeals by the UN and humanitarian aid groups. The study highlights the need for a smooth transition from emergency relief aid in displaced persons camps in northern Uganda to early recovery projects in areas where people are returning home. However, international donors have funded only 31% of early recovery projects to date, causing some to be cancelled.
  • Controversy over the role of the Ugandan military in a June attack in South Sudan continued to cause tension in the region. South Sudan officials accused Ugandan soldiers of participating in a raid last month on a Sudanese village, originally blamed on LRA rebels. The South Sudanese government intends to formally ask the Ugandan military to withdraw its troops from the region. However, the Ugandan military has denied responsibility for the attacks and maintains it has received no formal request to withdraw its troops.
  • Toby Lanzer, the UN's top humanitarian official in the Central African Republic (CAR), said civilians in the southeast of the country are under threat from LRA rebels. LRA forces attacked the civilians there earlier this year, while regional plans for a military offensive against the rebels threaten to push them back into CAR. Lanzer said that the small contingent of CAR soldiers and police posted in the vast southeast of the country, numbering about 100, would be unable to protect civilians from LRA attacks.