Nothing new

Always talk, talk, talk. I've heard this all before, thus not optimistic much will come from it. How many times does poor Egeland have to declare Northern Uganda one of the worst forgotten humanitarian situations before something happens? It's the same story elsewhere, most obviously Darfur. I want something to change!

Egeland asks for UN intervention in Uganda
Juba, Sudan - United Nations humanitarian relief co-ordinator Jan Egeland on Sunday urged the UN Security Council to act to end a bloody rebellion in northern Uganda that has threatened to destabilise the region."I am urging the council to take any action possible to avoid humanitarian operations from being paralysed not only in northern Uganda but Equatoria (state) in southern Sudan," Egeland told reporters in southern Sudan's capital Juba.For the past 20 years, northern Uganda has been the scene of conflict between government forces and the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), which has terrorised civilians and is blamed for forcing millions of people from their homes and accused of abducting children for combat and to act as sex slaves.He said the violence had increased insecurity in the region, further threatening the fragile stability in north-eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)."We want to see an end to this violence as soon as possible, but it is in the co-operation of the three countries that we can do so," he added."We cannot now have a generation of aspirations for peace being destroyed (in southern Sudan) by the Lord's Resistance Army coming in from northern Uganda and from other ethnic militias in southern Sudan," Egeland said.Last week, Egeland held talks with Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni and discussed the possible appointment of a UN special envoy to northern Uganda as well as a peace mission there.The talks also covered a possible UN role in the country's national reconciliation and the demilitarisation of the police and justice systems in the northern region.Ugandan troops have failed to defeat the LRA insurgents, who took over over a two-year-old rebellion in northern Uganda in 1988 to complain against alleged marginalisation.The conflict has displaced at least two million people in northern Uganda.This week, humanitarian groups said the rate of violent deaths resulting from the conflict in northern Uganda is three times higher than that in Iraq since the 2003 United States-led invasion to topple Saddam Hussein. - Sapa-AFP