Millions for Uganda peace talks

2007-10-27 10:06

Nairobi - Donors have delivered $7.7m to fund talks between Uganda and the Lord's Resistance Army rebels aimed at ending a 20-year civil war in the country's north, a UN official said on Friday.

The funds from Denmark, the Netherlands, Ireland, Sweden, Canada and the European Union's Humanitarian Aid Office will be channeled through the UN Office of the Coordinator for Humanitarian Affairs, the official said.

"The budget proposed to donors in July 2007 has been fully funded," said the official.

Donors formed the Juba Initiative Fund, an outfit to raise money for the fitful process that opened in July last year, but has faced shortfalls in funding.

It was not clear whether the donors had agreed to give the LRA an additional $800 000 they asked to hold a rare public consultation, the first since it was created in 1988 by leader Joseph Kony out of a two-year-old rebellion in northern Uganda.

The LRA has said it would not resume talks until it gets the $800 000 - which it reduced from an initial demand of two million dollars - and was not part of the $7.7m.

A southern Sudan official said donors delay has contributed to a current failure to resume the talks hosted in the region's capital Juba.

The official, who did not want to be named, said consultations are underway to ensure talks resume soon, warning that a further delay may unravel the peace parley.

Since the Juba talks opened, delegates have made little progress, although an August 2006 ceasefire agreement brought some degree of stability to northern Uganda.

The Juba negotiations, seen as the best chance yet to end the conflict, have been tortuous but violence has receded, improving security in the region where human rights groups have accused both sides of atrocities.

The LRA has been fighting to install a government in Uganda guided by the Bible.

Over the years, the conflict has killed tens of thousands of people and displaced 1.8 million others, out of a total of 2.7 million people living in northern Uganda.

- AFP