Uganda Project

March 2004

In early 2004, the IPJ became involved in the peace process to end the war in northern Uganda that has pitted the government of President Yoweri Museveni against Joseph Kony's Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), a rebel movement that claims it is fighting for democracy and a government based on the 10 Commandments. The LRA is estimated to have abducted more than 25,000 children and more than 1.6 million people had been displaced in the north of the country.

Acting as a consultant to a project sponsored by the U.S. Agency for International Development, Executive Director Joyce Neu traveled to Uganda in March 2004 to meet with high-level governmental and nongovernmental officials and members of the international diplomatic community to assess the situation and make recommendations for a peace process in Uganda.

May 2004

In May, Neu returned to Uganda to advance a quiet, unofficial peace process. During that trip, meetings were held with people in an internally displaced persons camp in Gulu and a night commuter center for children who walk to safety each night from their villages.

February 2006

In February 2006, Neu and IPJ Editor Emiko Noma traveled to Uganda to serve as international election observers to the presidential and parliamentary elections and assess the ever-changing situation. They also observed first-hand the work of Woman PeaceMaker Sister Pauline Acayo.

(Pictured above: Joyce Neu and Emiko Noma with Sister Pauline Acayo and the Little Sisters of Mary Immaculate; a polling station in Gulu during the 2006 elections; Uganda mediator Betty Bigombe)

IPJ Publications on Uganda

Conflict Analysis: "Conflict Analysis for the Northern Uganda Peace Initiative: Launching a Dialogue for Peace between the LRA and GOU" - by Joyce Neu - March 16, 2004

Policy Brief: "Briefing on the Conflict in Northern Uganda: Hope for a Negotiated Solution" - Remarks given by Joyce Neu at the Russell Senate Office Building, Washington, D.C. - June 1, 2005

Woman PeaceMaker Narrative: "Born in the Borderlands, Living for Unity: The Story of a Peacebuilder in Northern Uganda" - The Life and Work of Sister Pauline Acayo of Uganda - by Emiko Noma - 2005

Op-ed: "Turning a Blind Eye to Democracy and Displacement: Uganda on the road to a dead end?" - by Joyce Neu - March 1, 2006

Lecture Transcript: "Saving Our Children from the Scourge of War" - Lecture at the IPJ by Olara Otunnu, former Ugandan diplomat and former U.N. Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict

Op-ed: "Talking to Tyrants: Jan Egeland meets Joseph Kony" -by Joyce Neu - November 16, 2006