KAMPALA, Uganda, Sept. 28 (UPI) -- Critical peace talks between rebels and the Ugandan government may fail unless the United States and Europe intervene, leading aid groups and think tanks say.
Observers of the peace talks have called the best opportunity yet to resolve one of Africa's longest-running conflicts on the verge of collapse, as Lord's Resistance Army negotiators have reportedly withdrawn. They accuse the Ugandan army of violating the terms of last month's landmark ceasefire by encroaching on hundreds of rebels gathered in camps, a charge the army denies.
"The peace talks could completely disintegrate, yet the international community is responding with silence," John Prendergast, senior adviser at the International Crisis Group, said Thursday. "We could be witnessing the collapse of the best chance we've had to end 20 years of brutal war.
"International pressure must be applied to ensure the LRA and Ugandan Government to adhere to the ceasefire and continue negotiating," he said.
The 20-year war in northern Uganda has forced 2 million people from their homes and killed some 200,000 people. The LRA has abducted more than 30,000 children, forcing them fight as child soldiers and serve as sex slaves.
LRA activities in the region also threaten to disrupt implementation of peace agreements in both Sudan and Democratic Republic of the Congo.
In response to LRA terror, the Ugandan government confined 1.5 million to 2 million northern Ugandans to internally displaced persons camps.
A July 2005 report by the International Rescue Committee estimated that the war and conditions in the camps cause up to 1,000 deaths every week.
Sarah Margon, policy adviser for Oxfam, said that the international community must act fast or risk another descent into violence.
"Without jeopardizing the existing content and process of the negotiations, the international community must show open support for the talks to help prevent them from collapsing," she said. "The peace process represents the best chance for 20 years to end the violence in northern Uganda."
