Uganda Truce Signed

Life in northern Uganda implies living within what essentially amounts to genocide. Since 1987, the Lords Resistance Army has been engaging in activities to overthrow the Ugandan government, with innocent civilians bearing the brunt of their brutal tactics, often via the forced kidnapping and recruitment of child soldiers. The Video piece below documents how one organization, Canadian Physicians for Aid and Relief (CPAR) has been training those released from captivity to use information and communication technologies (ICTs) to rebuild their livelihoods.

KAMPALA, Uganda -- The Ugandan government and Lord's Resistance Army rebels agreed yesterday to end a 19-year conflict that has left thousands dead in one of Africa's longest wars, government officials said.
The agreement, reached during peace talks in southern Sudan, calls for both sides to end all military action at 2 a.m. EDT on Tuesday.

``We have agreed on the issues and put our signatures on the document," government spokesman Paddy Ankunda said by telephone from Juba, southern Sudan.

``We are happy, and now we will continue working for a comprehensive peace agreement," Ankunda said. The Ugandan army will continue operations until the deadline, he said.

Rebel negotiators could not immediately be reached for comment.

The rebels have three weeks from the start of the cease-fire to gather at two points in southern Sudan, where they will be given food and monitored by southern Sudanese forces, government officials said. They also will have a guarantee of safe passage from Uganda to southern Sudan.

The government of Sudan's autonomous southern region is mediating the peace process.

In a news conference with the Ugandan president, Yoweri Museveni, after the closed-door meeting Saturday, south Sudan's president, Salva Kiir, said that both Ugandan and south Sudanese forces would fight the rebels if the peace process failed.