Ugandan children lives hang in the balance by potential return to conflict
Save the Children calls on the international community to make clear no international political support will be given to the Ugandan government or the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) if one or both sides return to war.
Wednesday 28 February 2007
As celebrations continue for Forest Whitaker's Oscar win as Idi Amin in Last King of Scotland, the shadow of possible conflict looms over more than a million Ugandan children.
With 24 hours to go until the Cessation of Hostilities Agreement between the Government of Uganda and Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) expires, the safety and security of Uganda's children is under severe threat. Despite the urgency of the situation, both the Government of Uganda and the LRA are refusing to commit to further peace talks.
If conflict resumes in Uganda, children will once again be the main casualties, vulnerable to being shot, killed, abducted and maimed. Up to 80% of the ranks of the Lord's Resistance Army are children, with 1,500 currently held by the fighting group and another 10,000 ex-recruits still unaccounted for.
Save the Children is calling on:
- Both parties to resume peace talks and commit to a peaceful solution to the conflict
- The Government of Uganda and the LRA to agree an extension to the Cessation of Hostilities Agreement
- The international community to make clear no international political support will be given to the Ugandan government or the LRA if one or both sides return to war
- Both sides to immediately cease all military activity, as stipulated in the Cessation of the Hostilities Agreement, in order not to undermine the peace talks and build confidence between the parties and with the communities affected
- The LRA to assemble and immediately release all women and children.
Since the Cessation of Hostilities Agreement was signed in August last year, progress has been made with help from NGOs such as Save the Children to get children into school and displaced families back to their homes. If tomorrow's deadline is allowed to pass, all progress could crumble.
John Reinstein, Operations Director, Save the Children in Uganda:
"This is a crucial moment for children in Uganda. With only 24 hours to go the situation is desperate. The international community must act now to ensure over a million children and their families are not thrown back into the insecurity of war. A return to conflict is in nobody's interest, and will have catastrophic affects on children's emotional and physical wellbeing. International governments must insist in no uncertain terms that both sides get together and take up the peace talks. Uganda's children can't wait."
