The first official visit to the Ugandan capital by members of the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) has raised hopes among people affected by two decades of conflict in the north of the country that lasting peace could be within reach.
– The visit gives us hope, said Monsignor Matthew Odongo the vicar-general of the Roman Catholic archdiocese of Gulu, one of the northern Uganda districts most affected by the LRA insurgency.
– We are looking at its outcome as an expedited peace process and an agreement, he told IRIN Tuesday by telephone from Gulu town.
Army spokesman Major Felix Kulaigye said that an advance party of two LRA officials arrived on 29 October at Entebbe airport from the Southern Sudan capital Juba – where peace talks between the government and the LRA have been held since 2006.
The aim of the visit was to lay the groundwork for higher-level meetings within Uganda itself.
Kilde: www.irinnews.org
