Bishop Nelson Onono-Onweng’s diocese has witnessed some of the worst fighting in today’s world as government troops continue to fight against the rebellion of the Lord’s Resistance Army, with some civil groups warning it is even worse than Iraq.
A long-standing peace advocate who has met with the LRA numerous times in an attempt to bring peace, Bishop Onono-Onweng told Ecumenical News International: “I do not want to lament, but I want the international community to realise that we are part of global humanity with rights to life, peace education, culture and wealth.”
The bishop’s appeal coincides with the release of a report by the Civil Society Organisations for Peace in Northern Uganda (CSOPNU) which warned that the death rate in the region is three times higher than that in Iraq.
The report, “Counting the Cost: 20 years of war in Northern Uganda”, was produced by CSOPNU in collaboration with Oxfam International, Care International, the Norwegian Refugee Council, Save the Children and the International Rescue Committee.The release of the report came as representatives of the Ugandan government welcomed UN Under-Secretary for Humanitarian Affairs Jan Egeland to Kampala for a round of talks on the conflict.
But Bishop Onono-Onweng said: "We do not want them to just visit and see us. We want them to work with the government to let the people of northern Uganda go.”
The conflict in Northern Uganda remains at loggerheads as the rebel army LRA continues to plunder villages and abduct children to use as child soldiers and the government continues to opt for a military solution.
Jan Egeland declared during a weekend visit to a camp for internally displaced persons in Pader District that the 20-year conflict in northern Uganda was “the world’s worst form of terrorism”.
Egeland made the comments during a nine-day tour that will cover four countries in conflict- and drought-ravaged East Africa.
"Nowhere in the world is there such a concentrated area where many people are being terrorised for such a long period of time," he said. "This is the epicentre of terror that merits more attention, more resources and more political and security involvement."
The chairperson of the civil society organizations, Stella Ayo-Odongo, said: "Northern Uganda is one of the world's worst war zones." She noted, "The violent death rate in northern Uganda is three times higher than Iraq. It is a tragedy of the worst proportions. This conflict cannot be allowed to fester any longer. A peaceful resolution of this must be found."
NGOs estimate that a massive 2 million people have been displaced by the ongoing war while a further 25,000 children have been abducted over its twenty year span.
