| Uganda: Religious Leaders to Back UN On Kony War
April 14, 2006
Posted to the web April 13, 2006 Warom Felix Okello
Nebbi Religious leaders from the Acholi sub-region and West Nile have said they will back the United Nations to ensure a speedy end to the 20-year-old insurgency by the LRA in Northern Uganda. The clerics were on an exchange visit to the West Nile districts on April 11 at Gaf in Nebbi. The Vice Chairman of the Acholi Religious Peace Initiative, Sheik Musa Khelil,
asked the UN, religious leaders and the government to use peaceful means and not arms resolve the northern conflict. "The issuing of the arrest warrant by the ICC should work in cooperation with other sectors," Musa said. Last year, the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant for the top five rebel commanders of the Lords Resistance Rebels. Musa said using violence to resolve the conflict creates anxiety among the residents. "The dilemma for the religious leaders is the unpredictability of the conflict that has kept on changing from Sudan to DR Congo. This has indeed posed a great challenge to our peace team," Musa said. He noted that the conflict has failed to end due to mistrust between the government and the rebels during peace talks, lack of
reconciliation and unequal bargaining power on both sides. He said the insurgency in the North has not been made possible because meeting Kony physically has been impossible. He said the government; the community and the religious leaders should ensure that a strong network is put in place to resolve the conflict. | 
