Fragile peace process for northern Uganda demands urgent local, international action, according to new Mercy Corps policy brief
Source: Mercy Corps - US
Mercy Corps
Website: http://www.mercycorps.org
WASHINGTON, D.C. - Peace talks to end the civil war in northern Uganda - fragile as they are - represent the best prospect in years for a resolution to the decades-old conflict, according to a new policy brief from Mercy Corps. In the report, the global humanitarian agency urges local and international actors to fortify the fragile peace process through swift and sustained
support. "Through generous, well-designed, and dependable assistance, the international community can help Ugandans seize control of their futures and start to realize the possibilities that have so recently sprung to life there," said Brian Grzelkowski (G-zhel-KOV-ski), Mercy Corps' senior policy advisor, who recently returned from a fact-finding mission to the war-torn country. Mercy Corps provides humanitarian and development assistance to internally displaced people (IDPs) in the conflict-affected Pader region of northern Uganda. The conflict has claimed over 100,000 lives and forced more than 1.6 million people from their homes. The report - titled "Prescriptions for Peace in Northern Uganda" - marks the launch of Mercy Corps' "Silent Disasters" campaign, a year-long, agency-wide effort to generate public awareness and funds for the world's under-reported humanitarian crises. In the policy brief, Grzelkowski makes
several key recommendations for securing peace and easing the chronic human suffering in northern Uganda: · A doubling of non-military U.S. humanitarian and development assistance to Uganda, as part of a broader international donor commitment to the relief and recovery process; · Strong political and financial support from the international community for ongoing peace talks in Juba, Sudan; · Affirmation of the government of Uganda's commitment to the Juba peace process and to its development investments in the north; · Renewed commitment to letting IDPs determine how and when they choose to return home; · Beyond a peace agreement, strong local and international support for accountability and reconciliation processes to consolidate the peace in coming years. Grzelkowski also notes that a confluence of events - increased attention in the developed world, slow but steady IDP returns, the upcoming
Commonwealth meetings in Kampala - opens an immediate window of opportunity for durable progress on peace, and that we must act fast to prevail. The full report is available at www.mercycorps.org/countries/uganda/1512. NOTE: Grzelkowski is available for interviews and Mercy Corps can provide photographs of its work in Uganda. --- About Mercy Corps Mercy Corps works amid disasters, conflicts, chronic poverty and instability to unleash the potential of people who can win against impossible odds. Since 1979, Mercy Corps has provided $1 billion in assistance to people in 82 nations. Supported by headquarters offices in North America, Europe, and Asia, the agency's unified global programs employ 3,200 staff worldwide and reach more than 10 million people in more than 40 countries. Over the last five years, more than 90 percent of the agency's resources have been allocated directly to programs that help people in
need. For more information, visit www.mercycorps.org. --- About the Silent Disasters campaign The world knows no shortage of calamity. Earthquakes. Floods. Wars. Many times these events - because of their sheer destruction, their political consequences or the shockwave they send through our lives - capture widespread public attention and quickly grab the headlines. Too often, however, a crisis just as severe is overlooked, forgotten or even ignored. These are the world's silent disasters. They are persistent, unresolved crises of great magnitude that, for whatever reason, have failed to merit the attention and resources necessary to successfully address them. Mercy Corps currently addresses several silent disasters. In the impoverished West African country of Niger, where a continuing food crisis threatens the health of more than a million children, Mercy Corps is providing nutritious food to mothers and working to
strengthen local health authorities' detection and response to child malnutrition. In Uganda and Colombia, countries where long-running civil conflicts have forced millions to flee their homes, Mercy Corps is helping displaced families meet their basic needs while preparing for a brighter future - and the return home. Mercy Corps is also addressing silent disasters that know no national boundaries: the growing pandemic of HIV/AIDS and the looming specter of mass youth unemployment as more than one billion new job seekers enter the job market over the next decade. These are the world's silent disasters - and they're affecting millions of ordinary people each day. # # #
[ Any views expressed in this article are those of the writer and not of Reuters. ]
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