“Reparation need grows in Northern Uganda,” Daily Monitor, 6 December 2010

http://www.monitor.co.ug/News/National/-/688334/1067192/-/ckisgiz/-/index.html

By Sam Lawino

The need for the government to plan for reparation for people who suffered in the LRA war in Northern Uganda continues to grow with leaders in the region calling for swift action to enable total reconciliation take place.

The leaders said the government’s neglect to include reparation in its program for rehabilitating the region could stagnate other recovery efforts as communities still divisions stemming from the conflict to overcome.

The Assistant Chief Administrative Officer of Gulu, Stephen Oloya, during a conference on justice and reconciliation in Gulu last week said without reparation, the region could again be plunged into more violence.

 “The war is a manmade disaster which means if we do not reconcile there is tendency of recurrence to violence,” Oloya said.

The Arch Bishop of Gulu Arch diocese, John Baptist Odama in a separate meeting said the time has come for the government to do more to help the people reconcile through helping those who lost their relatives and properties recover from their trauma.

Bishop Odama observed that focusing on the well being of the tormented people would not only help them reconcile but can let them sustain peace.

Meanwhile the acting LCV chairman, Makmot Kitara called for both the psychological and economic redress of the people to forget their past gruesome experience to focus on the future.

The government has budgeted for nearly Ugshs30bn under the Peace, Recovery and Development Program (PRDP) for Northern and Eastern parts of Uganda, with no specific attention on reparation for families of those who lost their lives in the wars.