GULU
Northern Uganda’s peace process looks to be on its last legs. Talks have all but collapsed between Uganda’s government and the troublesome rebel Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), as both sides take to the bush to resume full hostilities. But have they really blown their last chance for peace? It is eight months since the Ugandan government and LRA first decided to talk to each other. For 16 years, all they had ever exchanged was gunfire. Then on 14 July 2002, the rebels held a landmark seven-hour meeting with representatives of the local Acholi Religious Leaders’ Peace Initiative (ARLPI). They said they wanted to open negotiations with the government – negotiations which could finally end Uganda’s longest, bloodiest civil conflict to date. Present were Vincent Otti, Sam Kolo and Caesar Acellam, three of the LRA’s most senior members. “We had another meeting on the 21st [July],” explains Father Carlos Rodriguez, a chief negotiator who has been in contact with the L