Kitgum

Yesterday, our team traveled 100 km northeast of Gulu town to Kitgum town. In a mid-size bus which seats four across (including a seat that folds down into the aisle) they packed us in 5 across. so a bit tight. The road however was not as bad as the one from Kampala.

The further north in Uganda, and thus closer to the Sudan, the more vulnerable the area feels. Before reaching Kitgum we passed at least a half dozen IDP camps. Mostly, when passing the camps we see many children and few adults. The adults, we've come to learn, leave the camp first thing in the morning to walk or bicycle (though most walk) to an area in or near their original homestead to start to till the fields. This morning when we left Kitgum, we saw just that. Women, their babies on their backs, a hoe or spade over their shoulder and a bundle on their heads, headed out from the camps. School is almost out for the term so more children will join their mothers in the fields in December and January.

While in Kitgum we met with a retired Anglican Bishop who is actively involved with the Acholi Religious Leaders Peace Iniative. This group is ecumencial and has representatives of all the Christian denominations in the area and works closely with traditional elders. They have been deeply involved in the Juba peace talks. The Bishop was very honest with us and while he told us of the relative calm of the past year and of people beginning to return to their homes, he also told of us the government atrocities that were committed and how the peace talks do not include holding the government accountable for it's human rights violations. Rather the international community is focused on the rebel group, the Lord's Resistance Army. He also spoke of restorative and transformative justice in the traditional practice and said how this is not possible without addmission of wrong doing and ultimately forgiveness by the survivors or victim's families and the entire community (this is very simplified but I will go into details about this process in the future) . He said that Museiveni, the president of Uganda, is not committed to peace as he is not prepared to enter into this type of justice nor to see himself as having been a perpretator of crimes against humanity. It's such a complex post conflict situation and one that appears to be tenuous at best, regardless of if the peace agreement is finalized. The Ugandan government's position is backed by the US and the UK, neither of whom are committed to a dialogue peace process. It's frustrating to know our western governments complicity and I struggle to imagine how to engage, but do think I may pay a visit to foreign affairs Canada when I return and I may just be asking everyone to write letters if and when a date is set for the peace talks.

Today we are back in Gulu.