UNDER-SECRETARY-GENERAL MEETS UGANDAN PRESIDENT OVER TRUCE WITH NORTHERN REBELS

KAMPALA, 8 December (OCHA) -- Jan Egeland, United Nations Emergency Relief Coordinator and Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, met with President Yoweri Museveni in Kampala yesterday.

Mr. Egeland commended the efforts of the Government of Uganda to end, through dialogue, the conflict with the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) in northern Uganda.  “This is a historic opportunity to bring to an end one of the worst humanitarian emergency in the world”, Mr. Egeland said after his meeting with President Museveni.

The President welcomed the offer of the United Nations to support the reintegration of former LRA fighters through a programme of assistance, education and job creation.  He also welcomed the United Nations offer of contributing to a wider process of principled reconciliation.

In anticipation of a potential breakthrough in peace talks with the LRA, the United Nations has started to plan for assisting the voluntary return of the 1.6 million displaced by the 18 years of conflict.

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