Talking to the Lord's Resistance Army

Alfred Banya is a former London (Southwark) Councillor and a blogger, writing the wonderful Alfred's Peckham. While there are lots of interesting posts about some of the difficult issues facing Peckham there's also extraordinary stuff like this:

I was one of the delegates asked to attend a peace conference to help chart a way forward for bringing an end to the 20 year war that has devastated Northern Uganda and Southern Sudan. A key outcome was for the delegates to emerge with one voice on the peace talks that broke down after Christmas between the rebel Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) and the Government of Uganda (GoU).

The war in Uganda has been terrible. Take this quote from a 2005 BBC News Online article:

During the 19 years of conflict in northern Uganda, over 20,000 children have been abducted by the rebel LRA....The BBC's Will Ross in Kampala says that in the LRA, the children are usually brainwashed and given the choice: "Kill or be killed".

So Alfred and his colleagues work is of the first importance. And the trip back to Uganda has left him wondering about troubles closer to home. Military repression in Africa - community marginalisation in Britain - similarities? is a thought provoking read.