"We Are Longing for Peace Every Day and Every Night"

KAMPALA, Uganda (March 15, 2007) - As the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) agrees to return to the negotiating table to resolve their decades old conflict with the government of Uganda, women living in camps for internally displaced persons (IDPs) in northern Uganda are raising their voices: "Come to a compromise and sign the peace agreement so people can return home."

CARE, a humanitarian agency working in 30 IDP camps in northern Uganda, recently conducted a survey on the peace talks among 75 women in six camps in Gulu district, one of the most war-stricken areas of the country.

"These women are the most affected by the conflict and they have a critical role to play in ending it," says Kevin Fitzcharles, CARE's country director in Uganda. "It is their children and grandchildren, their brothers and sisters who are still with the LRA, so their voices carry the power to help bring peace to their communities and must be taken into account by all parties."

United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 mandates that women be effectively represented in peace talks yet women's representation during the peace negotiations has been limited to one person on the LRA peace team. Nearly 90 percent of the women surveyed stressed the need for women to participate in the peace talks, with more than 80 percent of respondents citing the need for at least some representatives to be drawn from women living in affected communities. One respondent said "the people who are there [at the talks] haven't seen what we have seen." Another added that "women need to go [to the talks] to say [the] real situation."  The report states that at a minimum, there should be one affected woman on the peace negotiating teams who represents the views and aspirations of her peers.

Respondents were concerned that political and financial interests are getting in the way of peace. One woman said "...politicians [are] trying to say they did this or that, to win favor, but not because they have the interests of the community at heart."

The majority of the women interviewed also proposed that the international community be more directly and actively engaged in supporting the negotiations.

One respondent said, "Without the support of the international community, the peace talks won't succeed."

Download the policy brief outlining survey results and CARE's resulting recommendations