Ugandan views: Juba peace talks

Ugandan views: Juba peace talks

Internally displaced people line up to receive food aid at the Pabbo camp outside Gulu, northern Uganda
Many northern Ugandans will be able to return home if the peace talks succeed
Ugandans living in the north of the country have been explaining what the delayed peace talks, which are now underway in Sudan, mean to them.

The government delegation is in Juba taking part in the discussions, considered northern Uganda's best chance for peace in years, even though the LRA has not sent its top leaders.

Dennis Kibwola, 28, Gulu Youth Centre Manager

If all goes well, we will be very grateful.

Staging peace talks is not new to Uganda - we have been here so many times, it is frustrating.

I am putting everything into prayer and hoping for the best.

We are optimistic but not very certain because as I was reading in the papers yesterday, the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) rebels are refusing to send their top leaders and that has angered the government.

Tricky

Also basing on the fact that the LRA have been very tricky in the past.

In the past they have called for peace talks to buy themselves more time - time to be able to grow more food, and time for the grass to grow taller. Taller so that they can hide.

I've been talking to my friends and like it is for me, it's not big news for them either. We are all praying that this time it will be different but if it is not, we shall not be surprised.

Here in the municipality of Gulu it is safe but when you go deeper into the villages, 10km away and further, it is not safe.

I work in five of the internally displaced people (IDP) camps: Pabbo, Palenga, Bobi, Awere and Alero. But when I go to the camps I travel with army escort.