A forum of civil society organisations from the Great Lakes region have converged in Gulu town to craft fresh efforts towards a peaceful solution to the LRA conflict in northern Uganda. The call comes days after the Uganda People’s Defence Forces abruptly ended its three-month old military offensive against the LRA rebels in Garamba.

Hundreds — or even thousands — of Kenyans and Ugandans may have been told that they are infected with HIV when they are not, thanks to faulty rapid, 15-minute tests administered at VCT centres. Many others may have wrongly been declared negative, clearing them for unprotected sex, when they actually are HIV-positive. That is the worrying conclusion of a study involving 6,255 people carried out in Uganda and Kenya, which bluntly says that the misuse of rapid tests at most VCT centres makes them fraught with error and that they cannot by themselves alone determine whether one is HIV-positive or not.

Stanbic Bank has partnered with the Chinese businessperson in Uganda to boost trade between Uganda and China. The partnership resulted into the formation of the China Enterprises Chamber of Commerce in Uganda (CECCU), aimed at promoting trade and economic ties between the two countries. CECCU, which was launched last week, brings together over 30 Chinese firms operating in Uganda.

Gay rights groups have lashed out at Family Life Network (FLN) for organising a three day seminar aiming to explore possible prevention and cure for homosexuality, saying the gathering is just another way of encouraging hatred and abuse against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people in Uganda, under the cloak of religion.

Lack of money and technical know-how makes it difficult for poor farmers to participate in the Kyoto Protocol’s carbon trading mechanism aimed at reversing global warming. Meanwhile, the global economic crisis may further undermine investment in carbon trade in African countries. The Kyoto Protocol, signed in 1997, allows for carbon trade which involves industrialised countries lowering their greenhouse gas emissions by financing emission reduction projects in developing countries where investment is cheaper. This is called the clean development mechanism (CDM).

China has extended a total of $100m (about sh197b) loans and grants to Uganda in the last five years. The Chinese government has provided Uganda interest free loans and grants to set up different projects in the country totalling $100m since November 2003 to date, the former industry state minister, Prof. Ephraim Kamuntu, said

Interviews for a documentary, aiming to give voice to gays, lesbians, bisexuals, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) people from rural areas, are underway in Uganda. Titled Behind the Mirror, this documentary aims to bring to the fore, challenges faced by LGBTI people at grass roots level such as discrimination and their struggle to survive in a hostile and homophobic society. According to Frank Mugisha of Ice Breakers Uganda many LGBTI Ugandans are treated unfairly, with hatred and lack of respect.

Findings from two Ugandan studies suggest that home-based HIV counselling and testing may augment traditional HIV counselling and testing services in important ways in some settings, both by increasing acceptance and uptake of HIV testing, but also by impacting attitudes toward HIV at a population level. The results of both studies were presented to the Sixteenth Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (CROI) on Wednesday by Sundeep Gupta of the Centres for Disease Control, Uganda, on behalf of the investigating teams.

The American military helped plan and pay for a recent attack on a notorious Ugandan rebel group, but the offensive went awry, scattering fighters who carried out a wave of massacres as they fled, killing as many as 900 civilians. The operation was led by Uganda and aimed to crush the Lord’s Resistance Army, a brutal rebel group that had been hiding out in a Congolese national park, rebuffing efforts to sign a peace treaty. But the rebel leaders escaped, breaking their fighters into small groups that continue to ransack town after town in northeastern Congo, hacking, burning, shooting and clubbing to death anyone in their way.

At least 35 people have died in a meningitis epidemic that has hit several districts in western and north-western Uganda over the past two weeks, a health ministry official said. "Cumulatively we have recorded 47 cases of meningitis with 13 dead in Hoima District," Paul Kaggwa, a spokesman for the ministry, said. "Another 150 cases have been reported in Arua, with 18 dead, and 14 in Masindi, with four deaths."

Ugandan gay rights activist Victor Mukasa is pleased with Judge Stella Arach’s December 23 ruling which he says affirms the rights of LGBTI people in Uganda. Arach’s ruling, citing constitutional violations of rights to privacy, property and fundamental rights of women, was a result of a case filed by Mukasa and Oyo Yvonne against Ugandan Attorney General after an “illegal” raid at Mukasa’s home four years ago.

The flood of Congolese civilians fleeing raids by the Ugandan rebel Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) are in dire need of food, shelter, medicines, clothes and other aid items, and United Nations’ relief will begin reaching them tomorrow despite immense logistical challenges, the Organization’s refugee agency has said today.

The Supreme Court of Uganda upheld the judgment of the Ugandan Constitutional Court on Wednesday, that the mandatory application of the death penalty is unconstitutional. However, the court ruled that the death penalty per se remains constitutional, rejecting both Government and death row prisoners’ appeals.

Uganda's Supreme Court has ruled in a case involving more than 400 death row inmates that the death penalty is constitutional. However, it said that hanging was cruel and recommended that parliament consider another means of execution. The judges also said it was unreasonable to keep convicts on death row for more than three years.

We are writing to invite you to join us in the upcoming inaugural Beyond Juba Distinguished Lecture Series, which will be held on Wednesday, 28 January, 2009 from 2:30pm to 5:00pm at the Faculty of Law Auditorium, Makerere University, Kampala.

East and Horn of Africa Human Rights Defenders Project (EHAHRDP), as part of a multinational coalition of 25 human rights organizations, will gather leading human rights, democracy and anti-racism activists from around the world for a summit in Geneva on April 19, 2009, on the eve of the U.N. Durban Review Conference, and today launched a new interactive website to publicize the event.

A rapid succession of oil strikes in western Uganda are increasing the likelihood that Tullow Oil and its joint-venture partner Heritage Oil are sitting on the largest new on-shore oil field in Africa. Heritage, which operates and half-owns two exploration blocks around Lake Albert in Uganda, built on previous discoveries on Tuesday when it announced its largest strike to date at the Giraffe well in Block 1.

Some 500 girls were circumcised in Sebei region over the Christmas period! This is an alarming rise in Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) because the number of mutilated girls stood at 90 in the previous circumcision season. The ritual involves the removal of the clitoris and the entire labia. Why is this done? It is only through the FGM that a woman becomes a full woman and commands respect in society.

The Refugee Law Project, Faculty of Law, Makerere University is announcing the vacancy of volunteer counsellor in its Legal Aid and Counselling Department.

The Refugee Law Project, Faculty of Law, Makerere University is announcing the vacancy of volunteer Social worker in its Legal Aid and Counselling Department.