The year has begun with the news of Dominic Ongwen’s surrender. This is a major step towards the end of the notorious Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA). However, the region is still facing grave security and political challenges, including the still active LRA. This edition of Voice of Peace exposes the troubling reality of the region.
Geography, and questions of access to territory, are key concerns driving conflict between Armenians and Azerbaijanis who for many years have had no access to each other’s societies or territories controlled by the other side. This discussion paper incorporates a number of perspectives through which the issue of access is understood today. While identifying areas of clear disagreement, it also explores points of convergence, asking whether this issue can be reframed as a solution to a common problem.
As part of our Accord project on the peace process in Nepal, we highlight some lessons that Nepal can draw from Aceh and Sri Lanka following a natural disaster.
Sinan al-Hawat is a London-based researcher specialising in complex emergencies and humanitarian aid. He holds an MSc in Development Management from the London School of Economics and Political Science, as well as a postgraduate degree in Islamic Studies and Humanities from the Institute of Ismaili Studies, London.
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Wisam Elhamoui is a Syrian civil society activist focusing on emergency practice and conflict transformation. He is currently working in Gaziantep, Turkey, on a project to empower local emerging governance structures in non-regime held areas of Syria. He holds an MA in Development and Emergency Practice. He has written and contributed to research on the Syrian crisis, with a focus on ceasefires and conflict prevention.
Brian Gormally is director of the Committee on the Administration of Justice, a human rights NGO in Northern Ireland. Before that he was Deputy Director of the Northern Ireland Association for the Care and Resettlement of Offenders (NIACRO) for 25 years and an independent consultant working mainly in the community and voluntary sector, specialising in justice, community policing and human rights. He has also been involved in international peace-related work in South Africa, Israel/Palestine, the Basque Country and Colombia.
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Captain Ray Apire was abducted by the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) in 1993 from his home village of Lamola in Kitgum district, northern Uganda. He served as the LRA’s Chief Catechist (faith teacher) until he surrendered to the Uganda People’s Defence Force (UPDF) in 2004. Since then he has counselled new LRA returnees at the UPDF Child Protection Unit in Gulu.
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