Ahuge oil strike in Uganda has persuaded the government to attempt to bring peace to the north of the country, where the infamous Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) has terrorised the local population for 20 years.
Recent drilling suggests 500m barrels of high-quality oil can be recovered from a site at Hoima. The share price of Tullow Oil, the British company that holds drilling licences in the area, doubled last month. Until recently, oil companies considered landlocked Uganda too difficult to exploit, but political uncertainty in the Middle East has made investment more appealing.
As well as the oil strike in Hoima, there have been rumours of even larger deposits of oil further north in Arua - an area on the border with southern Sudan inhabited by tribes, including the Acholi.
The northern tribes are threatening
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An end is in sight to 20 years of civil war - now that black gold has been found, says
olivia harris |
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to secede from Uganda. They have lived for years in a state of civil war with the LRA, under constant harassment. Thousands have been murderered or mutilated - and the government in Kampala, because of old tribal enmities with the Acholi, has done nothing to help.
Now, with the whiff of oil in the air, President Museveni suddenly wants peace. For the first time, he has met LRA negotiators face to face. He has declared a commitment to ending the civil war and will spend $600m repatriating internal refugees. Some are now returning to their villages.
Leaders in the north, however, are not convinced by what they see as a cynical gesture. Norbert Mao, a northern district leader, told The First Post that unless Museveni takes seriously their wish for more democratic regional power, then violent confrontation cannot be ruled out. 
FIRST POSTED NOVEMBER 7, 2006
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