It was once a rich, fertile, grain exporting region. Now, the fields lie empty and the population has been reduced to beggars. Indeed, since President Museveni came to power in 1986 he is credited for bringing peace that has enabled the country to prosper. He is seen as a safe pair of hands by international donors. Our friends, the donors have shifted, they are looking at stability beyond anything else.
Stability is everything.
It is not blindness, it is pretence. They see it, they watch it as it is getting to genocide proportions under their watchful eyes. That is the view of lawyer Jacob Olanya, an Acholi who feels Uganda's international friends are turning a blind eye to the problem which could endanger Uganda's existence. The country's history has been one of north fighting south - the Acholis were the ones who battled to the last against Museveni's guerrilla army in the 80s. Norbert Mao fears for Uganda's future Norbert Mao is the MP for Gulu and he is very sensitive to the huge disparity between the relatively rich south of the country and the devastated north.