Why peace is coming to Uganda now

By Mark Doyle
BBC world affairs correspondent

With the first official visit to the Ugandan capital by rebels of the Lord's Resistance Army, a milestone may be passed towards ending one of Africa's longest running wars.

The rebels claimed to represent the ethnic Acholi people of northern Uganda but were responsible for widespread atrocities.

Tens of thousands died in two decades of war which also gave rise to the phenomenon of "child commuters" who slept in camps at night to avoid being captured by the rebels or caught up in undisciplined actions by the national army.

The chaos in Uganda spread to other parts of central Africa.

And the key reason why peace may be coming to Uganda is another peace deal across the border in neighbouring Sudan.

The mainly Arab north of Sudan and the mainly African rebels of southern Sudan signed a deal in 2005.

My enemy's enemy

This deal meant that southern Sudan - the part bordering Uganda - became a de facto semi-autonomous state controlled by an African group friendly with the government of Uganda.

Some LRA fighters were abducted when children

Prior to the north-south deal in Sudan the government of Uganda had allowed the African Sudanese rebels to maintain bases in Uganda - and Sudan had allowed the LRA to have bases in southern Sudan from which to attack Uganda.

This last alliance was of course deeply ironic, because the LRA claims to be inspired by the Ten Commandments of the Bible, while the central Sudanese government in Khartoum is Islamist and inspired by the Koran.

But on the basis that my enemy's enemy is my friend, the Islamists teamed up with the Christians of the LRA.

That strange alliance ended with the peace deal in Sudan, which led, in turn, to peace talks in the southern Sudanese city of Juba between the Ugandan government and the Ugandan rebels.

The first official visit of the rebels to the Ugandan capital Kampala is the next, crucial step in the peace process.