CIVIL RIGHTS organisations and an inter-religious committee formed ahead of this week's presidential elections in Uganda have sent a memo to the six candidates urging them to meet all armed groups immediately after the polls.

The memo, made available to The EastAfrican, bears the signatures of 12 organisations. It urges whoever wins the election to set up a presidential peace delegation (PPC) in consultation with "civil society."

The 12 signatories of the document, yet to be endorsed, are listed as the Acholi Parliamentary Group (APG), Centre for Conflict Prevention-Uganda, Jamii ya Kupatanisha (Fellowship for Reconciliation), People's Voice of Peace, Centre for Conflict Resolution, Centre for Peace Research, Acholi Religious Leaders Peace Initiative and Kacoke Madit. They are being co-ordinated by the Uganda Joint Christian Council.

Others are the Great Lakes Parliamentary Forum for Peace, Uganda Joint Council of Churches, Catholic Peace and Justice Committee and Human Rights Focus.

The memo, which comes in the wake of a March 4 demonstration by religious leaders in Kampala against increasing violence ahead of the elections, calls upon the NRM government to engage in unconditional and constructive dialogue with all armed opposition groups. 

According to the United Nations Consolidated Inter-Agency Appeal for Uganda last year, there are over half a million internally displaced people and nearly 200,000 refugees in northern Uganda.

Twelve out of Uganda's 56 districts, with a population of over four million, are considered insecure.

The 12 districts are Arua, Adjumani, Moyo, Gulu, Kitgum, Kotido, Moroto, Kabarole, Kasese, Bundibugyo, Kampala and Mpigi. 

Overall, Uganda has an estimated population of 22 million.

In northern Uganda alone, where rebels of the Lord's Resistance Army have been fighting with the Uganda Poeple's Defence Force since 1988, over 400,000 people have been affected by the war. 

Of this, over 14,000, most of them children, have been abducted and forced into the ranks of the rebel army.

The two districts of Kitgum and Gulu, which are the most affected by LRA activities, have a population of 700,000, according to the human-rights organisation African Rights.

The main armed groups in Uganda are the Lord's Resistance Army in northern Uganda, the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) to the west and isolated remnants of the Ugandan National Rescue Front-11 and the West Nile Bank Front.

The civic groups and the religious leaders want the proposed PPC to establish contact with the rebel groups in order to reach a formal cessation of hostilities by all sides.

The PPC would also allow the return of internally displaced people.

The memo also calls for the inclusion of civil society in the peace process. The actions suggested include organised political and civil society representatives as partners in the process

The religious leaders have also urged the current and future governments to draw on international support and expertise for third-party mediation and facilitation during peace negotiations. 

They appeal to the NRM government to consult widely to find ways of avoiding the use of inflammatory, derogatory and abusive language.

For 15 years, President Yoweri Museveni has referred to the rebels as "bandits" and insisted on the military option. 

He was also reluctant to accept an amnesty extended to the rebels in a Bill passed by parliament last year.

A number of international organisations believe President Museveni's disparaging remarks against the rebels are partly responsible for the continued violence in many parts of the country.

At the same time, the inter-religious group is looking for ways to persuade both the armed groups and the government to seek peace.

Among the main objectives of the initiative is to discuss the plight of children in the conflicts. Another is to identify and explore opportunities for implementing cross-border civic activities that will provide dialogue leading to peaceful co-existence.