Acholi Religious Leaders Honoured

The Council for a Parliament of the World's Religions has honoured the Acholi Religious Peace Initiative (ARLPI) for its efforts in finding peace in northern Uganda.

The Chicago based interfaith group announced the award, which includes a $50,000 peace prize yesterday.

ARLPI, a composition of Roman Catholic, Anglican and Muslim leaders in the region have tried for the last seven years to bring a peaceful solution to the conflict between the government and the Lord's Resistance Army, an eccentric Christian group which has massacred thousands of innocent civilians.

The Lord's Resistance Army has also abducted thousands of children since 1997 and forced them to serve as fighters, porters and sex slaves in camps in Sudan.

"I have tried to change the game from confrontation to cooperation," retired Bishop Macleod Ochola, a key figure in the ARLPI said in a news release from the council.

"I have attempted to encourage both sides to aim for mutual satisfaction not victory because it is more rewarding to turn enemies into friends."