Betty Oyella Bigombe is a former Uganda government minister and consultant to the World Bank. She is an ethnic Acholi and has been involved in peace negotiations to end the insurgency of the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) of Uganda since 1994. As of 2005 she was acting as chief mediator between the LRA and government of Uganda. She has a masters degree from the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. As well as English and Acholi, she speaks Kiswahili and Japanese. The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD, in Romance languages: BIRD), better known as the World Bank, is an international organization whose original mission was to finance the reconstruction of nations devastated by WWII. Now, its mission has expanded to fight poverty by means of financing states. ... Acholiland, Uganda Children in an IDP camp in Kitgum The Acholi are an ethnolinguistic group of the upper Nile valley dwelling on the east bank of the White Nile, about a hundred miles north of Lake Albert. ... Labuje IDP camp near Kitgum Town The Lords Resistance Army (LRA), formed in 1987, is a rebel paramilitary group operating mainly in northern Uganda. ... 1994 was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated the International year of the Family. ... 2005 is a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... This article needs cleanup. ... The John F. Kennedy School of Government is a school within Harvard University that offers graduate degrees in public policy and public administration, as well as conducting research in various subjects relating to politics and government. ... Harvard University is a private university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA and a member of the Ivy League. ... Kiswahili is an alternative name for the Swahili language, derived from the expression lugha ya Kiswahili, which is what speakers of Swahili call their language. ...

Bigombe was elected a minister of parliament in 1986, a post she would hold until 1996. In 1988, President Yoweri Museveni appointed her "Minister of State for Pacification of Northern Uganda, Resident in Gulu," a post in which she was tasked with convincing the LRA rebels to give up their struggle. Protests at the connotations of the word "pacification" led to the renaming of the post to "Minister of State in the Office of the Prime Minister, Resident in Northern Uganda." Following the failure of military efforts to defeat the rebels, Bigombe initiated contact with rebel leader Joseph Kony in June 1993. This began what would be known as the "Bigombe talks". In 1993 she was named Uganda's Woman of the Year for her efforts to end the violence. Despite meeting with Kony, the talks collapsed in February 1994. ([1] (http://www.c-r.org/accord/uganda/accord11/lra.shtml)) Soon afterward the insurgency intensified and no significant efforts towards peace would be made for the next decade. She was also assisted in the peace efforts between Uganda and Sudan. Museveni is viewed as part of a new generation of African leaders. ... Joseph Kony is the primary leader of the Ugandan Lords Resistance Army (LRA). ... June is the sixth month of the year in the Gregorian Calendar and one of four with the length of 30 days. ... 1993 is a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar and marked the Beginning of the International Decade to Combat Racism and Racial Discrimination (1993-2003) Events Media:January January 1 - Czechoslovakia divides. ... February is the second month of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 1994 was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated the International year of the Family. ...

In 1997, she left government service to take a fellowship award at the Harvard Institute for International Development. She then became a senior social scientist with the Postconflict unit at the World Bank and then a consultant to the Bank's Social Protection and Human Developmen units. She has co-authored several articles on post-conflict peacebuilding and the impact of conflict on women and children. Since at least March 2004, Bigombe has been the chief mediator in a new peace initiative with the Lord's Resistance Army. She is believed to one of the few individuals with credibility to both sides. The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD, in Romance languages: BIRD), better known as the World Bank, is an international organization whose original mission was to finance the reconstruction of nations devastated by WWII. Now, its mission has expanded to fight poverty by means of financing states. ... Labuje IDP camp near Kitgum Town The Lords Resistance Army (LRA), formed in 1987, is a rebel paramilitary group operating mainly in northern Uganda. ...