After Iraq

I'm actually missing managing the Iraq Programme. Not just the people and the programme, but the context. On a day to day basis the context was overwhelmingly depressing. One report after another of death, despair, futility, hopelessness, and the American administration's arrogance and ignorance. This hasn't gone, but stepping away from Iraq and stepping into another conflict, you grow to miss the profile and significance of the conflict in Iraq.

Tragic as the conflict in Northern Uganda is, it's significance barely extends beyond the borders of Uganda and South Sudan, and it is the product of a rebel movement inspired by traditional beliefs and funded by the Government of Sudan. After the complexity of the Iraq conflict, it's national, regional and international causes and impacts, the bombardment of commentary on it, and the level of public outrage towards it, the context of Northern Uganda almost leaves you feeling a little underwhelmed.

It's hard to explain this feeling without sounding callous and implying that the Northern Uganda conflict is relatively less deserving of attention when our response to conflict should be absolute. Perhaps once I'm on the ground in Northern Uganda and the programme is up and running, I'll find the programme all absorbing and consuming too.