The peace talks, which are taking place in the southern Sudanese town of Juba, are being mediated by south-Sudanese Vice-President Riek Machar. As the process gains momentum and there is increased participation from LRA leadership, other government leaders from Sudan, Uganda, and the Republic of the Congo are expected to join the talks. While the LRA leaders believe that coming out of hiding may result in their arrest on warrants issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC), government officials agree that a lasting ceasefire is contingent on the presence and participation from LRA's top-level.  <P> The struggling peace process gained renewed attention in November 2006, when Jan Egeland, the UN Undersecretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, traveled to LRA camps near Ri-Kwangba along the Sudan-Uganda border.  Egeland and Kony were scheduled to meet, each bringing their own objectives to the table.  Egeland was particularly interested in obtaining the release of Acholi women and children abducted by the LRA and held in the camps, while Kony sought to gain an ally in his case with the ICC.  The actual meeting, despite being cordial, was brief and did not produce the desired outcomes for either side.  When confronted with the possibility of releasing the women and children, Kony denied their existence.  However, the fact that the meeting took place without any problems, as well as generated publicity by the attendance of a UN official such as Egeland, creates a positive scenario for the tenuous peace talks.  Additional visits from UN representatives may be a necessary  tactic to foster stability in the surrounding region.

Orange Volunteers (OV) -- Shared Members
Red Hand Defenders (RHD) -- Shared Members
Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) -- Founding Group

The Loyalist Volunteer Force (LVF) is a loyalist terrorist organization fighting to protect Protestants from armed republican groups, such as the Real Irish Republican Army (RIRA), and resist efforts to unite Northern Ireland with the Republic of Ireland. In February 1997, the LVF publicly emerged as a splinter group of the loyalist paramilitary Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) due to internal disputes. <p><br /> Billy Wright, the group's founder and first leader (killed in prison by republican militants in December 1997), and subsequent LVF members disagreed with the UVF's participation in the Northern Ireland peace process and its ceasefire declared in 1994.  Tensions within the UVF reached a boiling point when UVF leaders ordered its members to abstain from participating in the annual July 12 parades in 1996. July 12 parades commemorate the victory of Protestant Prince William of Orange's victory over Catholic King James II in the 1690 Battle of the Boyne and often pass through Catholic neighborhoods, exacerbating sectarian tensions. UVF leaders were concerned that the participation of its members could possibly derail the ongoing and fragile peace process. <p><br />Since its formation, the LVF has engaged in bombings, killings, and kidnappings in retaliation for attacks on Protestants by republican groups. However, its attacks mostly have targeted civilians, often those with no connections to paramilitary organizations.  The LVF has also been known to attack fellow loyalists, especially members of its founding group with whom the LVF has been involved in a feud since its 1997 formation. <br />