Jan Egeland, the UN under-secretary for humanitarian affairs and long-time advocate for increased international attention to northern Uganda, said Saturday that the UN should appoint a special envoy to northern Uganda and also asked the UN Security Council to appoint a panel of experts to investigate the LRA's activities and supporters.

KAMPALA (IRIN www.irinnews.org) - Some 146 people die each week in the northern region where rebels of the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) have waged war against the Uganda government for two decades, charity groups said in a report published on Wednesday.

The U.N. Security Council agreed yesterday to ask Secretary-General Kofi Annan to prepare a report with recommendations on how the U.N. peacekeeping mission in southern Sudan (UNMIS) can help to address the regional security crisis created by the LRA. The text of the draft resolution, put forth by the United States, was agreed to on Thursday and it was expected that it would be officially adopted by the council today.  Read more here.