With time so pressing, why hasn't the Bush administration figured out who can best help bring about an end to this humanitarian atrocity?

Why hasn't it given more support to Betty Bigombe, a highly regarded peace mediator in this crisis? Why, instead, have officials been talking to, even empowering, Jongomoi Okidi-Olal, who may be complicit with the LRA's vicious leader, Joseph Kony? Maybe some of these questions can be answered this afternoon, when the Congressional Human Rights Caucus is scheduled to hold a members' briefing on the war in northern Uganda.

Anyone who cares about helping the most abused and ignored kids in the world ought to be furious.

Washington should cut whatever ties it has to Okidi-Olal. It should invite Bigombe to meet with high-level State Department officials and provide her with the assistance she needs, including working with the United Nations to name her the international envoy for northern Uganda.

Her mission: Peel away LRA members not indicted by the International Criminal Court (ICC).

Okidi-Olal is a businessman, born in Uganda, who moves in the shadows of this conflict. He might be working for peace. He might be helping to perpetuate the war. He might be trading on U.S. ties to build his own clout.

It's hard to know for sure - because Okidi-Olal has a problem telling the truth. In contrast, Bigombe's integrity is unquestioned.

Bigombe, now with the World Bank, is a former Ugandan government minister. She has the backing of President Yoweri Museveni and a solid rapport with Kony.

In the mid-1990s, Bigombe came as close as anyone has to getting the combatants to end the war. In the last few years she has renewed efforts to establish negotiations.

Okidi-Olal has a much different history. At his best, he is known for his connections to African leaders and his ability to arrange meetings.

His worst outshines his best.

Most disturbing is the evidence that suggests Okidi-Olal could be working with the LRA, which for 20 years has kidnapped tens of thousands of children and forced them to become soldiers and sex slaves. Last year, the ICC issued its first arrest warrants - to LRA leader Kony and top aides for crimes against humanity and war crimes.

Okidi-Olal also has been implicated in the LRA's appearance in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where it killed eight U.N. peacekeepers in an ambush two months ago.

When the LRA entered Congo, Okidi-Olal spoke with Defense Minister Adolphe Onusumba about the rebels. Onusumba told me in a phone interview that Okidi-Olal had said the U.N. mission in Congo had authorized Okidi-Olal to arrange for the LRA rebels there to disarm. Not so, Bigombe said. "The LRA will tell you they were there on his invitation," she said.

I called the U.N. mission in the Congolese capital of Kinshasa to verify Okidi-Olal's relationship to it. I got this e-mail back from Kemal Saiki, the director of the mission's public information division.

"Mr. Okidi-Olal is not, repeat NOT, 'somehow affiliated' or speaking on behalf of the mission," he wrote.

Saiki said that when the LRA entered Congo, its commanders gave the U.N. mission a phone number answered by a man claiming to be Kony. Kony referred "all discussions about the infiltration of LRA to 'our leader' in Washington and gave his phone contact. " Okidi-Olal answered that phone number.

If Okidi-Olal is that close to an accused war criminal, State Department staff - including Donald Yamamoto, the deputy assistant secretary of state for African affairs - should not be talking to him by phone or inviting him into their offices as they have done. They should be wary of his assessment of events in Uganda, and cautious about having him arrange meetings.

The access Okidi-Olal has enjoyed does not mean he represents the United States. But it emboldens him to pursue his own agenda, which distracts people from Bigombe's efforts.

It is not uncommon for officials to be drawn to foreign nationals who have lived in the United States and know how to work our system, said Joe Melrose, a former ambassador in Africa who now is a professor of international relations at Ursinus College in Collegeville.

Ahmad Chalabi, who played a notorious role in the U.S. invasion of Iraq, fits that description, Melrose said. So does Okidi-Olal. They become government favorites, even if they are unreliable.

Okidi-Olal, available only through e-mail, wouldn't discuss his ties to the LRA or the United States. A high-ranking State Department staffer said that Okidi-Olal does not represent the United States, and that the United States officially supports Bigombe.

It sure doesn't come across that way.

Since I met Bigombe years ago, she has talked about how her job has been made harder by all the people in Uganda trying to be mediators. Okidi-Olal is chief among them.

Sowing a peace process isn't like hawking DVD players. Competition is not a good strategy. The best way to promote talks is to back one negotiator.

The United States should carefully choose its contacts in conflicts - no matter how thick the shadows of war are. Our credibility erodes when we favor the wrong people. That is not just a shame. It's a sin in a world that has so few resources and so many vulnerable people like the children of northern Uganda.

Carolyn Davis is a member of The Inquirer Editorial Board.

Contact Carolyn Davis at 215-854-4214 or cdavis@phillynews.com.