Kony 'ready' to sign peace deal
2008-04-10 12:24
Ri-Kwangba, Sudan - Uganda's top rebel leader Joseph Kony was to sign a historic peace deal on Thursday to end one of Africa's longest conflicts, which had left tens of thousands dead.
The Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) chief was due in the southern Sudan jungle town of Ri-Kwangba to initial an agreement, which was to be signed by Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni on Sunday.
"They (the LRA) told me he would be there," Southern Sudan vice-president and chief mediator Riek Machar said on Wednesday, amid lingering speculation over the elusive rebel's presence.
Kony - whose group was notorious for raping and mutilating civilians, enlisting child soldiers and massacring thousands - had been in hiding to avoid a warrant issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC).
Top LRA commanders had met on the other side of the Ri-Kwangba area's border with the Democratic Republic of Congo , but Kony was reportedly spotted recently in the neighbouring Central African Republic.
Two million people displaced
Kony's people were suspected of gang-raping women, taking dozens hostage and attacking villages, according to a draft United Nations report.
Last week, Ugandan rebels asked mediators to delay the signing of the peace agreement citing inadequate facilities such as toilets in their camp in Ri-Kwangba.
Machar dismissed the allegations of inadequate services as "rubbish", insisting that southern Sudan was providing food and facilities.
Twenty years of fighting had left tens of thousands dead and displaced two million people, mainly in northern Uganda. Several thousands had been killed in southern Sudan, where the LRA had camps.
A ceasefire was struck in August 2006, paving the way for peace talks in South Sudan capital, Juba, that had dragged on for more than a year and a half.
War crimes
A permanent ceasefire signed in February was expected to take effect 24 hours after the signing of the final accord.
The talks were delayed by the LRA's insistence that ICC warrants against Kony and three of his top lieutenants be lifted before an agreement was signed. However, even with an agreement, Kony was not expected to return to Kampala.
While the Ugandan government had not requested such a move from The Hague-based tribunal, it had been vocal in advocating homegrown solutions to bring former rebels to justice.
Observers argued that the government had a vested interest in scuppering too much disclosure at an international tribunal, as it might end up facing war crimes for forcibly displacing hundreds of thousands and killing civilians.
The rebels accused the Ugandan People's Defence Force of carrying out abuses, but the army said it routinely punished soldiers convicted of war crimes.
The conflict had raged since 1988, when Kony, a semi-illiterate former altar boy, took charge of a two-year-old regional rebellion among northern Uganda's ethnic Acholi minority.