LRA 'wants peace for Uganda'
2008-07-06 13:24
Juba, Sudan - The UN special envoy to the stalled Ugandan peace process said on Saturday that the elusive leader of the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) rebels, Joseph Kony, is no longer interested in war.
"(Kony) said he no longer wants war with the government of Uganda. He no longer wants war with the government in Sudan. He no longer wants war with the government in Congo DRC," said Joachim Chissano.
"Instead, he wants peace for Uganda," the Mozambican ex-president told reporters.
Chissano said Kony made the remarks in a telephone conversation with him.
The comments come a month after the rebel group overran a Sudan People's Liberation Army camp on the Congo-Sudan border, killing at least 27 people.
Kony justified the June 4 attack saying that the SPLA - the mainstream military force in southern Sudan - had linked up with the Ugandan army to attack the LRA.
The claim was denied by the regional government in southern Sudan.
Sudan-mediated talks between Uganda and the LRA halted in April when Kony refused to sign a peace accord, on the grounds of outstanding arrest warrants from the International Criminal Court over alleged war crimes.