Rebels sign deal, but walk out
2008-03-01 16:03
Juba - Uganda's government and the
rebel Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) have signed the last in a
series of documents before a final peace agreement to end one of
Africa's longest-running conflicts, officials said.
But only hours later, the rebel delegation stormed out of a
meeting held after the signing ceremony late on Friday in
protest at the chief mediator's insistence that a day should be
set for a final peace deal.
"You have finally signed the necessary agreements and
protocols for the final agreement," chief mediator Riek Machar
told the delegations after they signed texts that provided for
the disarmament and demobilisation of the LRA.
The Ugandan rebels' delegation head, David
Matsanga-Nyekorach, told Reuters after emerging from the hall
that the LRA would not sign a final peace deal until
international indictments on its leaders are lifted.
Special courts
An agreement already signed by the two delegations allows
for special courts to prosecute war crimes to be set up in
Uganda, a move that was seen as answering the rebels' demand not
to be tried by the International Criminal Court (ICC).
The ICC has indictments out on LRA leader Joseph Kony as
well as two of his deputies for crimes against humanity. The LRA
has been accused of murder, rape, the abduction of children and
slicing off body parts.
Although the rebellion has little direct impact on one of
Africa's fastest growing economies, ending it permanently would
be a major coup for President Yoweri Museveni and a relief in
the coffee-exporting country of over 30 million.
It would also remove a destabilising element in a remote
corner of the continent where conflicts can easily spill over
national borders.