Uganda's peace talks resume
2007-03-13 17:40
Kampala - Stalled peace talks to end a brutal 20-year insurgency by the Ugandan rebel Lord's Resistance Army are to resume, government officials said on Tuesday.
"Both parties have agreed to resume talks," Ruhakana Rugunda, head of the government negotiating team and minister of internal affairs, told journalists.
No date was given, however LRA officials indicated a preliminary meeting could take place in early April.
The LRA said that it still harboured concerns, citing security worries because of the proximity of Ugandan government troops to their camps.
"We are still committed to the peace process and are looking forward to the next meeting," said Godfrey Ayo, spokesperson for the rebel group said from Nairobi, Kenya.
Negotiations broke down in late December 2006 after the rebel movement walked out accusing the host's, Southern Sudan, of bias. They had demanded the fragile peace talks be moved from the Southern Sudanese capital, Juba.
'Elusive' Kony
The apparent breakthrough came after a meeting that took place on Sunday at Ri-Kwangba, near the rebel's jungle base and close to the Sudan-Congo border.
During the meeting government negotiators, including Rugunda, met with the rebel chief Joseph Kony and his deputy Vincent Otti, both of whom are indicted by the Hague-based International Criminal Court for war crimes and crimes against humanity.
A Ugandan government minister has never before met with the elusive Kony.
The meeting was organised by the UN special envoy for LRA affected areas, Joaquim Chissano, who also attended.
Chissano has been in the region since late last month trying to secure a breakthrough, UN spokesperson Michele Montas said late on Monday.
The Lord's Resistance Army is made up of the remnants of a rebellion that began after President Yoweri Museveni took power in 1986. The rebels are notorious for cutting off the tongues and lips of civilians and abducting thousands of children, turning the girls into sex slaves and the boys into fighters.
- AP