Rebel chief told to sign deal

2008-09-12 14:58

Khartoum - South Sudan appealed on Thursday to Uganda's rebel Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) to sign a final peace agreement "for the sake of the people," as military pressure mounted against the insurgents.

Riek Machar, chief negotiator in the peace talks and the vice-president of autonomous south Sudan, warned rebel leader Joseph Kony of the critical importance of signing a deal.

"The LRA's failure to attend the scheduled meetings and to advance the peace process undermines its own interests," Machar said in a statement, released in the southern Sudanese capital Juba, where peace talks have taken place since 2006.

"This impasse must therefore be overcome, especially for the sake of the people affected by the conflict.

"The negotiations are over," Machar said. "The next important phase is implementation... The door of the chief mediator will therefore remain open" if the LRA wished to sign, he added.

Uganda's northern LRA rebels have in part regrouped in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) during the much-delayed peace agreement, but Congolese troops have reportedly planned to crack down on the fugitives.

Uganda's military on Wednesday said it supported the move, which is also backed by troops from the UN peacekeeping mission in the DRC.

Rebel negotiators have warned that any military action could scupper a peace-deal and that fighters will retaliate in self-defence.

Jungle hideouts

The rebels are now believed to be holed up in remote jungle hideouts in northeast Congo, along the southern Sudanese border. They have also been accused of attacking villages in the Central African Republic.

Kony failed to show up for the signing of a final accord with Kampala in April, saying he needed more information on international criminal charges against him and other LRA members, and on disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration of his fighters.

Renewed attempts to sign the deal have been repeatedly delayed, with clashes between the LRA and southern Sudanese troops.

A planned meeting for last week called by Kony was scrapped at the last minute when rebel telephones were turned off, Machar said.

Tens of thousands of people have been killed in the two-decade-old civil war between the LRA and the Ugandan government, but fighting ended in 2006 when a ceasefire was agreed.

- AFP