Chissano in Uganda for peace

2007-12-13 09:28

Nairobi - Former Mozambique president Joaquim Chissano has arrived in Uganda for a series of talks to breathe life into a fitful process aimed at ending the war in the country, says a United Nations statement.

Chissano, UN special envoy for northern Uganda's conflict, arrived on Wednesday and was expected to meet Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni, Rwandan President Paul Kagame and Democratic Republic of Congo President Joseph Kabila.

The envoy was expected to travel to the talks' venue in South Sudan's capital, Juba, for talks with mediators then meet the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) leadership.

He was expected to leave the region on December 18, said the statement. Peace talks between the Ugandan government and the LRA had never resumed since they last formally adjourned in May this year.

1.8 million people displaced

No resumption date had been fixed, but Chissano's consultations in Kampala last month "led to the hope that full talks between the parties can resume by the end of this month or in early January to conclude a comprehensive peace accord", said the statement.

Despite a truce signed in August last year, "disputes between the two sides have given rise to concern and many LRA members have been hiding out in southern Sudan or the northeast of the DRC", it added.

The conflict had left tens of thousands of people dead as well as 1.8 million displaced, out of a total population of 2.7 million in northern Uganda, where the militia had engaged in enslaving, torturing, raping, and murdering civilians.

The LRA, which initially claimed they were fighting for the establishment of a government based on Biblical theology, had now accepted to sit down with the government and address economic and political marginalisation.

- AFP