Congo expels top Ugandan rebel
2008-01-07 18:58
Kampala - Uganda and Congo are planning to expel Ugandan rebel leader Joseph Kony and his followers of the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) from the eastern Congo, a news report said on Monday.
According to Monday's edition of the Ugandan New Vision, staff of the United Nations Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (MONUC) and the Congolese military want to put pressure on Kony.
The rebel leader has been hiding in the Garamba woods since being expelled from Uganda by the military.
The LRA's civil war, which has been raging in northern Uganda for 20 years, has claimed the lives of tens of thousands and displaced more than two million people.
Kony's rebels are infamous for their large-scale use of child soldiers.
During the peace talks, which started around 18 months ago in Sudanese Juba, several LRA leaders signed a ceasefire agreement with the government.
However, Kony has been refusing to take part in peace negotiations as long he is wanted as a war criminal under a warrant by the International Court of Justice.
Eastern Congo is a crisis region, where Tutsi general Laurent Nkunda has been fighting government troops and Hutu rebels for about a year.
Around 500 000 people have fled the fighting.
Peace negotiations between the Congolese government and representatives of rebel groups in eastern Congo started in the provincial capital Goma on Sunday.
- SAPA