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Ugandan rebels ready for talks
16/01/2007 14:56 - (SA)
Juba - Ugandan rebels will return to peace talks in southern Sudan with the government once they receive a formal invitation, said two south Sudanese officials on Tuesday.
The rebels of the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) had said on Saturday that nothing would persuade them to attend talks inside Sudan again because of remarks by Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir, who vowed to "get rid of the LRA from Sudan".
But Samson Kwaje, minister of information in the south Sudanese government, said: "The LRA have given a condition that they need to be officially invited again." He was referring to their terms for attending another round of talks in the south Sudanese capital, Juba.
He added that the Ugandan government delegation was on standby to come to Juba and attend the talks.
1 000s of people killed
The chief mediator in the talks, south Sudan vice-president Riek Machar, also said that this was the position of the LRA, as expressed by its deputy commander Vincent Otti on Monday. He said that Sudan had not yet sent a new invitation.
But, LRA delegation spokesperson Obonyo Olweny said on Tuesday that to the best of his knowledge, the LRA high command in the bush was categorical that talks would not return to Juba.
Machar said a communication problem could be the reason for Olweny's denial.
The United Nations special envoy on the conflict between the LRA and the Ugandan government, former Mozambican President Joaquim Chissano, met Machar in Juba on Tuesday. Chissano said: "This is just a familiarisation mission."
In 20 years of war between the LRA and the Ugandan government, tens of thousands of people were killed in northern Uganda and southern Sudan. Nearly two million were displaced.
- Reuters
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