New blow to fragile Ugandan peace talks
January 12 2007 at 04:19PM
Nairobi, Kenya - Faltering peace talks in southern Sudan aimed at ending one of Africa's most brutal conflicts suffered a new blow Friday after Ugandan rebels pulled out, claiming their security was threatened and they were no longer welcome by Sudanese mediators.
The Lord's Resistance Army said while they would abide by a landmark cease-fire agreement they signed with the Ugandan government in August, they would no longer take part in the talks
which are being held in Juba, southern Sudan.
In a speech earlier this week, southern Sudan President Salva Kiir, who has led the mediation efforts, expressed concern about what he said were Lord's Resistance Army raids in southern Sudan.
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The Ugandan rebels "will have to choose between war and peaceful settlement of the conflict, otherwise (the government of southern Sudan) will not mediate while its citizens are being butchered," Kiir said.
'This is not only unfortunate but also shocking'
The rebels want the talks moved to Kenya or South Africa, LRA spokesperson Obonyo Olweny told reporters at a news conference in Nairobi. Their fighters will in the meantime remain in two neutral camps as part of the cease-fire agreement, he said.
Thousands of civilians have died since the rebels took up arms and almost 2 million people have been displaced by the 20 year conflict.
The Ugandan government expressed surprise at the rebel pullout.
"This is not only unfortunate but also shocking," the spokesperson of Uganda peace talks team, Captain Paddy Ankunda, told The Associated Press.
"We will come up with new ideas. We may also try
to convince them to continue with the talks."
Olweny said the rebels were still committed to a mediated and negotiated settlement, but were withdrawing from the talks after comments by both Kiir and Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, who
had said Tuesday that the only solution to the problem of the Ugandan rebels was a military one.
Al-Bashir once backed the Lord's Resistance Army against the Ugandan government, which in turn had supported Kiir's former rebel Sudan People's Liberation Army in its war with the Sudanese
government. Sudan and Uganda normalised relations in 2001, while a 2005 peace deal ended the 21-year civil war between southern and northern Sudan.
Kiir, in a speech Tuesday marking the second anniversary of the Sudanese peace deal, accused al-Bashir's government of undermining the deal by, among other things, continuing to support the Lord's Resistance Army.
The Lord's Resistance Army is made up of the remnants of a rebellion that began after Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni, a southerner, took power in 1986. UN officials estimate the rebels have kidnapped 20 000 children, turning the boys into soldiers and the girls into sex slaves for rebel commanders.
The International Criminal Court has issued arrest warrants its leaders in connection with their brutal reign over the region, which the LRA have said would hamper any negotiations for a lasting
peace deal.
Thousands of civilians have died since the Ugandan rebels took up arms and almost 2 million people have been displaced by the 20 year conflict. - Sapa-AP
