Uganda’s Govt, LRA rebels open peace talks in South Sudan
July 14, 2006 (JUBA) — Uganda’s government and rebels formally opened talks to end the 19-year civil war in the north of the country Friday, with both sides saying the negotiations mark the best chance yet to end the brutal conflict.
The government intends to negotiate in good faith and is confident that peace will finally be restored in the region, Uganda’s Internal Affairs Minister Ruhakana Rugunda, head of the government’s negotiating team, said at the opening ceremony.
The Lord’s Resistance Army rebels called for the government to be held accountable for atrocities its troops were accused of committing during the conflict that has forced hundreds of thousands of people to flee their homes, rebel spokesman Obonyo Olweny said at the opening ceremony.
The Lord’s Resistance Army has waged a campaign of murder, rape and abductions in northern Uganda. Led by the elusive Joseph Kony, the rebels’ political agenda has been murky. They replenish their ranks by abducting children and forcing them to become fighters, porters or concubines. Kony has been indicted for war crimes by the International Criminal Court’s prosecutor.
While talks were formally opened Friday, substantive negotiations weren’t expected to begin before Saturday. The foes are expected to negotiate terms of a cease-fire before discussing a political settlement to the brutal conflict, Olweny said.
“We expect positive results,” Rugunda said guardedly on arrival in Juba for the opening ceremony. He refused to discuss details of the planned talks.
The talks will be mediated by the autonomous government of Southern Sudan in the region’s capital, Juba. Past peace efforts have failed because of mistrust between the government and rebels. Attempts by religious leaders to mediate between the two sides have also failed.
“The past talks failed because the mediators were partial, were pro- government,” Olweny told The Associated Press. “But this time the mediator is the government of Southern Sudan…They also have an interest because peace can come to their region, the war has affected their region.”
Uganda’s State Minister for Foreign Affairs Henry Okello Oryem said the talks also were expected to succeed because the new government of South Sudan supports the peace initiative. “Previously we did not have such a high-powered mediator. They have an interest as well,” he told reporters.
Southern Sudan is pushing to resolve the insurgency in neighboring northern Uganda because officials want to secure its territory as it prepares for reconstruction after its own, 21-year civil war.
“This is a real chance for peace,” Olweny said. “This is the last chance for peace in northern Uganda, and I believe the two sides should give chance for peace in the country.”
The rebel group is made up of the remnants of a northern rebellion that began after Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni, a southerner, took power in 1986.
The rebel spokesman said insurgents were committed to a political settlement to the conflict and were ready to end the war, adding their negotiators have been waiting in Juba for two months for the government to send its negotiating team.
Rebels appealed to the international community to send observers to the talks and help negotiators narrow their differences.
“We want the international community to come forward, make input to the talks so that the two sides can restore peace to northern Uganda,” Olweny said. “We also appeal to the international community to prepare to help reconstruct northern Uganda that has been affected by 20 years of civil war.”
International observers have looked with some skepticism on the peace process. The chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court has said that Ugandan rebels may use the time the negotiators are meeting to reorganize and rearm, and reiterated calls on Uganda and Sudan to arrest Kony and his top deputies on the war crimes indictment.
(AP/ST)