Sudan’s Salva Kiir expected in Uganda for talks on LRA mediation
Aug 19, 2006 (Kampala) — The president of Southern Sudan government, Salva Kiir, is scheduled to travel to Kampala today to hold talks with the Ugandan president Yoweri Museveni about the ongoing peace talks between the government and the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) rebels led by Joseph Kony.
According to Kampala based New Vision, Kiir will travel to Kampala with representatives of communities that were affected by the LRA rebellion in the eastern and western Equatorial states in Sudan, sources said.
Kiir’s visit to Uganda comes at a time when the LRA have written to South Africa, asking it to co-mediate the talks. In a statement issued on Wednesday 16 August, the LRA second-in-command Vincent Otti said Machar was not neutral. Otti, who said he was making the pronouncement on behalf of LRA Chairman Joseph Kony and the LRA peace delegation in Juba, appealed to the South Africa government to complement the efforts of Sudan as a facilitator.
The face-to-face talks between the Uganda government team headed by Ugandan Interior Minister Dr Ruhakana Rugunda and the LRA team were expected to resume yesterday. Kiir, who is the substantive mediator of the peace talks, has since the ceremonial opening, played a behind-the-scene role. At the opening, he said that he had appointed a ministerial committee chaired by Machar to mediate the talks. However, Kiir has at different occasions held meetings with both parties to clear deadlocks.
Last Wednesday, Kiir had to intervene when the LRA walked out of the talks demanding that Uganda declares of a cease-fire. After the meeting, the LRA delegation announced that it would resume talks unconditionally.
Meanwhile on Thursday, a team of MPs and civic leaders from the north and east of Uganda claimed that they had uncovered a plot by some people in Juba to derail the peace process. The leaders, who had just emerged from a meeting with Kiir, threatened to disclose the culprits after thorough investigations. “The delegation has been dismayed by the presence of detractors and wrong characters who are sending the wrong signals to both parties to spoil the talks,” APAC MP Betty Amongi, who spoke on behalf of the group, said at Jubaraha Hotel, the venue for the talks.
“These spoilers are linking up with Vincent Otti and discourage him to come to Juba, that he would be arrested. President Kiir has appealed to Kony not to be threatened by the president of the UN peacekeepers in Juba because they are also guests of the government of southern Sudan implementing the CPA (Comprehensive Peace Agreement),” Amongi said.
She said Kiir told them that he had urged various departments in the US, Europe, UN, Africa and international agencies to prevail upon the International Criminal Court to suspend the indictment of the top four LRA commanders.
The MP said Kiir had assured them that he would protect Kony or Otti from arrest if they went to Juba.
Pader District chairman Peter Odok said they would soon expose the spoilers.
(New Vision/ST)