Uganda rebels abducted 55 Sudanese children- Machar

April 15, 2008 (RI-KWANGBA) — The chief mediator in Uganda’s peace talks accused rebels of kidnapping 55 children in south Sudan in recent weeks, casting doubt on the Lord’s Resistance Army’s commitment to faltering peace talks.

“I have reports that these youths have been abducted by the LRA,” south Sudan’s Vice President Riek Machar told Reuters as he left the remote Sudan-Congo border, where he had camped since Thursday in the hope of meeting LRA commander Joseph Kony.

“Why do they continue to do this and say that they are still committed to the peace process?”

Kony, who is wanted for war crimes by the International Criminal Court in The Hague, failed to appear for a planned signing ceremony — or even to talk to Machar by telephone.

“Through his officer on the ceasefire monitoring team, Kony sent me a message saying he is still committed to the peace process, only that some key issues were not well communicated to him,” said Machar, who has chaired peace talks since mid-2006.

Kony had requested another meeting on April 26 in the frontier hamlet of Ri-Kwangba with Machar and religious and cultural leaders from the LRA’s native northern Uganda, he said.

The 22-year civil war has killed tens of thousands of people and uprooted 2 million more in northern Uganda alone. It has also destabilised neighbouring parts of Sudan’s oil-producing south and eastern Congo, which has large mineral wealth.

Speaking in the south Sudanese capital Juba on Monday, Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni accused Kony of not being serious about the negotiations and hinted that his forces could resume operations against the guerrillas.

KIDNAPPING VILLAGERS

He also accused LRA fighters of resuming their tactic of kidnapping villagers from southern Sudan, Congo and Central African Republic who were then forced into the rebel ranks.

The people of south Sudan should know Uganda had the means to help them “solve some of these problems,” Museveni said.

Ugandan troops battled the LRA across southern Sudan, but clashes largely stopped in mid-2006 after Machar started talks.

Kony was expected to sign a final peace agreement on Thursday. But he failed to show up, then fired his negotiator.

An LRA spokesman said Kony was ready to sign, but wanted guarantees of his safety and financial security first.

Rebel sources later said LRA infighting over the proposed deal killed at least nine people — including Okot Odhiambo, a top commander who is also wanted by international prosecutors.

Kony, Odhiambo and a third senior rebel, Dominic Ongwen, were accused by the ICC in 2005 of offences including rape, murder and the abduction of thousands of children who were forced to serve the group as fighters, porters and sex slaves.

Even if Kony does sign a peace agreement, the LRA says it will not disarm until the ICC indictments are scrapped. The Ugandan government has said it will only call for the warrants to be lifted after a final deal has been reached.

The world court says its warrants remain active, and that Uganda has a legal obligation to arrest the targets.

(Reuters)