Ugandan LRA rebel chief resumes contact

Sept 9, 2005 (KAMPALA) — An elusive Ugandan rebel leader fighting a 19-year insurgency has resumed regular telephone contact with negotiators, a mediator said on Friday.

The war between Joseph Kony’s Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) and government troops has uprooted more than 1.6 million people in the north of the country and triggered what aid workers say is one of the world’s worst humanitarian disasters.

In a bid to end the violence, the two sides held face to face talks at a secret location deep in the bush late last year.

But the tentative discussions stalled in February, and in recent months there has been little word from Kony, who is believed to be hiding in southern Sudan’s lawless mountains.

Lead mediator Betty Bigombe, a former Ugandan government minister, said the rebel chief broke his silence last month.

“Regular contact between Betty Bigombe and LRA leader Joseph Kony has resumed over the past two weeks,” Bigombe said in a rare statement.

“The direct involvement of Kony is critical to the peace process, and the resumption of direct contact represents a new step in the dialogue process with the LRA,” it said.

Uganda’s government says it is open to ending the war through talks, but says the LRA has shown little commitment in recent months — and military operations have pushed on.

The army said it killed 16 rebels in clashes this week.

Peace advocates have proposed a meeting between Bigombe and Kony, but it has been put on hold over security concerns.

Bigombe said Kony responded positively to the idea of pursuing the dialogue. “We are talking about setting up a meeting soon,” she told Reuters by telephone, adding that Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni was supporting the process.

She said both the LRA leader, a self-proclaimed mystic, and the government had reaffirmed their interest in talks.

“The conversations with Kony are now being followed up by the mediator and the government on the next steps in the peace process,” Bigombe said in her statement.

The LRA has no clear political goals, but is notorious for targeting civilians and abducting thousands of children who it forces to become fighters, porters and sex slaves.

Founded on religious symbolism, traditional rites and fear, the cult-like group has never given a clear account of its aims beyond its opposition to Museveni.

The International Criminal Court in the The Hague is expected to issue war crimes arrest warrants soon for Kony and five of his top commanders.

(Reuters)