Uganda envoy says not informed of LRA talks in South Sudan
June 10, 2006 (KHARTOUM) — The Ugandan ambassador in Khartoum, Mull Katende, has said he has not been informed nor has he any idea about the preparations in Juba for peace talks between the Ugandan government and the rebel Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) under the brokerage of the Government of Southern Sudan (GOSS).
According to Juba Post, the vice president of GOSS, Riek Machar, told reporters in Juba that the Ugandan ambassador to Sudan would come soon to Juba to finalize preparations for the talks .
“I have no contact with Juba and I am only hearing reports from the press”, Katende told Khartoum Monitor. “I have not been approached and there is no link between us, whatever they are saying is not true and cannot wait for me if they did not contact me”, the ambassador objected.
Salva Kiir Mayardit, Sudanese First Vice-President and southern Sudan’s government president, said Thursday 8 June that a delegation from the shadowy rebel group that has become notorious for kidnapping and enslaving thousands of children was already in Juba, and a delegation from the Ugandan government was expected.
“What we want is peace and peace has to be negotiated,” he said. “I don’t want the LRA to remain in southern Sudan. They have been raping women and girls. They have been killing. They have been looting. They have been abducting.”
He said the opening of the peace talks was a matter of days, even hours.
The Ugandan government has expressed skepticism southern Sudanese mediators would be successful, given the rebels’ history of rejecting peace efforts.
Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni said Thursday he was not opposed to the negotiations even though some of the rebels are wanted on war crimes charges. “If they say negotiate, we negotiate,” he said of the southern Sudan government.
(ST)