Ugandan LRA delegation stay permanently in Juba for talks
June 14, 2006 (KAMPALA) — Rebel leader Joseph Kony of the Lord’s Resistance Army has named 14 negotiators that will permanently stay in the Southern Sudanese city of Juba until the proposed peace talks with the Ugandan government are concluded, Kampala based the Daily Monitor said.
The move comes in the wake of a renewed push for peace talks between LRA and Kampala by the Southern Sudanese authorities led by Vice-President Riek Machar.
Kony at a three-day weekend meeting with Machar in Abi, a remote location outside Maridi town, urged Uganda to prevail upon the International Criminal Court in the Hague (Netherlands), to drop the war crimes charges against him and four of his commanders if the peace talks were to continue as.
The meeting, which kicked off on Sunday ended Tuesday morning, according to a Sudanese official. Kony’s three notorious lieutenants; his deputy Vincent Otti, Odhiambo and Abudema Abu attended.
Kony’s negotiators arrived in Juba yesterday afternoon aboard an Antonov Aircraft belonging to 748, a private airliner.
They were booked in one of the prominent hotels in Juba. Machar , the Southern Sudan Interior minister, Lt. Gen. Daniel Awet and Sudan intelligence officers accompanied the negotiators.
The observers include; two Britons and two Italians. Kony’s delegation also includes; five LRA rebels reportedly from Kenya, Britain and America.
Senior government officials in Kampala said no government emissary had traveled to Sudan atleast by yesterday evening to meet the LRA.
The Monitor reported that another LRA team from Gulu would travel to Juba in a week’s time to join the 14 negotiators. Uganda’s Consulate in Juba confirmed the latest meeting between the LRA and the SPLM leaders in Abi but cast doubt on Kony’s commitment.
KONY CONDITIONS
In his meeting with Southern Sudan Riek Machar, Kony also set two conditions for negotiations.
He demanded that the Ugandan army should withdraw from Southern Sudan and deploy on the Ugandan border. “The other condition was that for us to continue and end this war, the government (Uganda) should convince ICC that our names are dropped (on the indictment list,” the SPLA commander quoted Kony telling Machar.
As Uganda refuses to meet LRA delegation because it had been indicted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for war crimes Machar, is supposed to continue meeting the LRA team in Juba.
(ST)