Sudan urges Uganda’s LRA to upgrade team for Juba talks

July 8, 2006 (MARIDI, Sudan) — A broker in talks between Lords Resistance Army (LRA) rebels and the Ugandan government on Saturday urged the LRA to upgrade its delegation to include a man wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC).

South Sudan’s Vice President Riek Machar, who has led efforts by the south Sudanese government to mediate an end to the 19-year uprising in northern Uganda by the LRA, called on rebel leader Joseph Kony to send his deputy Vincent Otti.

“I hope that he will upgrade his delegation by sending Vincent Otti because the Ugandan government has already accepted to negotiate with the five LRA leaders (wanted by the) International Criminal Court,” Machar told reporters.

Uganda’s envoy to Sudan confirmed that his government had revised its earlier position of not talking directly to any LRA members wanted by the ICC.

The ICC has unsealed arrest warrants for Kony, who claims mystical inspiration for his rebellion, Otti, and three other LRA leaders. The group is notorious for mutilating its victims and kidnapping children to use as soldiers or sex slaves.

“We have revised our position … We have not put any more preconditions,” Ugandan envoy to Sudan Mull Katende said.

Talks between a Ugandan government delegation and LRA representatives are due to start on Wednesday in Juba, the capital of south Sudan. The LRA has destabilized south Sudan by using it as a base to attack northern Uganda.

Uganda has offered to protect Kony from arrest by the ICC if talks go well, but the LRA has dismissed that as “redundant.” The talks have drawn criticism from the United Nations and the ICC, who say Uganda has an obligation to arrest Kony.

The elusive LRA leader met southern Sudanese officials in May and June — the first known meeting with mediators in years.

His group has no clear political aim and his driven up to 2 million people from their homes, triggering a humanitarian catastrophe.

(Reuters)