Ugandan rebels say Sudanese mediator complicate peace process
Aug 3, 2006 (JUBA) — Ugandan rebels accused the Sudanese mediator of complicating the peace process after being subjected to pressures to send a leading member to head their delegation to peace talks.
The Ugandan rebels spokesperson criticised the behaviour of the Sudanese mediator who
abandoned the Ugandan rebel delegation near the Congolese border in protest at a LRA commander’s refusal to attend the negotiations.
Obonyo Olweny, spokesman for the rebel Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), said Thursday that south Sudan Vice-President Riak Machar, who is the chief mediator, abandoned the rebel army’s delegation in the bush near the border of Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) late Wednesday.
“The vice president got upset and abandoned us here because he could not convince (LRA deputy commander) Vincent Otti to attend the talks in person,” Olweny said from Nabanga, a small trading post along the frontier.
“Despite assurances that he will be provided security by the government of southern Sudan, Otti said he would not attend the talks because of the International Criminal Court’s arrest warrant and absence of a cessation of hostilities agreement with the Ugandan government,” he said.
Vincent Otti, the deputy leader of the Lord’s Resistance Army, has been charged with crimes against humanity by the International Criminal Court in The Hague, Netherlands.
“The mediators’ demand is not acceptable to the top LRA command. If the continuation of the talks is pegged on that demand, then they are on hold. We are unable to proceed until such a time that the demand is dropped,” Olweny said, expressing further regret the “LRA delegation is stranded at the border.”
The chief mediator of the peace talks, which have been taking place in Juba, the capital city in southern Sudan, hoped to speed the process along by encouraging the rebels to send a more senior leader with authority to make decisions on behalf of the group.
“I am not going to Juba,” Otti said. “The ICC has not withdrawn their warrants, therefore I have no guarantee they (Uganda or Sudan) can’t capture me.”
The Lord’s Resistance Army, however, remains committed to negotiating peace with the Ugandan government, Otti said.
The Ugandan government delegation has insisted the rebels send a top commander to the talks in order to show their seriousness, but the rebels have refused, citing the ICC arrest warrants against LRA chief Joseph Kony, Otti and three other top commanders.
The ICC arrest warrants cover a wide range of crimes including murder, abduction, sexual enslavement, mutilations, as well as mass burnings of houses and looting of camp settlements.
Kony, in a rare public appearance on Tuesday, flatly denied some of the atrocities his forces are accused of, but apologised to the people of northern Uganda and southern Sudan who have borne the brunt of war.
Olweny said Thursday: “The peace talks are on bumpy ground. “The chief mediator is crippling the peace process.
“This is not a good sign … because it is not the responsibility of the vice president to dictate to us who should represent the LRA,” he added.
The LRA spokesman said that the delegation was being protected at Nabanga by Sudanese security forces as they were mulling a way of getting to Juba.
“We shall have to iron out some of these issues when we get to Juba,” he said. “We have communicated to the people close to the vice president, and he is still expecting Otti to attend the talks, but that is not possible.”
“This time round, it is the mediators and not the government of Uganda, who are complicating the peace process.”
The talks that opened in Juba, the capital of the semi-autonomous region of south Sudan, are seen as the best chance to restore peace and stability in Uganda.
The negotiations to end 19 years of war in northern Uganda began on July 14 and broke off July 24. They were set to resume next Monday.
(ST/AP/AFP)