Ugandan rebels say will restart talks in South Sudan

March 16, 2007 (KAMPALA) — Uganda’s Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) rebels said on Friday they would return to peace talks in south Sudan if the government there increased security to keep the Ugandan army from attacking them.

The rebels quit talks with Uganda in the south Sudanese capital, Juba, in January, denting hopes for an end to two decades of bloodshed in northern Uganda.

“There is now a willingness to go back to Juba,” LRA spokesman Obonyo Olweny told Reuters by telephone. “We are just waiting for a response from southern Sudan.”

The LRA said they pulled out fearing for their security after Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir threatened them.

The change of heart follows a trip on Sunday by the U.N. envoy for the conflict, former Mozambican President Joaquim Chissano, to talk with fugitive rebel leader, Joseph Kony.

This week, Uganda said it had wooed LRA delegates back on promises of adding mediators from African countries besides south Sudan.

The insurgency led by guerrillas notorious for mutilating victims and kidnapping children has killed thousands of Ugandan civilians and displaced nearly 2 million people.

Olweny said the promise to expand the mediators to include five other countries — Kenya, Tanzania, South Africa, Mozambique and the Democratic Republic of the Congo — satisfied the LRA.

But the LRA demanded better security for their negotiators in Juba and their fighters scattered in south Sudan and on the Sudan/Congo border.

“If those concerns are addressed, we can go back,” he said.

The LRA accuses the Ugandan army of ambushing their fighters in Sudan. An August truce between the two sides expired last month with no renewal.

“They (Uganda) should pull their troops out of Sudan. Only when the last troop crosses back to Uganda can we have peace,” Olweny said. He said that was not necessarily a pre-condition of talks restarting.

The army insists it will stay in Sudan to monitor the LRA.

(Reuters)