Sudanese president invites N. Uganda leaders to discuss Juba talks

October 18, 2007 (KAMPALA) — The Sudanese President Omer el- Bashir is to hold consultations with a group of leader from war- ravaged northern Uganda this weekend in Khartoum, according to report reaching here on Thursday.

Walter Ochora, the Resident District Commissioner of Gulu District, confirmed the trip on Wednesday, saying others invited include Gulu district chairman Norbert Mao, Gulu archdiocese bishop John Odama and Acholi Muslim leader Sheik Musa Khelil.

Bashir invited cultural, religious and political leaders from Acholi, Lango, Teso and West Nile sub-regions to discuss the prospects of the on-and-off Juba peace talks between Ugandan government and rebel group Lord Resistance Army (LRA).

The talks were brokered and hosted by southern Sudan authority at Juba, a southern Sudanese town 600 km north of Kampala, in mid- July last year.

The leaders are scheduled to leave for Khartoum on Friday, where they will hold five days consultations with Bashir and his government officials about the peace process in the war-torn northern Uganda.

“It is important that Khartoum government shows its commitment in the Juba peace talks as we wait to reach a comprehensive agreement. We shall brief President Bashir on the magnitude of damage caused by the LRA war in northern Uganda,” Ochora said.

Ugandan government used to support Sudan’s People’s Liberation Army (SPLA), a militia fighting Bashir-led government for independence of southern part of the country before the two sides signed a comprehensive peace agreement in early 2005.

Bashir government in turn supported Uganda’s rebel group LRA, which waged a two decade insurgency in northern Uganda against Kampala.

“It is on record that government of Bashir has been providing substantial support to the LRA rebels and we need their assurance and direct involvement in the peace talks,” Ochora said.

He said the leaders will also use this opportunity to address and persuade the Ugandan community who have settled in Khartoum because of LRA insurgency to return home.

“The Ugandan Ambassador to Sudan is already arranging for us to talk to the Ugandan community in Sudan. We want them to come back home,” Ochora said.

He said after the Khartoum meeting, there are plans for them to hold consultation meeting with Joseph Kabila, the President of the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The LRA rebels are currently hiding in the jungles in northeastern DRC after they were flushed out by joint military operations of southern Sudanese and Ugandan armies.

“There are also arrangements for us to meet with President Kabila. We are trying to look for ways and solutions of ending this rebellion,” Ochora revealed.

President Museveni and his Congolese counterpart Kabila met last month in Arusha, Tanzania, to defuse the rising tensions along the oil-rich border. The two leaders in the meeting also agreed to evict the LRA rebels from DRC.

The LRA’s insurgency has left tens of thousands of people dead and over 1.4 million people displaced in northern Uganda, which is also one of Africa’s longest conflicts.

(Xinhua)