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Elusive Ugandan rebel leader renews pledge to peace talks
Juba, Sudan, Aug 1, 2006 The elusive leader of Uganda's notorious Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), Joseph Kony, on Tuesday renewed his commitment to peace talks with the goverment aimed at ending 19 years of insurgency, officials said. "Kony assured the international community that he is committed to peace and that he is determined to reach an agreement once and for all," Martin Ojur, a top LRA official, told AFP from Nabanga, a small trading post along the border between Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Kony, one of the world's most wanted men, said in negotiations with south Sudan vice president Riak Machar and Ugandan government officials that peace talks were the only way to end fighting, Ojur said. Ojur, who leads the rebel delegation at the peace talks, said Tuesday's meeting was the second time the rebel supremo has participated directly in the talks following a first meeting Saturday at the same site. Dozens of heavily armed LRA fighters surrounded the tent where the negotiations took place, he said. A separate LRA delegation was meeting with traditional and religious leaders from southern Sudan in the regional capital Juba a day after the resumption of talks to end the bloody conflict that has claimed tens of thousands of lives and displaced around two million people. The International Criminal Courts (ICC) has issued arrest warrants for Kony, his deputy Vincent Otti and three other top commanders, preventing the rebel leader from joining peace talks mediated by Machar in Juba. But President Yoweri Museveni has assured "total amnesty" to Kony, a self-proclaimed prophet and mystic, if the talks succeed. The LRA claims to be fighting to replace Museveni's government with one based on the Biblical 10 Commandments, but has become better known for atrocities, particularly kidnapping children -- girls to use as sex slaves and boys as fighters. The United Nations says the war in northern Uganda is one of the world's worst humanitarian disasters and complains that it has largely gone unnoticed by the international community. Sudan is working with foreign powers to have the arrest warrants withdrawn in order to enable Kony to negotiate directly with the government. Community Email This Article Comment On This Article Related Links Nuclear Space Technology at Space-Travel.com
Three British soldiers killed in Afghanistan ambush
Kandahar, Afghanistan, Aug 1, 2006 Three British NATO soldiers were killed in an ambush by insurgents in southern Afghanistan Tuesday, a day after the alliance assumed command from the US-led coalition in the hostile area. |
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