The African Union is seeking to act as mediator in the conflict pitting Ugandan government troops and rebels in the north, a spokesperson said on Thursday.
”The deputy chairman of the AU, Patrick Mazimhaka, left on Thursday to Uganda bearing a message for President Yoweri Museveni concerning the conflict in the north,” Adam Thiam said by telephone from the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, where the AU is headquartered.
”He plans to offer him [Museveni] the AU’s assistance in reaching a peaceful end to the conflict,” Thiam said.
Thiam said the AU has also decided to boost its presence in Uganda by setting up an office there.
Museveni at the weekend ordered the army to resume attacks against the insurgents, after last-minute hitches scuppered a December 31 ceasefire agreement that could have paved the way for formal peace talks.
Museveni also spurned pleas by religious leaders, who have tried to broker peace deals in the past, to extend the government’s unilateral ceasefire and give talks a chance to halt 18 years of insurgency, said Ekomoloit.
The government’s unilateral ceasefire, which was announced on November 14 to allow Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) rebels to meet and discuss entering peace talks, expired December 31.
The LRA, which rose up against the government in 1988 to set up a regime based on the Bible’s ten commandments, is notorious for its brutality against the civilian population, in particular the practice of abducting children: boys to serve as recruits and girls as sexual slaves to rebel commanders. — Sapa-AFP