Crucial peace talks between the Ugandan government and the rebel Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) will resume on Monday in Juba, according to Riek Machar, the chief mediator and southern Sudanese vice-president.
“I am optimistic that this time they will come up with a positive result because I have seen the commitment of the Ugandan people,” Machar told reporters on Tuesday near the border between Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), after meeting Joseph Kony, the LRA leader.
However, Kony demanded a cessation of hostilities before talks.
“We wish to categorically state that no meaningful negotiations can take place without a cessation of hostilities,” he said.
Wearing a white short-sleeved shirt and white trousers, a relaxed Kony denied abducting children, despite the children among the 80 fighters guarding him.
“I cannot fight with children,” he told reporters at his first news conference in 21 years.
“As you know very well, children cannot walk 60 miles as I do.”
Kony also met leaders from East, West and Central Equatoria in Sudan and asked for forgiveness.
He blamed the Ugandan army for some of the atrocities committed during the 20-year conflict in northern Uganda and southern Sudan.
On Monday, Kony had told a delegation of Ugandan religious, community and political leaders that he would like to discuss with the Ugandan government how to end the northern war peacefully, but continuing attacks on his forces could jeopardise such talks.
“The first thing that should have taken place should have been the signing of a protocol or a memorandum of understanding on the cessation of hostilities,” he said.
The meetings followed a break in talks between the Ugandan government and the LRA, to allow for consultations. The talks started on July 14.
The LRA, which has fought the Ugandan government for 21 years, claiming it wants to install an administration based on the Ten Commandments, has bases in southern Sudan and northern DRC.
Almost two million people have been displaced by the fighting and more than 25 000 children have been abducted either to fight for the rebels or to serve as sex slaves.
Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni has offered Kony an amnesty despite the International Criminal Court’s indictment of Kony on 33 counts of crimes against humanity.