Uganda on Friday rejected a call by the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) rebels for South African mediation as fragile peace talks aimed at ending Uganda’s brutal two-decade war resumed.
Kampala’s delegation to the negotiations said the LRA request — made on Wednesday — was unwarranted and instead expressed full confidence in lead mediator Riek Machar, vice-president of autonomous southern Sudan.
”We respect South Africa’s experience in conflict resolution but we do not see the urgency of involving new people given the progress we have made,” said Paddy Ankunda, spokesperson for the government delegation.
”We feel confident in the mediation of Riek Machar,” he told Agence France-Presse at the venue for the talks in Juba, the capital of southern Sudan. ”There is no need to have another mediator when Machar is doing a good job.”
There was no immediate reaction from the LRA as the talks resumed after a three-day break for rebels to mourn a slain commander.
The negotiations are now focused on forging a cessation of hostilities pact to pave the way for a formal ceasefire, and the LRA was expected on Friday to present position papers on reconciliation and accountability, officials said.
”We hope the talks will proceed well,” rebel spokesperson Obonyo Olweny said.
Tens of thousands of people have been killed and about two million displaced in northern Uganda since the LRA took leadership of a regional rebellion among the Acholi ethnic minority in 1988, marking the beginning of brutal campaign.
LRA leader Joseph Kony, who is wanted for war crimes by the International Criminal Court, wants to replace Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni’s government with one based on the Biblical Ten Commandments.
Several previous peace efforts have failed and the Juba talks are seen as the best chance yet to end a war described by the United Nations as one of the world’s worst and most-forgotten humanitarian crises. — Sapa-AFP