Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) rebels in Uganda on Wednesday asked South Africa to join efforts to mediate faltering peace talks with the Ugandan government aimed at ending two decades of fighting.
The announcement from LRA supremo murderer Joseph Kony, through his deputy thug, Vincent Otti, came a day after the rebels won a 72-hour break in peace talks with the government in order to mourn the death of a top commander -- and International Criminal Court fugitive -- killed by the army over the weekend.
| They should have more of these breaks. |
In a statement, Otti said South Africa has a successful track record in conflict resolution in Africa. "I, Lieutenant General Vincent Otti, deputy chairperson of the high command and second-in-command of the Lord's Resistance Army, do hereby appeal to the government of the Republic of South Africa to come and act as co-mediator," he said.
He said South African mediation would complement the efforts of the government of southern Sudan in the ongoing peace talks, which are taking place in southern Sudan.
Face-to-face talks are expected to resume on Friday, when the insurgents will declare their stand on accountability and reconciliation.
Officials said the rebels chose South Africa in order to exert pressure on Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni's government to be serious in efforts to end the insurgency that has claimed tens of thousands of lives and displaced more than two million others. In addition, they argued that the chief mediator, southern Sudan Vice-President Riak Machar, "was not new in the Ugandan peace process," and thus there was fear of bias, according to an unnamed official.
The LRA has warned that Uganda's refusal to match its unilateral truce, its insistence that the rebels disarm and surrender, as well as its death threats to top commanders are stymying the talks.
| Killing the top commanders does make it more difficult for them to 'negotiate'. |
"In order for the Juba negotiations to be meaningful, successful and binding, the [LRA] ... calls upon the government of Uganda to respond positively and declare a cessation of hostilities and respect the agenda and code of conduct agreed upon by the negotiating parties, the mediators and facilitators," Otti explained.
| "Please stop killing us!" |
The Ugandan government insists any truce agreement with the rebels will be at the end of the peace process, arguing that the insurgents would take advantage of a cessation of hostilities to regroup, rearm and recruit new fighters.
| What's the word in Arabic for that, um .. um .. oh yeah .. hudna. |
Over the weekend, the army said it had killed Major General Raska Lukwiya in northern Uganda. On Wednesday, meanwhile, the Ugandan army said troops killed four rebels, including a commander allegedly involved in last year's slaying of a British tourist in northern Uganda. Army spokesperson Lieutenant Chris Magezi said Reagan Akena, a junior LRA commander, and three fighters were killed in an ambush on Monday in Amuru district. "[Akena] was responsible for the killing of Steve Wills, the British tourist who was killed in Murchison Falls Park in November," the spokesperson said.
| Excellent! Who put the starch in the army's shorts? |
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