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| Africa Horn |
| Uganda truce takes effect |
| 2006-08-29 |
| UGANDA today ordered its military to halt operations against Lord's Resistance Army rebels as a truce aimed at boosting peace talks to end nearly 20 years of brutal war took effect. Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni issued the order as a weekend "cessation of hostilities" accord came into force at 6am (1pm AEST) under which LRA fighters will move to camps in southern Sudan for the duration of the talks. Officials in Kampala said the Ugandan People's Defence Forces (UPDF) were preparing routes of safe passage for the rebels to move to the two sites and would soon begin publicising their locations by radio. "The commander in chief of the UPDF... has directed all UPDF to cease all search and destroy operations against the LRA," army spokesman Felix Kulaije said, reading from the presidential order. "It is hereby directed that the UPDF should withdraw to their barracks and to the guarding of internally displaced people," he said. "They should not shoot at the LRA unless in defence of the population." In the southern Sudanese capital of Juba, where the peace talks are being held, LRA officials said rebel supremo, Joseph Kony, who declared a unilateral ceasefire on August 4, had re-affirmed the earlier truce. "We have just heard that the president has announced a cessation of hostilities (and) that is sufficient to move the process forward," rebel spokesman Obonyo Olweny said. Uganda's deputy Defence Minister Ruth Nankabirwa said military experts were mapping out safe corridors for the LRA to use to move to the camps. "We expect the LRA to start using those corridors that will be announced later in the day and our troops have been directed not to shoot at them unless it is to protect civilians," she told a Kampala news conference. Under the agreement, Uganda has guaranteed the rebels - who number anywhere between 500 and 5000, according to various estimates - safe passage to the assembly points. They will stay there under the protection of the government of autonomous southern Sudan, which is mediating in the negotiations that are to resume on Friday. On Monday, less than 24 hours after the truce was signed, LRA commanders began informing rebel fighters of the agreement and telling them to prepare to leave the bush in accordance with its provisions. In recorded messages broadcast over radio stations in war-ravaged northern Uganda, they told their forces not to attack or molest civilians as they make their way out of the bush toward the sites. The commanders also appealed to local communities not be alarmed if they see LRA fighters moving through their villages. Many of the rebels are illiterate, hungry and desperate children cut off from most communication in remote jungle locations in northern Uganda, southern Sudan and the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. The Juba talks are seen by many as the best chance to end northern Uganda's conflict, which has claimed tens of thousands of lives and displaced nearly two million people since the LRA took leadership of a regional rebellion in 1988. However, mediators have warned of a tough road ahead with the two sides at deep odds on a variety of wealth and power-sharing issues. Kampala has flatly rejected rebel demands for huge cuts in the government army and 40 per cent LRA representation in the reduced force as well as a call for complete autonomy for northern Uganda under a revamped constitution. Mr Museveni has set a September 12 deadline for a final settlement and warned that an offer of amnesty to Kony and other top LRA leaders charged with war crimes by the International Criminal Court (ICC) will also expire on that date. The ICC has said that arrest warrants for those charged remain in force and Mr Museveni warned late yesterday that his military would re-engage the LRA if the talks were not successful. |
| Posted by:Oztralian |