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UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs

UGANDA: Rebels kill government peace envoy

NAIROBI, 26 March 2003 (IRIN) - Rebels of the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) reportedly killed a government peace envoy on Monday, dampening hopes for a peaceful end to the 17-year insurgency in northern Uganda.

Media reports said Okech Kuru, a Ugandan army officer, was killed on Monday at Lapul, a sub county of Pader district, during a peace mission. He had established contact with the rebel group to deliver a message and some communication equipment to an LRA commander, Charles Tabuley, Uganda's independent 'Monitor' newspaper reported.

The Ugandan government has strongly condemned the killing. "This action makes us doubt the seriousness of the LRA about the peace talks," the paper quoted Betty Akech, Uganda's state minister for higher education and spokeswoman for the government's peace negotiating team, as saying.

The killing comes only days after President Yoweri Museveni extended a ceasefire in two locations in Pader - one of the districts most affected by the insurgency - to allow peace talks to go ahead.

However Lam Cosmas, the coordinator of the Acholi Religious Leaders' Peace initiative (ARLPI), which has been mediating the conflict, told IRIN that progress towards talks with the LRA was "slow" but there was still room for dialogue.

"We are keeping the dialogue going. The challenge is how do we nurture the peace and dialogue," Cosmas said. "The biggest challenge we are facing is trust building at all levels. You can't build it in one month."

Themes: (IRIN) Conflict

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