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UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs |
UGANDA: Gov't ready for conditional truce with rebels
KAMPALA, 25 Aug 2006 (IRIN) - The Ugandan government said on Friday it was ready to accept demands by the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) for a ceasefire on condition the rebels agreed to assemble their forces in designated locations.
"The President [Yoweri Museveni] has agreed that a ceasefire or cessation of hostilities should be given, but with conditions,” the Minister of State for Defence, Ruth Nankabirwa, said.
“The proposal gives assembly points, safe passages and how the rebels' welfare will be handled and how the monitoring should be done," Nankabirwa told reporters in Kampala, the Ugandan capital. "If they [the LRA] agree to assemble at designated locations, the government will then order the cessation of operations by the UPDF [Ugandan People's Defence Force]," she added.
The LRA has called for a unilateral ceasefire, but the Ugandan government has refused to reciprocate, saying this should be part of a more comprehensive peace deal.
The ceasefire will take effect upon assembly of the LRA in designated areas that include Owinyi Kibul at the border with Sudan for rebel fighters in northern Uganda, and Rikuangba in southern Sudan's Western Equatoria state, for the group in Garamba [Democratic Republic of Congo]," said a spokesman of the Ugandan delegation at the peace talks, Captain Paddy Ankunda, who spoke to IRIN from Juba, in southern Sudan, where the talks are being held.
He said the envisaged assembly period would be two weeks, with bi-weekly reviews of the agreement to cease hostilities. "The agreement will commence upon a declaration by President Museveni and the LRA commander Joseph Kony," he added.
"The government will then order the UPDF, the police and other security forces to allow free passage of the LRA to the assembly points while we propose that the SPLA [southern Sudanese army] will guard the LRA in the assembly points," he added. "The government of Sudan will cater for the logistical and humanitarian supplies to the LRA in the assembly points."
The talks are seen as the best chance of ending a 20-year war in which thousands have died and almost two million people have been displaced.
Nankabirwa said the government was involving parliamentarians, civic, cultural and religious leaders to mobilise the population for peace in an apparent effort to bring on board the war-affected population of northern Uganda.
A team of 10 local leaders would to go to Juba to encourage community participation in the peace talks.
"There is a need for the participation of the affected communities who have suggested an alternative way of justice and accountability. The greatest justice to the people who have been suffering for the past 20 years is to have peace," Betty Amongi, a member of parliament and one of the 10 observers, told reporters. She added that the indictment by the International Criminal Court (ICC) against the LRA’s leaders would not end the conflict in northern Uganda.
Another member of the group, Gulu district council chairman Nobert Mao, said the team would also address rallies in the affected region to give the population information about the talks. "There will be a lot of straight talk in the field," he said.
The rebel delegation on Thursday also demanded radical changes to the country's administrative structure, calling for autonomy for the north under a new federal constitution. The rebels demanded representation in the Ugandan cabinet and proposed wealth-sharing arrangements, with northern Uganda getting more than 20 percent of all government revenue. The rebels claimed the government had "intentionally under-developed and impoverished eastern and northern Uganda as a political tool of control and repression".
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This material comes to you via IRIN, a UN humanitarian information unit, but may not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations or its agencies. If you re-print, copy, archive or re-post this item, please retain this credit and disclaimer. Quotations or extracts should include attribution to the original sources. All materials copyright © UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs 2006
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