Uganda Refuses a Sudanese Delegated Peace Talk with LRA!

Takes to mediate in the Ugandan conflict between government and the rebel Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) are taking place in Southern Sudan. However the Ugandan government refuses to meet the rebel's leadership. Ugandan authorities declare their refusal because the rebel's leadership had been accused by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for war crimes.

Uganda's Foreign Minister Okello Oryem confirmed there's no reason to meet indicted leaders and suggested the rebel insurgency's leadership be arrested. "We cannot have head-to-head meetings with the indicted LRA commanders. We would have to arrest them immediately", he said.

Oryem indicated that the LRA is a regional problem now, not a Uganda problem. "Those countries, in which they hide, namely South Sudan and the DRC, have a responsibility to act, along with the UN forces. They should be sincere and serious about doing what is necessary according to the ICC", he suggested.

A delegation of the Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/SPLA) headed by South Sudan's vice President, Riek Machar, held meetings last May with the LRA leadership to pave the way for political resettlement to the Ugandans conflict. Takes started after the southern Sudanese authority expelled the LRA forces from their location in southern Sudan.

Joseph Koney, the LRA leader confirmed during one of the meetings that his rebels are fighting for peace. He declared their willingness to negotiate peace to end two decades of fighting that claimed the lives of thousands of people and displaced nearly two million Ugandans. "The LRA is ready to talk peace and end the war in a good way, not by force", he said in a video footage while addressing the Sudanese delegation.

The International Police Organisation (Interpol) has issued notices about wanted people including Kony and four of his commanders on behave of the ICC. The ICC indicted the five leaders on 12 counts of crimes against humanity and 21 counts of war crimes.

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Historical Backgrounds:

LRA was formed in 1987 and started operation mainly in north Uganda. Its leader self-proclaimed prophet, Joseph Kony proclaims himself as a spirit medium and he is oriented to establish a state based on his own interpretation of the Bible. His fighters are from the Acholi tribe. The rebels have been accused of human rights violations, including the use of child soldiers (LRA kidnapped around 20.000 Childs), the abduction of civilians and other war crimes. It's known in the media that the LRA has terrorised northern Uganda for since its formation.

The rebels grew one year after the overthrow of President Tito Okello from the ethnic Acholi, by the National Resistance Army (NRA) of Yowri Museveni who descended from another tribe in southwest Uganda, so his support base lies within the tribes of southern Uganda.

The Acholi supported their son Joseph Kony fearing the loss of their traditional dominance of the national military. They also feared that NRA would seek retribution for the brutal counterinsurgency, particularly the actions of the army in the Luwero Triangle, which lies in the north of the capital city of Kampala in Luwero district. The term used to refer to an area renowned for the persecution of civilians during the second regime of President Milton Obote.

The civil war that led Museveni to power claimed an estimated 100.000 lives and caused 1.6 refugees to flee the country.

The Acholi perceived in the south as being a naturally violent race. The Bugandan tribe in the south doesn’t care about them fighting against themselves in the north.

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