Minister Rugunda meets Kony in Sudan

By Alfred Wasike

INTERNAL affairs minister Dr. Ruhakana Rugunda met LRA commanders Joseph Kony and Vincent Otti on Sunday in the first ever direct talks between the LRA leadership and the Government.

The meeting in Ri-Kwangba, South Sudan, close to the border with Congo, was organised by the UN special envoy for Uganda’s conflict, former Mozambican President Joaquim Chissano.

“Given the circumstances, it was a good meeting,” Rugunda told The New Vision yesterday upon his return to Uganda. “It brought the main stakeholders together. Both parties expressed readiness and willingness to resume the peace talks. We also agreed to have further contacts before the actual resumption. Definitely, we are optimistic.”

Asked if the Government would give in to the rebels’ demands for change of venue and mediator, Rugunda said: “We are still finalising these issues. But the position of Uganda is clear that the venue remains Juba.”

Besides political, traditional and religious leaders of the affected areas, Rugunda revealed that also representatives of Congolese President Joseph Kabila and South African President Thabo Mbeki were present.

It is the first time the Government of the DR Congo, which has been harbouring the LRA leadership for the last one and a half years, is involved in the talks.
It is also the first time South Africa is represented.

The LRA requested South Africa or Kenya to host the talks. The LRA did not want to elaborate on the meeting. “It was positive,” Otti told Reuters. “We told them what we wanted, and we are waiting for a response.”

Analysts say the LRA negotiators, most of them rebel sympathisers from the Ugandan diaspora, are pushing a political agenda in which the commanders have little interest.

By meeting the LRA bosses directly, Chissano could be trying to cut out the middlemen to spur the talks, they say.
But Rugunda denies this. “It is not the intention to sideline anybody. President Chissano is a reconciler. He wants to include, not exclude people.”

Some fear the top LRA leaders will never make peace with the Government until the ICC drops its indictments against them.

In January, Chissano said the matter of the arrest warrants was between the International Court in The Hague and the Ugandan government.

Chief mediator Vice-President of South Sudan Riek Machar also attended the meeting. Machar established the first contact with the LRA leaders in their Congolese hide-out last May, which led to the start of the peace talks in July.
But the LRA delegation last month accused him of being high-handed, not trustworthy and “a person with no regard for other people’s opinion.”

They also wanted the venue to be changed, citing security concerns after threats uttered by Sudan’s President, el Bashir, and Vice-President, Salva Kiir.
But in a press conference in Kampala yesterday after meeting President Yoweri Museveni, Kiir explained that the LRA could stay in South Sudan as long as they were willing to make peace.

“The LRA came for peace but they refused to sign (the agreement) and continued killing people. They have to choose. If they want peace, let them make peace. If they don’t want, let them go away from Juba.”

A series of ambushes were carried out in the past months on the roads from Nimule and Torit to Juba, killing over 70 civilians.

According to Kiir, both the Sudanese army and the LRA were involved in the attacks. He reassured Ugandan traders that they were doing everything possible to secure the roads and protect them and their property.

Museveni thanked the South-Sudan President for convincing him to engage in dialogue with the LRA.

“I want to salute Salva Kiir because he is the one who convinced me to go back to the talks. I had given up the idea of talking with Kony. His approach may work despite the games being played by Kony.”

Both Museveni and Salva Kiir added it was the UN Special Envoy to guide them on the next step in the peace process.