Govt, LRA to start talks on Friday, says Machar

Southern Sudanese Vice-President Riek Machar returned to Juba on Thursday with leaders of the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) and announced that peace talks between the rebels and the Ugandan government would start on Friday. "Our understanding is that the Ugandan government will talk to the LRA unconditionally," Machar said at Juba airport. "The talks will start tomorrow [Friday]. The delegation of the LRA is here - they [the Ugandan government] said they would come." However, he added that no agenda for the peace talks had been set. "We have a secretariat. We will let them decide whether to enter into direct talks or negotiate through mediators," he told reporters. In Kampala, sources told IRIN the government delegation was preparing to leave for the south Sudanese capital to attend the talks. A senior official said Uganda would tone down its earlier demand that the LRA be represented by either its leader Joseph Kony or his deputy, Vincent Otti. "The question is about authoritative, authentic representation so that when decisions are taken they are binding instead of breaking the talks for people to travel back to Garamba [the LRA hideout] for consultations," the official said. Two LRA colonels, Bwone Lobwa and Santo Alit, are to reinforce the rebel delegation. "The two are members of the high command and very close to the LRA leaders," Obonyo Olweny, the LRA spokesman in Juba, told reporters at the airport. "The LRA is here for the peace talks; we are ready to talk to the Ugandan government," he said. "The issue of some of the top LRA leaders coming to this initial contact meeting will not arise. It was not foreseen to have [one of] our five top leaders on the delegation." He added: "The LRA deeply appreciates the efforts by the government of southern Sudan, personified in the Vice-President, Riek Machar. We also appreciate the patience of the people of Uganda. We don't have a plan B. Our plan is plan A - talks for peace." The talks were scheduled to start on Wednesday. On Tuesday, Otti told Machar, who is mediating, that neither he nor Kony would be included in the rebel delegation to Juba, according to a source on Machar's delegation, which met the rebels in a remote village near the border between Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo. "Otti said Kony will come to join the peace talks later," Machar said on Thursday. Machar left Juba last weekend to consult the rebel commanders. Although he spoke to Otti, a scheduled meeting with Kony on Wednesday morning failed to materialise. "I expected him [Joseph Kony] to be there to explain to him the new positions [of the Ugandan government], but I met Otti," Machar said. "They have a concern with [the ICC arrest warrants]; they think they have not been given a security guarantee. We felt they should have included their leaders, but they didn't feel secure." The rebel leaders are reluctant to come out of hiding in the absence of solid security guarantees because the International Criminal Court (ICC) has issued arrest warrants for Kony and four of his commanders for war crimes and crimes against humanity. Saying the peace talks and the legal process were two separate issues, Machar added: "I hope they [the ICC] can wait for the peace process to finish. We have been patient; the war has been going on for 20 years. The sooner the talks are over the better." The ICC has insisted that the indicted LRA leaders must face trial, but Uganda has sent a minister to The Hague try to persuade the ICC to lift the indictments. ds/vm/mw/eo