Prospects for peace talks between gov't and LRA uncertain

Efforts by authorities in southern Sudan to mediate in the conflict between the Ugandan government and the rebel Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) appeared to be stalling at the weekend after Kampala refused to meet the insurgency's leadership because it had been indicted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for war crimes. "Nobody can meet with those who are indicted," Okello Oryem, Uganda's junior foreign minister, said on Saturday. "As far as we are concerned, the LRA is a regional problem now - not a Uganda problem. Those countries in which they hide, namely South Sudan and the DRC [Democratic Republic of Congo], have a responsibility to act, along with the UN forces [in Sudan]. They should be sincere and serious about doing what is necessary according to the ICC," he added, suggesting the LRA leaders be arrested. South Sudan vice-president Riek Machar has been trying to arrange talks between the Ugandan government and the LRA, which is headed by Joseph Kony. The rebel leader said in video footage last month that he was willing to engage the government in talks to end two decades of violence that has claimed the lives of thousands of civilians and displaced close to two million people in the country's north. The International Police Organisation (Interpol) has issued wanted- persons notices against Kony and four other LRA commanders on behalf of the ICC, which last year indicted the five men on 12 counts of crimes against humanity and 21 counts of war crimes. The other suspects are Kony's deputy, Vincent Otti, and commanders Raska Lukwiya, Okot Odhiambo and Dominic Ongwen, who has since died. The five are also accused intentionally directing an attack against civilians. An LRA delegation arrived in Juba, the capital of southern Sudan, last week ready to start talks, but the Ugandan government did not send a team. "We cannot have a head-to-head meeting with the indicted LRA commanders. We would have to arrest them immediately," said Oryem. An official in the southern Sudan government, Benjamin Lual, said on Friday that authorities were expecting a Ugandan team at the weekend. He said the Sudanese believed the delay was caused by the Ugandan cabinet reshuffle. "The president of Uganda has only formed the cabinet recently, and they want to design their agenda as a government before they put their position to the rebels. That's our understanding of the delay," he said. Last Thursday, Amama Mbabazi, Uganda's minister in charge of security, ruled out amnesty for Kony and his fellow commanders. "There is no amnesty for Kony, and we cannot speak to Kony," he said.