LRA representatives meet northern regional leaders, promise peace

Representatives of the rebel Lords Resistance Army (LRA) met religious and civic leaders from the northern region of Acholi on Tuesday, ahead of proposed talks with Ugandan government officials and said they would like to end the conflict peacefully, sources told IRIN. "It was a consultative meeting attended by about 30 people, including religious leaders, members of parliament, resident district commissioners and district chairmen, observers and diplomats," Fr Carlos Rodriguez Soto of Gulu Archdiocese, who attended the meeting, said. "The LRA delegation of six was led by the spokesman, Brig Sam Kolo," he told IRIN from Gulu, 380 km north of the capital, Kampala. "Kolo said the meeting had the full approval of [LRA leader, Joseph] Kony." The Ugandan internal affairs minister, Ruhakana Rugunda, traveled to the region on Tuesday, leading a government negotiation team ahead of the proposed meeting with the LRA. "Progress is being made in the search for a peaceful solution to the conflict," Rugunda told IRIN. "The essence [of Tuesday's meeting] was to build confidence and promote reconciliation in northern Uganda and the government fully supports the meeting." "I am in the north to try and bring about peace to our country," he added. Rugunda, however, declined to divulge the details of the proposed talks with the LRA. Tuesday's meeting took place at Paluda, 57 km northwest of Kitgum town near the Sudanese border and within the ceasefire zone announced recently by the Ugandan government. It lasted three hours and "was very cordial", Rodriguez added. The chief mediator in the conflict, former Ugandan minister Betty Bigombe, organised it. "There was a mood of optimism [and] much more consensus than in the past," Rodriguez said. "The LRA said they will have a first meeting with the government before the end of the year and want to make 2005 a year of peace in Acholi." Rodriguez said his delegation made a specific request to the rebels to allow humanitarian aid and food relief to be delivered to affected people across the region. The meeting was the latest in efforts to end a conflict that has claimed the lives of thousands of people and driven over 1.6 million from their homes since 1988, forcing them to live in camps scattered across northern Uganda. The UN has called it one of the world's most forgotten humanitarian crises. Over 18 years, the LRA has abducted thousands of children, forcing boys to fight within its ranks and girls to become sex slaves to rebel commanders. Previous attempts by Bigombe to broker peace between the LRA and the government failed in 1994 after President Yoweri Museveni called on the insurgents to surrender in seven days or "face the might of the army". Since then the war has raged on, with several other false starts in the search for peace. In November, however, Museveni announced a limited ceasefire to allow the rebels to consult and decide whether take part in proposed talks with the government. "The president has offered to talk directly to Kony if this is what will end the war in northern Uganda," Nsaba Buturo, government spokesman and information minister, told IRIN. "There have been persistent allegations both within and outside Uganda that [the] government did not want to talk peace with the rebels." ALSO SEE: "UGANDA: Humanitarian crisis persists in northern region"