Talks on hold as rebels demand cessation of hostilities

Peace talks aimed at ending Uganda’s civil war after 20 years hit a snag on Thursday after the rebel Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) demanded a truce before resuming discussions, officials said on Thursday. "We are waiting for the mediators to tell us the way forward, but our delegation will remain in Juba to see that the process is taken to its logical conclusion," said Robert Kabushenga, the Kampala-based government spokesman. The LRA stormed out of the talks on Wednesday, demanding that the government declare a unilateral ceasefire before the talks could resume. "Whereas we remain firmly committed to the peace talks, our firm position is that no meaningful negotiations can take place without cessation of hostilities. As such we will not resume peace talks before the government also unilaterally declares a cessation of hostilities so that the first task upon resumption shall be to agree terms of the bilateral ceasefire agreement," the LRA said in statement. Kabushenga, however, insisted the government’s position was that no unilateral ceasefire would be announced by Kampala until it was negotiated and signed. "Our position is that you cannot just declare a ceasefire. We believe that a ceasefire must be negotiated and signed," he said. He said the government delegation had presented its position on the ceasefire, but the rebel delegation "did not even consider it. They just stormed out." He added: "Our team will continue waiting for them to end their strike and return to the table." In a related development, the Ugandan army announced on Wednesday that it had killed at least eight LRA fighters in the past eight days, despite the ongoing peace talks. Army spokesman Lt Chris Magezi said the fighters, whose leaders last week declared a unilateral ceasefire, were slain during ambushes in the war-ravaged northern Gulu, Pader and Amur districts as they were "trying to raid villages for food". "We have killed a total of eight rebels in the past week in ambushes in different places in northern Uganda," Magezi told IRIN by phone from his base in the region. He gave the absence of a formal ceasefire as the reason why the army would continue hunting down the insurgents. "There is no formal ceasefire with the LRA, therefore we have a duty to defend our people against the marauding rebel fighters who stage raids for food," Magezi explained. vm/mw/eo