Peace talks between the Ugandan government and the Lord’s Resistance Army rebels will enter a make-or-break stage when they resume this week in Juba, Southern Sudan.
The parties are expected to move to the contentious issues of power-sharing and the international arrest warrants issued against LRA leader Joseph Kony and his top rebel commanders, writes ReliefWeb.
President Yoweri Museveni, who pitched camp in northern Uganda last week, promised to get directly involved in the talks, which have been running for almost two months, to ensure a quick resolution of the conflict.
Over the past fortnight, the rebels have been assembling in the two designated points of Owiny-ki-Bul and Ri-Kwangba in Southern Sudan.
Although there is no independent verification of how many have turned up –one press account put it at 1,600 – Uganda’s Regional Co-operation Minister Henry Okello Oryem has said that government was surprised by the LRA’s response.
– On the level and rate of response from the LRA, we did not expect that, we were not sure they would appear in large numbers. The response to the truce has been fantastic and government is more optimistic than ever before that the talks will succeed, he said.
Kilde: www.reliefweb.int
