Kampala — THE Minister for Security, Mr Amama Mbabazi, is in The Hague, Netherlands to make a case for Uganda's offer of amnesty to the indicted rebel leader Joseph Kony.

The minister will also brief the International Criminal Court - which indicted Kony and his four commanders for war crimes, about the Southern Sudan mediated talks between the rebel Lord's Resistance Army and the Ugandan government, that get underway this week.

Daily Monitor has learnt that Kony has sent 20 fighters to Rajaf 12km east of Juba town, where the talks are scheduled to take place.

The fighters were sent, security sources believe, to beef up the 15 LRA negotiators. The Government of Southern Sudan last week asked the LRA to include senior fighters preferably those indicted by the ICC on its negotiating team.

"May be this is part of those we are expecting," Abdon Agaw Jok, the Secretary General of the Government of Southern said yesterday.

The government spokesman for the talks, Capt. Paddy Ankunda, said yesterday that Minister Mbabazi left for The Hague on Monday, "He (Mbabazi) is going to brief them (ICC) on the talks because he has been in charge of that process. He is going to meet the ICC leaders to ask them to give an opportunity to the on going talks in Juba (Southern Sudan)," Capt. Ankunda told Daily Monitor by telephone yesterday.

The ICC insists that Kony and his four commanders should be prosecuted for war crimes and crimes against humanity. Though Kony denies committing the alleged crimes, the ICC prosecutor insists the rebel Leader should travel to The Hague and make a formal defence.

However, Capt. Ankunda said, Mbabazi will convince the ICC that there will not be "any impunity whatsoever" in the event the talks are successful. South Sudan President, Salva Kiir through his deputy, Riak Machar is mediating in the talks.

"We will have to convince them (ICC) that the traditional justice will be put to use to ensure that there is no impunity and to make sure there is reconciliation between the rebels and community," Capt. Ankunda said as he prepared to leave for Juba with the government delegation led by the Minister of Internal Affairs Dr. Ruhakana Rugunda.

He added, "What will happen is that the rebels will apologise, there is a cleansing ceremony and reconciliation like it has been done in the post apartheid South Africa, Northern Ireland has also done the same".

President Museveni last week extended the deadline for the end of talks with the rebel Lords' Resistance Army.

Mr Museveni wants a deal sealed by September 12. Originally he had wanted to see results by the end of July. The President told the eight government negotiators he met at State Lodge Nakasero on Saturday that the extension would allow the Kony team organise better and give ample time for Parliament to get involved at some stage.

The extension, Museveni said, would also give ample time for the government to persuade the ICC to drop charges and arrest warrants against Kony and four of his commanders.

Meanwhile, Kony has failed to link up with the 15 LRA negotiators who travelled from Juba to the Sudan-DR Congo border recently in the company of Dr Riek Machar largely to discuss the finer details of the talks.

This, its feared, would delay the start of the talks, which were scheduled for today. The LRA negotiators and Machar have been holed up at the border waiting for Kony in vain, security sources in Juba said yesterday. "The delay might be there but that does not mean that there is no will. We have delayed because of logistical problems not principle," said Abdon Agaw Jok Secretary General of the Government of Southern Sudan.

"The talks are still on course any time tonight or tomorrow the vice president and the LRA team will return and the talks will kick off," Abdon added while addressing a press conference at the Information Ministry headquarters in Juba.

By press time Machar had not yet arrived in Juba.

Meanwhile, the Uganda Peoples Congress is organizing demonstrations countrywide to support the talks. The party says the events, which are "non partisan" are going to take place this week in the districts of Kampala, war torn Gulu, Kitgum, Lira, Soroti, Apac, Mbarara and Mbale.

Mr Henry Mayega, the special envoy in the office of the UPC president wrote to Maj. Gen. Kale Kayihura, the Inspector General of Police on Saturday asking him to provide security during the demonstrations.

"The events are meant to boost the peace process already embraced by the Uganda Government. The purpose of this letter is to inform you of these plans and your cooperation in this matter is awaited in terms of police protection," Mayega wrote to Kayihura.

However, when contacted on Saturday, the IGP said he was yet to receive the communication. "I haven't seen his letter. But we have to discuss it first. You can't organize such a big thing anyhow," said Kayihura.

"People have a right to demonstrate but we also have to look at the number of people they expect ," Kayihura added, preferring to discuss the matter further when he got the communication.

But Mayega said he did not expect resistance to the events because even government would be invited to take part. "(President) Museveni will be invited. He should be part of the event," Mayega added.

Mayega said the demonstrations would draw all shades of political opinion, religious groups and community-based organizations.