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Uganda: Govt Asks LRA's Kony to Sign in Juba
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New Vision (Kampala)
27 March 2008
Posted to the web 28 March 2008
Alfred Wasike
Kampala
THE LRA leader, Joseph Kony, should go to Juba for the signing of the final peace agreement on April 5, the Government has insisted.
"We agreed on Juba as the venue. Kony is scheduled to sign for the LRA, while President Yoweri Museveni will sign for the Government. We would like to see Kony personally present. He will be safe and protected," the Government chief negotiator, Ruhakana Rugunda, told journalists at the Media Centre in Kampala yesterday.
"If he does not come, it will not jeopardise the signing process because we are set. If he cannot come, then other credible people can can sign for him. But I can assure you that Juba is our first choice."
The leader of the LRA peace team, David Nyekorach Matsanga, said Kony would sign the deal from his Ri-Kwangba base.
Matsanga assured the South Sudan vice-president, Riek Machar, that Kony would sign the deal at the assembly point, not in Juba.
Kony, now reportedly holed up in the Central African Republic, and his top commanders, were indicted by the United Nations' International Criminal Court, for crimes against humanity.
Rugunda stressed that the final peace deal does not make any reference to the ICC warrants "because it was dealt with exhaustively by the agreement on accountability and reconciliation."
"But Kony will have to come to Uganda and be subjected to the legal and traditional justice systems.
"The Government is in advanced stages of creating a special division in the High Court to handle the LRA cases."
On whether Uganda had asked other governments to have the LRA knocked off the list of international terrorists, Rugunda said: "The Government of Uganda has neither approached the US nor any other governments to drop the LRA from the list of international terrorists. It will only be after we sign the final peace deal that we shall consider that."
On the Allied Democratic Force rebels based in the DR Congo, Rugunda said they had expressed interest in negotiating with the Government.
"They have sent contacts to the Government for talks. They have expressed interest to end the insurgency."
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Rugunda, who is also the Minister of Internal Affairs, commended President Museveni, Parliament, the Uganda People's Defence Forces, the Government of South Sudan and other organisations for their support towards ending the 22-year-long conflict.
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