|
|
Uganda: Kony Heading Back to Sign Peace Deal
 |
 |
|||||||||
|
||||||||||
|
|
|||||||||
|
||||||||||
The Monitor (Kampala)
29 March 2008
Posted to the web 28 March 2008
Frank Nyakairu & Angelo Izama
Juba
Joseph Kony, accompanied by body guards, is on his way to Garamba possibly to meet the April 5 deadline when the final peace agreement to end the 21-year war in northern Uganda is expected to be signed, diplomatic sources have said.
Since the beginning of the year, news reports - backed by local and intelligence authorities, had indicated that LRA leader Kony had left his camp site in Congo's Garamba national park for safe haven in the Central African Republic.
Diplomatic sources in Juba said yesterday that following the announcement that a final peace agreement would be signed on April 5, Kony and an estimated 100 LRA troops had been sighted 85 miles south west of Garamba near the town of Doruma.
Kony, who has been urged to sign a comprehensive peace agreement in person, was said to be walking back to Garamba which is within reach of Ri-Kwang-Ba - one of the places where the signing ceremony could take place.
"We were worried but now that he is coming, it is very positive and we hope he signs," said a Western observer closely involved in the peace process. However, the LRA is now divided into three groups. One of the groups, led by Okot Odhiambo, who is one of the three LRA commanders indicted by the international Criminal Court for war crimes, remains at large.
On Wednesday, Gulu District chairman Norbert Mao said the plan to maintain a rear base in Central Africa Republic appears to have been meant to guarantee the safety of Kony at the signing.
"He said he would come [to the venue] on condition that Riek Machar [the chief mediator at the Juba talks] picks him up, stays by his side during the signing, and takes him back to Garamba" he said.
He added that if anything happened to Kony, it would signal his troops to act. LRA chief negotiator David Nyekorach-Matsanga declined to disclose Kony's current whereabouts but said he would be in Ri-Kwang-Ba.
|
"Kony is within the radius of Garamba but what I can assure Ugandans is that he will be there to sign the peace agreement on April 5," Matsanga said in Juba yesterday.
Political, religious and cultural leaders from northern Uganda welcomed the move but expressed concern about the implementation of the peace agreement. "It is obviously good news if Kony signs this agreement but that spirit should continue throughout the implementation process," said Acholi Paramount Chief Rwot Onen Achana II. The leaders are in Juba to make plans for the period after the agreement is signed.
The top technocrat on conflict in Africa at the American State Department, Mr Timothy Shortley, is temporarily camped in Juba where preparations are underway for the signing ceremony next week.
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Copyright © 2008 The Monitor. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections -- or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Make allAfrica.com your home page | RSS Feed | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Top | Site Guide | Who We Are | Advertising | Search | Subscribe | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Questions or Comments? Contact us. Read our Privacy Statement. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
