Grace Matsiko
28 April 2008
Kampala — Security Minister Amama Mbabazi has warned of dire consequences for the Lord's Resistance Army rebels if they continue to snub the South Sudan mediated Juba peace talks.
"We call upon the LRA to take advantage of the Juba talks and come out of their criminality. If they don't the price of their sins is well known," Mr Mbabazi said as he closed the security and defence experts meeting in Kampala at the weekend.
"The government of Uganda condemns the LRA for inflicting terrorism on the people of Central Africa, Democratic Republic of Congo and Sudan," he added.
The four-day meeting under the umbrella of peace and security cluster of the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region, a grouping of 11 core countries, was attended by senior military and intelligence officers from Sudan, DRC and CAR among others.
The LRA leader, Joseph Kony and his fighters operate from the three countries. On April 10, Kony delayed the signing of the final peace agreement with the government citing financial and personal security.
But Mr Mbabazi said time was up for the armed groups who have been operating from the DRC. "The fact that countries of our region are meeting together more regularly and amicably, is a clear indication that our region is gradually transforming from a zone of mutual suspicion and antagonism into a zone of cooperation and mutual support," he said.
Answering questions from journalists later, Mr Mbabazi said whereas Uganda believes DRC has committed herself to deal with the errant LRA, it appreciates the country's lack of capacity, an issue he said can be addressed by the regional states.
He said the regional efforts to end the menace of armed groups operating from the DRC was "sidelined with the deployment of Monuc in the country which focused on the "internal dimension at the expense of the external dimension."
He, however, said Monuc has started re-adjusting its programmes of disarming armed groups to factor in the interests of neighbouring countries.
Mr Mbabazi called on countries in the region that have not ratified the non-aggression and mutual defence treaty to ratify it. Burundi, CAR, DRC, Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda and Zambia have so far ratified the pact initiated in 2004.
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