The Lord's Resistance Army, leader, Joseph Kony, has been given until end of this month to sign the Final Peace Agreement. He also has to immediately gather his fighters at Ri-Kwangba, the designated assembly point under the negotiated pact.

Stakeholders of the Juba dialogue, met in Kampala from Wednesday until yesterday under the chairmanship of chief mediator Riek Machar, echoing frustration that Kony had abused their patience by hesitating to sign the comprehensive pact. "We strongly urge the LRA to desist from carrying out attacks, and unconditionally sign the Final Peace Agreement by end of November, 2008," Dr Machar said, reading a communiqué he co-signed with Mr Joachim Chissano, the UN secretary-general's special envoy for LRA-affected areas.

Mediators, who griped that Kony's refusal to sign a deal has eroded "credibility" of the peace process, however, stopped short of outlining what they would do in the event the new deadline expires without Mr Kony's cooperation, as is widely expected. But Mr Paul Mayom, South Sudan's interior minister made it clear that Sudanese People Liberation Army (SPLA) soldiers would confront the LRA if they continued wreaking havoc in the country.

Ms Jemma Nunu Kumba, the governor of Western Equatoria State, touched raw anger at the meeting with an emotional account of alleged LRA atrocities in her area, the latest being the Sept. 9 raid on Sakure village where the insurgents burned alive a five-year-old kid, and killed two other people.

She said on March 16, the rebels attacked Ezo, the frontier area between DRC, southern Sudan and the Central African Republic, killing and abducting 21 people. The rebels are said to have snuffed out 30 other people in a similar invasion in Nabanga border locality. But head of the LRA delegation, Mr David Matsanga, said the LRA were not involved in the on-going vicious attacks in both the DRC and Sudan and asked the peace team, headed by chief mediator Dr Machar, to independently investigate the incursions that he blamed on "elements from Uganda."

"The attackers are reported to be looting cigarettes yet LRA rebels do not smoke and beer stores are also being looted in Dungu but the rebels do not drink alcohol," said Mr Matsanga.

He said some saboteurs, decamped in foreign capitals such as London, were routinely bombarding the indicted LRA chief with telephone calls and text messages, dissuading him from endorsing the peace deal.

Mr Kony angered negotiators and world leaders in April this year, when he, at the last minute, declined to show up to sign the FPA at an arranged ceremony at Ri-Kwangba, the south Sudan's border with the DRC.

He has since then been dodgy, until Wednesday, when he called Dr Machar and Uganda's Internal affairs minister Ruhakana Rugunda, to-re-echo his willingness to append his signature to the peace document. "What the government of Uganda wants is one thing - for Kony to sign (and) non-fulfilment of the obligation means they are opening the door for other things," the minister said.

The meeting recommended the continuation of President Chissano's role in resolving the LRA conflict. His mandate expires in December.