Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Kampala (Agenzia Fides) - “We have returned to Uganda and we will stay here until the head of the negotiation tells us that the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) is read to sign.” With these words Ruhakana Rugunda, Minister of Internal Affairs and head of the delegation from the Ugandan government that is scheduled to sign a peace accord with the LRA, expressed the frustration of the Kampalan government at the postponing of peace signings that were scheduled to take place yesterday, April 10, in Kwangba, a Sudanese town on the border with the Democratic Republic of Congo (see Fides 10/04/2008).
The Minister added that “unless there is a significant change of circumstances, the Ugandan government has no intention of prolonging the ceasefire accord.” The truce ends April 15.
According to Riek Machar, Vice-President of Sudan and head of the mediation team that hopes to end the over-20-year conflict in northern Uganda, LRA leader Joseph Kony would have called for new terms before signing the accord. They would have been terms related to the judicial process that the Ugandan government is prepared to impose for the civil-war crimes, as opposed to the process of the International Criminal Court that had issued arrest warrants for Kony and the other guerrilla leaders. (LM) (Agenzia Fides 11/4/2008; righe 18, parole 208)
