- The Ugandan government has said there is no need for renewed peace talks with the Lord’s Resistance Army after its leader Joseph Kony failed to sign a peace deal agreed by all rebel factions in April last year.
The Minister of Foreign Affairs Sam Kutesa said the government has resolve not to enter into any peace talks until the LRA has agreed to sign the peace agreement.
Mr Kony who is reportedly hiding in the northern Democratic Republic of Congo forests had amongst others, demanded the scrapping of the International Criminal Court arrest warrants against him and his top commanders before signing the peace deal with the Uganda government.
Mr Kutesa said renewed peace negotiations are a waste of time, saying all that is remaining is the signing of the deal. “If the LRA wants to sign the agreement we welcome them but if they want to go back into talks, we are not ready,” he said.
He said the government is continuing to support Congolese troops attempting to disarm the remaining LRA rebels forces in DRC's Garamba National Park since 2007.
The Uganda People's Defence Force in December mounted a joint operation with DRC and South Sudanese forces to flush out the LRA, which has been based in DRC.
The Minister’s remarks came a week after the UN special envoy urged the Ugandan government to revive peace negotiations with the rebel group which has been dragging since April last year.
The official expressed concern that the joint military counter operation against the LRA could lead to further human rights abuses and massacres against a civilian population caught between government forces and the rebels if not planned and coordinated effectively.
The Ugandan government has recently accused the Lord’s Resistance Army rebels of abducting children in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Sudan and Uganda but said a peace deal would be a better option to a lasting solution that would bring to an end nearly two decades of war in northern Uganda which has killed thousands of people and left 2 million homeless.
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