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U.N.'s Egeland seeks progress in Uganda-LRA talks
11 Nov 2006 11:50:40 GMT
Source: Reuters

By Opheera McDoom

JUBA, Sudan, Nov 11 (Reuters) - U.N. humanitarian chief Jan Egeland arrived in the south Sudanese capital of Juba on Saturday to press for movement in peace talks between the Ugandan government and the rebel Lord's Resistance Army.

Egeland also said he would consider meeting reclusive LRA leader Joseph Kony, whose rebel forces have fought a 20-year insurgency that has killed tens of thousands of people and uprooted nearly 2 million.

"I am here to help (make) progress in Northern Uganda. ... We are having problems and we need more progress in the peace talks in Juba," Egeland told journalists upon arrival on what is to be his last visit to Sudan as U.N. humanitarian coordinator.

"If I can help prolong the cessation of hostilities and help the protection of civilians, this may happen. ... There are no fixed conditions because this is a judgment call," he said, referring to the prospect of a meeting with Kony.

The Ugandan government and rebels this month signed an extension of an August truce that many hope will help end one of Africa's longest wars. But Kony and other senior commanders have refused to quit their forest hideouts on the Sudan/Congo border to join talks themselves, fearing arrest.

The Hague-based International Criminal Court wants to try the LRA leadership for war crimes including killing civilians, rape and abducting children to swell their ranks.

Rebel negotiators have said Kony wanted to meet Egeland.

Egeland, who will leave his post in December, had earlier indicated he would meet Kony only if he released all women and children, a demand analysts said Kony was unlikely to agree to as it would be an admission that he had abducted civilians.

Kony, a self-proclaimed mystic, wants to rule Uganda by the Biblical Ten Commandments and is generally opposed to President Yoweri Museveni's government.

SOUTHERN PEACE, DARFUR

Egeland will also review implementation of a south Sudan peace deal to end more than two decades of north-south civil war, which many complain has been slow. Impasses remain over the division of oil wealth and the borders of the oil-rich areas.

Khartoum's Oil Ministry says it produces around 330,000 barrels per day (bpd) of crude, a figure the southern government disputes, insisting it is around 500,000 bpd. Under the deal the southern government is due about 50 percent of oil revenues.

Around 90 percent of Sudan's crude is in the south. A petroleum commission formed under the accord should mediate disputes and decide new contracts, but it is not functioning.

So the southern government instead has redrawn the south's oil blocks and is selling them off to potential bidders, ignoring the commission and previous contracts made with the northern Oil Ministry.

The oil dispute, which fuelled the north-south conflict, is straining the fragile peace.

Egeland, who has also been outspoken over the conflict currently raging in Sudan's west, next week will travel to Darfur where, despite a May peace deal with one of three negotiating rebel factions, violence has escalated and a military build-up continues.

Egeland's visit, long-delayed by the Sudanese authorities, comes at a sensitive time as last month Khartoum expelled the top U.N. envoy in Sudan Jan Pronk for comments he made on rebels inflicting two major defeats on the army in Darfur.

Experts estimate 200,000 people have been killed and more than 2.5 million forced to flee their homes in Darfur fighting between rebel groups, government forces and militias.

A new rebel alliance which refuses the May agreement, the National Redemption Front (NRF), renewed conflict with Khartoum in June. Battles mostly in North Darfur have continued.
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A dominant male chimpanzee listens to calls in Kibale National Park tropical rain forest, 354km southeast of Uganda’s capital Kampala, December 2, 2006. Researchers studying mating preferences within the Kanyawara chimpanzee community say male chimpanzees consistently prefer the oldest females in their community as mating partners. Picture taken December 2, 2006.