Uganda's LRA threatens to pull out of peace talks
Source: Reuters
By Tim Cocks KAMPALA, Nov 29 (Reuters) - Rebels in the Lord's Resistance Army threatened to walk out of Ugandan peace talks on Wednesday, accusing the army of killing three of their fighters in an ambush. But the army rejected the allegation, saying it had no soldiers anywhere near where the ambush was reported. LRA spokesman Obonyo Olweny told Reuters the army attacked a group of LRA moving towards an assembly point in southern Sudan that had been agreed under a landmark truce. "We cannot talk peace while the gross violations of the UPDF (Uganda People's Defence Forces) continue," he said by satellite phone from south Sudan. "This morning they attacked our forces and killed three of our soldiers." He said the LRA would pull out of talks until the Ugandan army withdraws all its troops from south Sudan. The army denied the accusation. "We did not ambush them. We have withdrawn from all those areas near the LRA in southern Sudan," army spokesman Major Felix Kulayigye told Reuters. A landmark truce signed in August and renewed last month had raised hopes of an end to a two-decade civil war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced 1.7 million. Despite mutual mistrust and accusations of truce violations on both sides, the truce has largely held. The agreement gives the rebels until Friday to assemble in two areas in south Sudan while talks continue -- Ri-Kwangba, on the Congo border near the LRA's leaders' jungle hideouts, and Owiny-Ki-Bul, east of the Nile on the Ugandan border. The LRA missed earlier deadlines to assemble after accusing the army of besieging their fighters in Owiny-Ki-Bul. To build confidence, the UPDF this month said it had withdrawn from three places in south Sudan the rebels had complained about. Kulayigye accused the rebels of distracting attention from their failure to assemble in the points agreed under the truce. "The agreement expires on Friday. They should be already in Owiny-Ki-Bul, yet still they are not assembled. So where are they?" he said. The United Nations and donors have pledged money and support to bolster the peace process, but the LRA leaders say they will never sign a peace deal until International Criminal Court indictments against them for war crimes are dropped.
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