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| Posted to the web on December 1, 2008 |
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December 1, 2008 (Khartoum) — The Lord's Resistance Army and the Ugandan government failed to sign a peace deal at the weekend.
LRA leader Joseph Kony was supposed to sign a peace agreement on Saturday at a remote location in southern Sudan on the border with the Democratic Republic of Congo. He failed to appear.
Mediators, led by former Mozambiquan President Joaquim Chissano and Riek Machar from the Government of Southern Sudan, waited until Sunday for the rebel leader before flying back to Juba.
This is the fourth time that Kony has failed to appear in two years of protracted negotiations between the LRA and the Ugandan government.
In the past, Kony has accused the Ugandan government of sabotaging the peace process by continuing operations against his troops and planning to assassinate him.
Last week, Uganda's chief negotiator, Internal Affairs Minister, Ruhakana Rugunda,assured Kony that his soldiers would not be attacked as they traveled to and from the signing ceremony. He also indicated that Uganda would ask the ICC to lift the arrest warrants against him if he signed.
The ICC has accused Kony of murder, rape and the forced enlistment of child soldiers during two decades of fighting which has killed thousands and displaced over two million people in Uganda, Sudan and the DRC.
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