The Ugandan government and Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) have agreed to resume peace talks after two months of uncertainty that followed a rebel demand that the talks be moved from southern Sudan, whose leadership was mediating, the head of the government delegation said on Tuesday.
"We have agreed that the mediation of southern Sudan government is going to be beefed up with South Africa, Mozambique, Tanzania, Kenya and the Democratic Republic of Congo," Interior Minister Ruhakana Rugunda told a news conference in Kampala, after returning from South Sudan where he led a government team that met the LRA leadership, including rebel leader Joseph Kony.
The rebels in January pulled out of the talks that were being held in South Sudan's capital, Juba, demanding a new venue and new mediators charging that they had lost confidence southern Sudanese mediators. The government dismissed the demands as "time-wasting ploy" by the LRA.
Rugunda said however the issue of the talk's venue had been resolved during the meeting held somewhere in the bush near Sudan's border with the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), and it was agreed that the talks, which are aimed at ending two decades of conflict on northern Uganda, would continue in Juba.
"Both parties agreed to resume talks and proposed another meeting that will be convened within the next two weeks for preliminary discussions,"
Rugunda, the first senior government official to have had a face-to-face meeting with Kony. "Legitimate issues raised by the LRA will be handled and resolved," he said.
"The government of Uganda is working for an early resumption of the peace talks. We also remain committed to an expeditious conclusion of a peace agreement which will usher in durable and lasting peace in northern Uganda, which will ensure peace and justice; see the end of our people living in IDP [internally displaced persons] camps and resettling in their villages to rebuild their homes and lead normal and productive lives," Rugunda added.
The government team that met the LRA leaders last weekend was accompanied by representatives from Mozambique, DRC and South Africa.
Previous rounds of the peace talks, which started in July 2006, led to the signing of cessation of hostilities agreement in August. The truce lapsed at the end of February, but northern Ugandan has remained calm.
According to aid agencies, an estimated 230,000 internally displaced people in northern Ugandan returned to their villages in 2006 thanks to improved security with the start of talks between the government and the LRA.
However, up to 1.2 million more remain in camps, while some have moved to satellite camps nearer their villages to gain access to their farms.
Read more in Special Insight.