UGANDA: Gov't sceptical about LRA's offer for talks

[ This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations]

KAMPALA, 3 Nov 2004 (IRIN) - The Ugandan government said on Wednesday that it was willing to have peace talks with the rebel Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), but expressed doubt over the insurgents commitment to dialogue.

A rebel spokesman who identified himself only as "Brigadier" Sam Kolo is reported to have told the BBC on Tuesday that the LRA was keen on having talks with the government.

"Government is open to talks, but to communicate through the media shows lack of seriousness on the part of the LRA," the Minister of State for Defence Ruth Nankabirwa told IRIN.

Kolo said the LRA believed that there could be no military solution to the 18-year conflict in northern Uganda and urged President Yoweri Museveni to find a peaceful end to the problem.

The LRA is infamous for its atrocities against civilians and abductions of thousands of children, who are forced to serve as soldiers or as sex slaves. The group has been widely condemned by human rights groups and UN aid agencies.

The conflict has displaced 1.6 people and the United Nations has said the rebels are holding 20,000 children hostage.

The rebel group, led by a former catechist, Joseph Kony, initially said it was fighting to topple Museveni's government and replace it with an administration based on the Biblical Ten Commandments. However, it has not been possible to get a clear understanding of what the group's aims really are, mainly because it maintains little contact with the outside world.

Nankabirwa said the LRA should have used official channels to communicate with the government.

"They have contacts with the district peace team in Gulu and even the presidential peace team is in place," she said. "They have all those contacts."

Nankabirwa said that the government's commitment to the peaceful resolution of the conflict has been demonstrated through an amnesty to surrendering rebel fighters.

"We have forgiven many and we are encouraging many more to come out," she continued. She said this was not the first time that the rebels had expressed a desire for a negotiated settlement to the conflict.

"Whenever we put them under pressure, they come up and say they want to talk peace," she concluded. "I only hope that they are serious this time."

[ENDS]