Home>News Center>World
         
 

Uganda's LRA rebels seek talks with government
(Reuters)
Updated: 2005-11-30 16:27

The deputy leader of one of Africa's most brutal rebel groups said in a rare communication that his Lord's Resistance Army was ready to hold talks with the Ugandan government to end a 19-year-old insurgency.

Speaking by satellite telephone, Vincent Otti told BBC radio in Kampala that he was calling on the instructions of the cult-like group's elusive leader -- one of the world's most wanted men following international arrest warrants.

"The chairman, General Joseph Kony, has authorised me to talk to you that we want peace talks with the government of Uganda," Otti said in the remarks broadcast on Wednesday.

"We are now ready to talk peace."

Otti also denied the LRA was behind recent killings of aid workers, and said he was ready to face justice.

The LRA rebellion has ruined northern Uganda, uprooting more than 1.6 million people and triggering what the United Nations calls one of the world's most neglected humanitarian disasters.

But with warrants for LRA leaders issued in The Hague, and two military forces agreeing to hunt them down, many in the north say the movement is under more pressure than ever.

Otti's call to the BBC late on Tuesday followed a recent surge in violence in the north, with the military saying 21 civilians were killed in LRA attacks last week.

It was not immediately clear, however, why Otti had chosen to make his rare, public pronouncement this week.

Uganda's government was sceptical of the appeal, saying the rebels had used ceasefire calls in the past to win time to regroup and re-arm. "We are not really taking this very seriously at all," Information Minister Nsaba Buturo told Reuters. "We have been here before."

The minister also questioned why the offer came via media.

"I DID NOTHING"

The rebels have no clear political aims beyond opposing Uganda's President Yoweri Museveni, but are notorious for massacring civilians, mutilating survivors and abducting more than 20,000 children as fighters, porters and sex slaves.

Talks to end the violence broke down earlier this year after the rebel group's main negotiator surrendered.

In October, Kony and Otti found themselves among the world's most wanted men when the International Criminal Court (ICC) unveiled arrest warrants for the LRA leadership.

Otti, who said he was calling from an undisclosed location in northern Uganda, added he was ready to face an ICC judge, but the government should also be in the dock.

"I am ready because I know that I did nothing. If I am going to the court to be charged, then the government must also be taken into court," he said. "We are fighting with Uganda, but not with the international body."

Otti denied the LRA was behind ambushes on non-governmental organisations on both sides of the border in which at least five aid workers were killed in recent weeks.

He blamed LRA defectors and Uganda's military.

"We are not targeting any aid workers," he said. "We are only targeting government soldiers. We are not the ones."

The LRA has long operated from mountain hideouts in neighbouring southern Sudan, and Ugandan troops are hunting for them there alongside former Sudanese rebels.



AIDS awareness campaign
Saddam trial resumes
Israel's Peres may quit Labour for Sharon party
 
  Today's Top News     Top World News
 

China to keep HIV carrier cases below 1.5m by 2010

 

   
 

China rules out meeting with Koizumi

 

   
 

US, China urged to cooperate in energy

 

   
 

Virus outbreaks may change poultry raising

 

   
 

Toxins make second China city cut water

 

   
 

China cars no threat to Japan: report

 

   
  Bush maps out Iraq war strategy
   
  Iran to resume nuclear talks with EU
   
  Israel's Peres quits Labor Party to back Sharon
   
  Merkel, facing Iraq hostage crisis, charts course for Germany
   
  Syria fighting probe of assassination
   
  Fox begins last year as Mexico's president
   
 
  Go to Another Section  
 
 
  Story Tools  
   
  Related Stories  
   
Global court said ready to finger Uganda rebels
   
Ugandan army kills over 40 rebels in 3 days
  News Talk  
  Are the Republicans exploiting the memory of 9/11?  
Manufacturers, Exporters, Wholesalers - Global trade starts here.
Advertisement
         
主站蜘蛛池模板: 国产成人精品免费视频大全可播放的| 日本精品视频一区二区三区| 八戒网站免费观看视频| 一级一级特黄女人精品毛片视频| 青青草原视频在线观看| 国产精品美女久久久m| gogo免费在线观看| 成人18视频在线观看| 久久久噜久噜久久gif动图| 国产成人精品一区二三区| 永久免费视频网站在线观看| 在线观看免费视频一区| 一个人免费观看日本www视频| 拔擦拔擦8x华人免费久久| 久久精品无码专区免费| 欧美国产亚洲日韩在线二区| 亚洲精品无码久久久久AV麻豆| 中文字幕影片免费在线观看| 久久久久国色av免费看| 中文字幕精品一区二区三区视频| 东北女人毛多水多牲交视频| swag在线观看| 2020年亚洲天天爽天天噜| 97久久天天综合色天天综合色| 菠萝蜜视频在线观看| 猫咪免费人成在线网站| 天天干天天操天天玩| 一级特黄aaa大片在| 扁豆传媒网站免费进入| 久久久久久网站| 日本性生活网站| 久久精品一区二区三区中文字幕| 最近最新中文字幕6页| 亚洲国产欧美国产综合一区| 欧美精品一区二区三区免费观看| 人人爽人人爽人人片av| 百合潮湿的欲望| 免费人成在线观看视频播放| 精品人妻少妇一区二区三区| 啊轻点灬大ji巴太粗太长了免费| 色多多www视频在线观看免费 |