allAfrica.com * Sudan Attempts to Woo Kony The Nation (Nairobi) NEWS 21 June 2008 Posted to the web 23 June 2008 By Grace Matsiko Kampala South Sudan Vice-President Dr Riek Machar has written to Ugandan rebel leader Joseph Kony in an attempt to woo him back to the negotiating table. In the letter, the chief mediator, Dr Riek Machar, appeals to Kony to open direct communication channels with him to cut down bureaucracy and sign the final peace agreement soon, an official working at the negotiations secretariat in Juba, Southern Sudan, who did not want to be named told Daily Monitor on Friday. "Dr Machar has written a letter to Kony putting some proposals to him to help the stalled peace process," the official at the secretariat said. Observer team He said Dr Machar told Kony that an African Union observer team will be deployed at Rikwangba, on the Sudan-Democratic Republic of Congo border, once the rebels from his Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) agree to assemble at the designated area. The deployment of observers is to allay LRA fears that the Ugandan People's Defence Force may attack them once at Rikwangba. Dr Machar said in the letter to Kony that the Ugandan government has agreed to begin implementing non-contentious issues that the two parties had agreed upon, notably the resettlement of internally displaced persons back into their homes. Efforts to reach Dr Machar for official comment proved futile but the LRA peace delegation chairman, Dr James Obita, confirmed the chief mediator had been trying to contact Kony. Not at liberty "It's true Dr Machar has written to Kony but at the moment I am not at liberty to disclose the contents," Dr Obita added. In another development, Human Rights Watch has called on the UN Security Council to adopt a resolution or presidential statement supporting efforts to rein in the capacity of the LRA to attack civilians and to ensure that the culprits are brought to book. The appeal by the rights body coincides with the briefing to the UN Security Council on Friday by the former president of Mozambique, Mr Joaquim Chissano, who is the UN secretary-general's special envoy to areas affected by the insurgent LRA. "While the peace process between the Ugandan government and the LRA has faltered, the LRA has resumed human rights abuses, this time across three countries, including abductions and sexual slavery, according to credible information obtained by Human Rights Watch," the rights body said. The International Criminal Court (ICC) has issued an arrest warrant for Kony and other LRA leaders for war crimes and crimes against humanity. "In the face of credible new allegations of atrocities committed by the LRA, silence by the council should not be an option," said Richard Dicker, international justice director at Human Rights Watch. According to written documentation from foreign observers and domestic authorities obtained by HRW, the LRA has carried out at least 100 abductions, and perhaps many more, in the Central African Republic, Southern Sudan, and the DRC since February 2008. The information suggests boys are made to act as porters or subjected to military training while girls are used as sex slaves. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Copyright © 2008 The Nation. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Quantcast