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LRA ready to hang it up?
A rebel leader in Uganda, Joseph Kony, has reportedly expressed interest in having ceasefire talks with the authorities. Mr Kony, the leader of the Lord's Resistance Army, also called for direct talks with President Yoweri Museveni. A member of parliament, Norbert Mao, said that Mr Kony had telephoned him and spoken for more than two hours on Saturday to make fresh proposals to end the conflict in the country. "Don't kill me. That should do it." President Museveni has since expressed no objection to dispatching a military delegation to discuss a ceasefire with Mr Kony, but he vowed to pursue the rebels in the meantime, Mr Mao said. "If I can't catch him, then I guess I'll have to talk to him..." The LRA has been conducting a campaign of violence in northern Uganda since 1987 to overthrow Mr Museveni's government. Mr Kony said that he had called the MP because he feared an attack against him might be triggered if he rang a direct line to President Museveni, Mr Mao told the Ugandan newspaper New Vision. The old "bomb the sat phone" trick... The rebel leader said that he was prepared to have direct talks with Mr Museveni, but only in the presence of a third party mediator of international standing. Posted by: Fred Pruitt 2003-01-13 |
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