JUBA, Sudan - Uganda’s rebel Lord’s Resistance Army on Monday demanded huge cuts in the government military and 40-percent representation in the reduced force at peace talks in southern Sudan. The position, presented at halting negotiations aimed at ending northern Uganda’s brutal, nearly two-decade war, was immediately rejected by Kampala, which called the demand ‘ridiculous’ and tantamount to disbanding the army. But LRA officials insisted that a sharp reduction in the Ugandan People’s Defense Forces (UPDF) was the only way to achieve lasting stability and called for foreign peacekeepers to be deployed to ensure the drawdown is implemented.
At the venue for the talks in the southern Sudanese town of Juba, they said they wanted the UPDF cut from 100,000 troops to 20,000, 12,000 of which would be drawn from the current army and the other 8,000 from the ranks of the LRA. ‘The rest of the soldiers must be demobilized and a new system set up to cater for them, for those with disabilities, and for those who want to start businesses and so on,’ LRA spokesman Obonyo Olweny told AFP.
| One of the more useful things that happen when you sit down to negotiate with the other side is that you generally figure out what's most important on their minds. I think we just found out what's really bothering the LRA. |
The rebels also want a full list of government weapons stockpiles, the withdrawal of UPDF forces from contested areas in northern Uganda and foreign peacekeepers from as-yet undetermined contributor nations, he said. | Try calling the French, I hear they're not busy any more ... |
KampalaÂ’s delegation at the halting talks being hosted and mediated by the government of autonomous southern Sudan and the regionÂ’s capital of Juba, flatly dismissed the demands and rejected the rebels estimate of the size of the army. Ugandan officials say their army was reduced by half from 100,000 to 50,000 in 1991 and 1992 following donor demands that the force be streamlined.
‘What the LRA is asking for is for the UPDF to be basically disbanded,’ said Paddy Ankunda, a spokesman for Kampala’s team. ‘This is really ridiculous. ‘The UPDF was set up according to the constitution, so what they seem to be telling us is for us to throw out the constitution,’ he said, adding that the government would not give the rebels any description of its weapon supplies. ‘We will not tell them what weapons we have because we are the government and they are the rebel force,’ Ankunda said.
| There's a moment of clarity. We're the government and we're the ones with a monopoly on violence within the country. |
The on-again, off-again talks, which began last month, broke on Monday after the LRA presented its positions on disarmament, the effect of which on the negotiations was not immediately clear. |