The Ugandan Government has sought the help of the Lord Resistance Army (LRA) leader Mr. Joseph Kony’s mother to persuade her rebel son to return to the negotiating table in an effort to end the 20-year-long rebellion which has killed or maimed thousands. Nora Oting along with other family members will be taken to a bush camp in north-east Dr. Congo where she will see son for the first time in 15 years.



Southern Sudan Vice-President Riek Machar, who is hosting the adjourned peace talks, will escort them. The talks will be adjourned for a week so that Mr. Kony can be persuaded to attend the talks. Till now he has refused citing security concerns.



The Ugandan Government has taken a tough line with an official Ruth Nankabirwa warning that the rebel camp would be attacked should the talks fail. Negotiations between the two sides were deadlocked over the issue of ceasefire with government negotiators refusing to sign a ceasefire pact with the LRA till other issues had not been dealt with. They feared that the LRA would use the ceasefire period to regroup and rearm.



Mr. Machar said when talks resume they would centre around a ceasefire, disarmament and reintegration of the fighters.



The negotiations in southern Sudan are considered north Uganda’s best chance of peace in years.



It is indeed sad that there is hardly any country in the world where internal strife is not strangling economic growth and prosperity. Huge amount of money and resources are being diverted towards containing militancy over ill-treatment either real or perceived. Even India is not free of this curse. Both, the government and militants should realize that talks offer the best way out of the vicious circle of senseless killings or disablement of their countrymen. There has to be a certain amount of give and take on both sides. Then and only then will the rich and the poor flourish alike and live in the true sense of brotherhood.



Via: BBC