The Ugandan rebel group Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) has reiterated that there will be no resumption of peace talks with the Uganda government until the conditions they put before a meeting convened by the UN Special Envoy to Northern Uganda, former Mozambique president Joachim Chissano, have been met.
Mr. Chissano last week held talks with the leadership of the LRA rebels.
Godfrey Ayo is a member of the LRA delegation to the peace talks. From the Kenyan capital Nairobi, he told VOA reporter Douglas Mpuga that there are outstanding issues, “very grave malfunctions that we need addressed by the UN Special Envoy for Northern Uganda".
Ayo said the LRA team is ready to resume talks and should they be in Juba “there are certain specific conditions that we want fulfilled and once those conditions are met, and the situation has improved, only then shall we return to the (peace) talks in Juba.”
He said the LRA delegation to the peace talks would send a verification team to Juba to ascertain whether the conditions they set have been met.
He also decried the international criminal court (ICC) indictments against LRA leaders. “It is the view of LRA that the ICC warrants of arrest is the greatest obstacle in all attempts geared towards ending the war in northern Uganda and bringing about peace in the region.”
A meeting to set the agenda for the resumption of the Juba peace talks is scheduled for later this week.