Ugandan guerilla leader is no-show at peace treaty signing

Kampala, Uganda (dpa) The leader of a major rebel faction failed to turn up Saturday for a long-awaited ceremony to sign a truce intended to end more than two decades of war in the country's north, Ugandan military officials said Saturday.

There was no sign of Joseph Kony, head of the notorious Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), army spokesman major Paddy Akunda told Deutsche Presse-Agentur.

Radio news reports said scores of religious and political leaders from the war-ravaged region have been waiting in the bushes of southern Sudan for days for Kony. Many have reportedly grown tired of waiting.

LRA leaders fled to the north-east of the Democratic Republic of Congo in late 2004 after being forced out of their original southern Sudanese bases.

Kony, a former lay preacher who began his war to oust the government in Kampala and rule by the biblical ten commandments, later opted for peace and declared a ceasefire in mid 2006.

Peace negotiations to end the conflict, which left thousands dead and nearly 2 million displaced, began soon after. A ceasefire treaty was signed in August of that year.

But the rebels have been insisting that they would only sign the draft peace treaty if the International Criminal Court (ICC) removed arrest warrants it issued in late 2005 against five rebel leaders, including Kony, on charges of murder, rape, torture and forcing children into combat.

This is the second time since April that the rebels have refused to sign the final peace treaty.

The Ugandan government set Saturday as the last deadline for the LRA to sign the truce. It had said that it would ask the ICC to drop the warrants once the LRA signed the final peace deal.

Mediators in the peace process include leaders from southern Sudan and the UN Special peace envoy and former Mozambican president, Joachim Chissano.

It is not clear what the next step will be. According to a Saturday evening news bulletin on Kampala-based radio broadcaster K FM, the peace team has lost confidence in the process. dpa hw ncs