NAIROBI, Oct 30, 2007 (Xinhua via COMTEX) -- Ugandan rebels are due in Kampala on Thursday for the first time in more than two decades to carry out peace mobilization and consultations in the war-affected areas, the group said here Tuesday.
The Lord's Resistance Army/Movement (LRA) told a news conference in Nairobi that the official consultations would begin after a meeting in Kampala with Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni this week.
"The consultation exercises we are about to embark on marks a new milestone for a phenomenological participation by the people of Uganda in our collective effort to find lasting and attainable solutions to the political, socio and economic problems in Uganda, " LRA leader of delegation to Juba peace talks Martin Ojul told journalists in Nairobi.
"The consultation exercise was born from LRA insistence that the implementation of agreements reached should directly impact and transform the lives of the people of Uganda," said Ojul who will lead high-level LRA peace delegation to Kampala.
The conflict between the Ugandan government and the LRA, which began in 1986, has devastated the country's north, leaving over 1. 7 million people displaced, an estimated 100,000 dead and 75,000 others abducted by rebels.
The talks, brokered by the government of south Sudan, have been greeted as the best chance of ending the 20-year war in northern Uganda.
"We are going to take a message of peace to Ugandans. We have not been in Uganda for 21 years and we are inviting them (the Ugandans) to join us as we chart the way forward for peace," LRA Secretary for Publicity Godfrey Ayoo said.
Ayoo said the LRA peace delegation would use the opportunity during a meeting with president Yoweri Museveni to urge him to find a lasting solution to the 21-year old insurgency.
"We are not going to meet Museveni to put more conditions on peace negotiations but instead we would emphasize the need for peace in Uganda. This is the time to end the war in Uganda and Museveni will be told to take the lead," he said.
The LRA said the Juba talks would begin in December after current consultations.
"As the national consultations commence in Uganda, a separate high power peace delegation team is scheduled to travel for consultations in South Africa, West Africa, Europe and Latin America," Ojul said.
The rebels also reiterated their commitment to finding a long-lasting solution to more than two decades of insurgency in northern Uganda.
"Our resolve to go to Uganda is a sign of commitment to peace in our country. The consultations would enable us to study and develop implementation concepts that shall assist in the drawing of the implementable agreements that shall be of interest and benefit to Uganda," said Ojul.
The LRA is made up of the remnants of a rebellion that began after Museveni took power in 1986.
The group is known for abducting thousands of children and forcing them to become fighters, servants or sex slaves.