Tanzania: Kony List Demands Before Direct Talks

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The Citizen (Dar es Salaam)

17 July 2008
Posted to the web 17 July 2008

Grace Matsiko

The leader of the rebel Lord's Resistance Army, Joseph Kony, has given the mediation team fresh demands before he resumes direct talks with government.

In a letter dated July 11 and addressed to the chief mediator and South Sudan Vice President, Dr Riek Machar, UN, African Union observers and the government, Kony is demanding for a security plan for Ri-Kwangba and Nabanga, the two border posts between Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo where he intends to meet peace negotiators.

Other demands, according to the letter written on his behalf by the leader of the LRA peace delegation, include the immediate delivery of food, medicine and water to Ri-Kwangba. Kony is reported to be hiding in a jungle in the neighbouring Central Africa Republic (CAR).

"I have been directed to write and point out areas that need immediate attention as we prepare for the meeting in Ri-Kwangba," the letter written by Dr Nyekoratch Matsanga, a copy of which Daily Monitor has obtained shows.

But the leader of the Ugandan peace delegation, Dr Ruhakana Rugunda, said on Monday the onus is on the LRA to sign the peace agreement.

"Uganda has been ready to sign this agreement. The ball lies squarely on the LRA leadership and Kony in particular to sign the agreement because the negotiations have been completed," Dr Rugunda said. On the proposed meeting in Ri-Kwangba, he said his team would only participate on invitation Dr Riek Machar.

Kony is said to have held talks with Dr Machar on July 10, the first time in three months, after he snubbed the signing of the peace deal in April.

LRA negotiator Nyekoratch Matsanga, who has denied calling for Kony's assassination and the use of force against the rebels in a letter to President Museveni, claims Kony called him on Friday and demanded that the Cessation of Hostilities Monitoring Team (CHMT) should first go to Ri-Kwangba and assess the security situation and help organise a face-to-face meeting between his commanders and the South Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA).

"This (meeting) will help to boost the morale and relationship that soured after the skirmish (between LRA and SPLA) on June 6, 2008," he said.

"As chairman of the LRA delegation, I suggest that since some of the urgent needs might take time to organise we should meet urgently and look at these critical issues and take the priorities and immediate needs that can make the border meeting successful."

He added: "There is a strong feeling from the LRA high command that food must be availed before we go to Ri-Kwangba. This food might not be the larger quantities but one consignment that can relieve the current situation that is very, very critical in Ri-Kwangba.

"I want to reaffirm the LRA commitment to the peace and quick conclusion of the process as indicated in the telephone discussion of yesterday (July 11) between Kony and you and another one today between me and Kony," Dr Matsanga said.

He proposed that one of the peace talks secretariat officials, Mr James Gony, meet his team in Nairobi to sort out travel arrangements for his team.

The talks between government and the LRA under the mediation of the South Sudan Government have been on and off in the last two years due to mistrust and unrealistic demands from the

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