The Ugandan government on Wednesday flatly rejected demands for a truce from the rebel Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) and said there could be no cease-fire until a full peace settlement is reached.
As peace talks resumed here under Sudanese mediation the Kampala delegation took a hard line against a raft of proposals from the LRA's negotiators, an AFP correspondent reported. The Ugandan team rejected LRA demands for the dissolution of the national army, compensation for alleged atrocities committed against them and the disbanding of camps in northern Uganda housing around two million people.
"We do accept the principle of cessation of hostilities, however we think its signing should take place at the end of the peace talks," Deputy Ugandan Foreign Minister Okello Oryem, a delegate at the talks, told AFP.
"This is because in the past when the government declared a truce, the LRA took the opportunity to regroup, collect more weapons, recruit soldiers and expand its network. The LRA is very much aware of its conduct.
"We must negotiate and sign everything as a complete package. We do not want to sign peacemeal agreements," he said. The minister said that at any rate the army was not interested in attacking the insurgents during the talks.
"The Ugandan army will not attack anybody. It's responsibility is to protect the people of Uganda and that is what it will do," Oryem said. "The LRA should show commitment to the peace talks and not attack any target, and that is when it will have demonstrated that it is committed to reaching a lasting peace in Uganda."
Government delegation spokesman Paddy Ankunda said Kampala will never trust the insurgents and sign anything less than a final peace deal.
"We shall not make that mistake again," he said, adding however that talks were progressing well. "We may disagree which is expected, but the positive thing is that we agree later and move on... We hope to get back to Uganda with peace. If we don't we shall have an explanation as to why," Ankunda said.
The rebels had wanted to secure at least a temporary truce to allow them to make more contact with their supporters among the Acholi ethnic minority in northern Uganda.
LRA delegation spokesman Obonyo Olweny spokesman said the government's stance cast doubts on its willingness to make peace. "That is a demonstration that the government is not committed to the peace talks," Olweny said, hours before talks were due to resume.
"We are committed to the peace talks and that is why we have not put up any obstacles. We appeal to the government to refrain from such obstacles so that we can together deliver peace to Uganda and the people can return back home," he told AFP. Oryem said the government also would not disband the Uganda People's Defence Forces (UPDF), which the rebels claim is loyal to President Yoweri Museveni and not to the nation.
"We totally and categorically reject calls to disband the UPDF. The UPDF is a professional, disciplined army that is composed of every single Ugandan tribe and therefore it is free from any tribalism and nepotism," he said. "We will not even consider or imagine disbanding it."
But Oryem said the government had softened its earlier demand for the rebels to immediately disband, saying they could hand in their weapons after any peace agreement is signed.
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