SUDAN/UGANDA/DRC: LRA PEACE TALKS SEEM LIKELY TO

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 KHARTOUM 000391

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

DEPARTMENT FOR AF A/S FRAZER AND AF/SE NATSIOS, NSC FOR
PITTMAN AND SHORTLEY

E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/13/2017
TAGS: PREL PGOV SU CG UG
SUBJECT: SUDAN/UGANDA/DRC: LRA PEACE TALKS SEEM LIKELY TO
RESUME

REF: KHARTOUM 351

Classified By: Pol/Econ Nathan Holt, Reason: Section 1.4 (b) and (d)

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Summary
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1. (C) Former Mozambique President Joaquim Chissano met
leadership of the Ugandan rebel Lord's Resistance Army (LRA)
on the Sudan/Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) border March
11 and secured an apparent agreement that the LRA will return
to peace talks once various LRA concerns are addressed. LRA
conditions for re-starting the stalled talks include a beefed
up mediation team, enhanced per diem for LRA negotiators and
better security in Juba. A Ugandan minister who attended the
meeting said the LRA conditions for returning to the talks
are "trivial" and said LRA chief Joseph Kony told him
personally that talks would resume in "two weeks." Kony also
assured the delegation, which included Government of Southern
Sudan (GOSS) Vice President Riek Machar, that he is "tired"
of life in the bush and committed to peace. Chissano scolded
the LRA for lack of seriousness, and LRA representatives
excoriated Machar for alleged bias in his role as mediator.
End Summary.

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Stern Message from Chissano
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2. (C) Chissano, the UN's special envoy for the LRA problem,
traveled by helicopter to Ri-Kwangba on the Sudan/DRC border
March 11 for his second meeting with LRA leadership in two
weeks. In addition to GOSS VP Machar, Chissano was
accompanied by Government of Uganda (GOU) Minister of
Interior Ruhakana Rugunda and ten members of the LRA's
externally-based negotiating team. Chissano's group was
forced to wait five hours at the meeting site before LRA
second-in-command Vincent Otti arrived. Otti initially told
the group that because of security concerns there would be no
meeting with LRA chief Joseph Kony. After further dialogue
and what one meeting participant called a "dramatic" exercise
by LRA personnel to sweep and secure the area, Kony emerged
from the bush. The elusive LRA leader met for about two
hours with Chissano and the rest of the group. Participants
said it was Rugunda's first ever meeting with Kony and that
Rugunda told Kony that the GOU wanted him to "come home."


3. (C) The meeting was dominated by a lengthy recapitulation
by the LRA negotiating team of complaints about mediator
Machar, financial and logistical arrangements for the stalled
peace talks, and the physical security of LRA negotiators.
Chissano was "very firm" with the LRA leadership that the
rebels needed to be more serious and demonstrate their
commitment to talks, according to Ugandan deputy foreign
affairs minister Henry Oryem Okello. Juba-based UNMIS
Coordinator Peter Schumann, also present, confirmed that
Chissano delivered a tough and stern message. The mediators
and the international community had invested enormous amounts
of time and money in this process, Chissano reportedly said,
and would not continue if the LRA did not take the process
seriously. Machar said nothing.

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Kony Says He is for Peace, and Ready for Talks
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4. (C) Kony's response was to reiterate several times that he
supports peace and peace talks, according to meeting
participants. Kony said he is "tired" and wants to come out
of the bush, according to Ugandan deputy Minister Okello.
Okello said Kony "personally" assured him that peace talks
would resume in "two weeks." UNMIS head Schumann also
confirmed that Kony endorsed a resumption of peace talks,
pending resolution of LRA complaints. GOSS member of
parliament Tulio Odongi, co-chair of the talks secretariat
and a participant in the Ri-Kwangba meeting, told PolOff that
GOSS expects the LRA negotiating team to return to Juba March
21 and talks to resume March 23. However, Odongi added, this
is "not confirmed." The LRA negotiating team departed Juba
March 12.

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Acholi Leaders Meet Separately With LRA Leadership
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5. (C) Several ethnic Acholi leaders, including senior chief
David Acana II, remained in Ri-Kwangba after Chissano and his
contingent departed. The Acholi notables then met separately

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with LRA leadership. Details of their meeting were not
immediately available in Juba. Acana convened a conference
of Ugandan and Sudanese Acholi leaders in Juba last week that
called for peace talks to resume immediately (reftel).

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Cessation of Hostilities
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6. (C) Because of delays in getting started and the lengthy
discussion of LRA complaints about the peace process, the
parties in Ri-Kwangba did not formally take up the second
item on the agenda, a proposed renewal of the lapsed
Cessation of Hostilities Agreement (CHA). Sudan People's
Liberation Army (SPLA) Maj. Gen. Wilson Deng, however, said
the LRA did reiterate that they would abide by the CHA unless
attacked. Deng noted that despite these assurances, the LRA
carried out several attacks in southern Sudan both before and
after the agreement lapsed at the end of February. According
to an UNMIS military official, LRA representatives at the
Ri-Kwangba meeting blamed some of these attacks on the Uganda
People's Defence Forces (UPDF). Pressed specifically to
account for the death of an Indian UNMIS peacekeeper in
southern Sudan on January 26, LRA commander Vincent Otti
reportedly said the LRA has no details of the incident.
HUME