LRA PEACE TALKS SET TO RESUME AMID RENEWED ATTACKS

UNCLAS KHARTOUM 000567 SIPDIS SENSITIVE SIPDIS DEPARTMENT FOR AF/SPG PLEASE PASS TO USAID FOR AFR E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PGOV PINR KDEM MARR MOPS SU UG SUBJECT: LRA PEACE TALKS SET TO RESUME AMID RENEWED ATTACKS IN SOUTHERN SUDAN 1.(U) Summary: The Government of Southern Sudan (GOSS)-led peace talks with the Ugandan Lord,s Resistance Army (LRA) are set to resume in Southern Sudan the week of April 9. Talks will include mediators from South Africa, Kenya and Mozambique, as the LRA has demanded. There have been at least three reported LRA attacks in Southern Sudan during March. End Summary. Juba Talks Restarting -------------- 2.(U) The Co-Chairman of the GOSS Secretariat for the LRA Peace Talks, who is also a Member of the Southern Sudan Legislative Assembly (SSLA),told the Consul General recently that South Africa, Kenya, and Mozambique would be sending representatives to Juba to join the GOSS-led LRA mediation efforts. Advance teams are to arrive April 9. By the end of that week, the expanded mediating team is expected to arrive in Juba and then go to Nbanga (Democratic Republic of the Congo) to meet with LRA leaders Joseph Kony and Vincent Otti. UN Special Envoy on the LRA Peace Process and former Mozambican President Joachim Chissano is expected to travel to Nbanga. ¶3. (U) Subsequently, the expanded mediation team will go to Ri Kwangba (Southern Sudan) to meet up with the other LRA commanders. The Government of Uganda (GOU) delegation will go to Ri Kwangba, along with GOSS lead mediator Vice President Dr. Riek Machar. The GOSS officials believe that the LRA mediators, venue shopping has been successfully rebuffed by the regional states and that Juba offers the best and last chance for reaching a negotiated settlement. Up to eighty UN, GOSS, and other international participants will be traveling to Nbanga and then to Ri Kwangba to restart the peace talks, according to a UN contact. ¶4. (U) The Catholic relief organization Caritas International is reportedly bringing three truckloads of food to feed the LRA members who will return to the Ri Kwangba assembly area. The food will not be turned over to the LRA, however, but remain under the control of the GOSS, according to the GOSS official. The provision of food has been a critical issue, with Kony threatening not to resume talks until his men were provided with adequate supplies. UN officials recently complained to ConGen staff that Austria, Sweden, and Denmark had abruptly cut off food distributions which they were giving to the LRA remnants still at Ri Kwangba, following an escalation in violent attacks in Southern Sudan over the last two months. ¶5. (U) The GOSS legislator said the SSLA had provided USD 2 million for the continuation of the peace process, but noted that the GOSS still needed significant contributions from the international community to sustain the talks. The LRA mediating team was receiving USD 70 a day during the last round of talks and is expecting to receive as much this time, which the UN is reportedly likely to cover. LRA Attacks and Looting Continue -------------- ¶6. (U) During March, at least three violent attacks attributed to the LRA occurred in Southern Sudan,s Eastern Equatoria region near the Uganda border. Several earlier attacks took place in Western Equatoria. In two separate incidents, buses were attacked on the Nimule Road in March, resulting in several deaths, scores of injuries and property looted. The Sudan People,s Liberation Army (SPLA) has deployed approximately 3,000 men along this critical road from Uganda to Juba, but is reportedly only in a defensive posture. ¶7. (SBU) According to a GOSS official, Vice President Machar downplays the ongoing attacks by the LRA because he fears such information will undermine his mediation efforts. The GOSS contact added that many in the GOSS believe that Khartoum continues to support the LRA and is not encouraging a quick resolution of the conflict. Hume HUME