Uganda: Uganda Asks UN to Monitor Ceasefire
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The Monitor (Kampala)
August 15, 2006
Posted to the web August 15, 2006
Posted to the web August 15, 2006
Godfrey Olukya
Kampala
Kampala
UGANDA has asked international monitors to observe any ceasefire it reaches with the
Lord's Resistance Army rebels that have conducted a brutal 20-year insurgency.
Peace negotiations between the government and the rebel group are under way, but Uganda says it is waiting for a comprehensive peace deal before it agrees to a ceasefire.
Uganda's Internal Affairs Minister Ruhakana Rugunda on Sunday said he wants the United States, the Netherlands, Norway and South Africa to be on a monitoring team, as well as the United Nations and the African Union.
The request is meant to "show the whole world that we are engaged genuinely in peace talks for an agreement to end the conflict in northern Uganda," Rugunda said.
The LRA last week announced a ceasefire and called on the government to heed its call for a cessation of hostilities.
The government, however, insisted on a comprehensive deal.
But on
Sunday, the Defence Minister, Dr Crispus Kiyonga ,confirmed that a rebel commander under indictment by the International Criminal Court was fatally shot by government forces on Saturday.
Raska Lukwiya, was heading one of the "small groups of LRA rebels who are still harassing people in northern Uganda," Kiyonga said.
Lukwiya was shot after his group killed a government soldier and a motorcyclist, Kiyonga said.
The LRA rebels led by Joseph Kony have fought the government since 1986.
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The group is known for abducting thousands of children and forcing them to fight and become servants or sex slaves.
Thousands of people have been killed in the conflict and more than 1.6 million displaced.
The International Criminal Court has indicted Kony, Lukwiya and three other top rebel commanders on war crimes charges.
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