By Peter Martell
Juba - Uganda's rebel Lord's Resistance Army on Thursday demanded radical changes to the country's power structure, calling for complete autonomy for their northern region under a new federal constitution.
In addition, the rebels who have already had their demand for huge cuts in the army dismissed out of hand, said poverty-stricken northern Uganda should get at least 22 percent of all government revenue under a new wealth-sharing formula.
The new positions were laid out at faltering peace talks being held here in southern Sudan in a bid to end northern Uganda's brutal, nearly 20-year-long war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced almost two million.
![]() ![Click Here & get R100 FREE to try African Palace Casino!]( "Click Here & get R100 FREE to try African Palace Casino!")
![]()
| 'To have peace, there must be an equitable share of wealth' | Presenting their last list of demands, the rebels said the government were "consummate liars," claiming they "intentionally under-developed and impoverished eastern and northern Uganda as a political tool of control and repression."
They also accused Kampala of genocide on the north and said the government military were deliberately spreading the Aids virus through the rape of civilians.
"It is for this very reason that we demand total federalism in eastern and northern Uganda, and throughout the country," the rebels said in a position paper read by Martin Ojul, the leader of the LRA delegation.
It said a new constitution must be adopted to replace the current charter, which the LRA maintains gives too much power to the president, with one that provides for a major regional
autonomy.
"To have peace, there must be an equitable share of wealth and power," LRA spokesperson Godfrey Ayoo said, adding that a reasonable formula would give the north 22 percent of government wealth.
| '... something will come out of all the talks' | "We want to empower people, to create a federal system in a new country, so that the north, south, east and west can all cater for their own affairs, and not to leave all the power in the hands of the central government," he said.
The paper also calls for a minimum of 30 percent of all government and civil service jobs to be given to people from northern and eastern Uganda.
The Ugandan delegation to the talks, which are being mediated by the autonomous government of southern Sudan in the regional capital of Juba reacted with incredulity to the rebel demands, saying they were "out of the question."
The spokesperson for the team, Paddy Ankunda, said the LRA were vastly overreaching and that if they did not tone down their rhetoric the talks would collapse and they would be destroyed
militarily.
He said unless the LRA became serious Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni would drop an amnesty offer to rebel supremo Joseph Kony and other top commanders charged with war crimes by the International Criminal Court.
"The Juba peace process should focus on delivering a soft landing for the LRA indictees," Ankunda said.
"If they don't want that, then they can have the alternative at The Hague."
Despite the huge chasm dividing the two sides, the talks are to continue on Friday when the delegations will attempt to begin negotiating on various aspects of their proposals, officials said.
The leader of Kampala's delegation, interior minister Ruhakana Ruganda, said he remained hopeful that a settlement would be reached by a September 12 deadline that Museveni has set.
"I am sure that something will come out of all the talks," he said.
"Of course, we want to reach a deal and to get out of Juba as quickly as possible, but we
cannot afford failure here." - Sapa-AFP
|
