What exactly do groups like, International Crisis Group, Oxfam and Refugees International, want the United States to do? The way I see, US options regarding this JUBA peace talks appear to be increasingly limited. The US could arm twist The Sudanese so called mediator ( a close ally of the US..many heard he was here in Washington DC prior to the convening of the peace talks) to use strong arm tactics against the rebels...forcing them to negotiate with Museveni. If that should happen, the talks is likely to completely fail..and then people will go back to the drawing board.
or
The Admin in Washington DC could prevail upon their ally NRA/M Guerrilla leader dictator Yoweri Kaguta Museveni to stop using threatening intimidating language in order to compel the rebels to negotiate with the regime.
Second, The US should
prevail upon dictator Yoweri Museveni and advise him to address rebel demands period; particularly the demand That NRM/A guerrillas (also known as UPDF) stop engaging in Military maneuvers geared towards an attempt to try and surround the rebels in the said gathering points in Southern Sudan.
Then and only then can a conducive environment exist for the Juba peace talks to go ahead.
That said, the people of Uganda, it must be pointed out, are pretty much tired of 20 years of wars under Dictator Yoweri Museveni.
If the peace talks in Juba should fail, the people of Uganda must directly hold Yoweri Museveni and his military dictatorship accountable for the failed peace talks. Museveni then becomes an obstacle for peace in Uganda.
Matek
US urged to salvage Uganda talks
Friday September 29, 2006 11:12 - (SA)
Friday September 29, 2006 11:12 - (SA)
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Negotiations between Kampala and the rebel Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), while continuing in southern Sudan, have faltered amid mutual accusations of violations of a landmark truce and need resuscitation, they said.
"In the face of total breakdown, the US has to end its position of total silence," the groups, including the International Crisis Group, Oxfam and Refugees International, said in a joint statement.
"The peace talks could completely disintegrate, yet the international community is responding with silence," said John Prendergast of Crisis Group. "International pressure must be applied to ensure the LRA and Ugandan government to adhere to the ceasefire and continue negotiating," he said in the statement.
Sayre Nyce of Refugees International, agreed, saying: "If the international community does not act now, we could face a breakdown of the peace process and ceasefire."
The talks in the southern Sudanese capital of Juba in July and a month later yielded a historic truce, boosting hopes for an end to the war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced nearly two million.
But they have since faltered with Uganda and the LRA trading accusation of increasingly serious violations of the truce that took effect on August, notably over movements of armed men around two neutral camps where the rebels are to assemble under the truce.
The LRA accuse Kampala of surrounding one of the two sites in south Sudan - Owiny-Ki-Bul near the Ugandan border - and preparing to encircle the other - Ri-Kwangba near the border with the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Uganda, meanwhile, claims that only a few LRA fighters have actually gone to the camps - where they are to remain for the duration of the talks - and that many are leaving, heading back to the bush to prepare for new attacks.
Both sides deny the charges but on Tuesday, the LRA delegation warned that the Juba talks were in "grave threat and danger" and threatened to walk out if the Ugandan troops were not pulled back.
A joint monitoring commission, along with a team of independent observers, plans to visit Owiny-Ki-Bul at the weekend to probe the charges, officials said on Thursday.
The Juba talks are seen as the best chance to end the war in northern Uganda, which is regularly described by United Nations and aid agencies as one of the world's worst and most-forgotten humanitarian crises.
Sapa-AFP
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