Kampala - An agreement expected to end two decades of civil war in the north of Uganda is expected to be signed November 30, now that the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) has finally agreed to peace, Ugandan officials said Monday. "(LRA leader) Joseph Kony has agreed to turn up to sign the agreement," Ugandan army spokesman Major Paddy Ankunda told a news conference.
Talks to end the war, which left thousands dead and displaced almost two million civilians, began in mid 2006 under the mediation of the southern Sudanese government. However, feuding between the two sides delayed the signing of the final truce, originally scheduled for April.
The LRA leaders, who are currently holed up in jungles in the north-east of the Democratic republic of Congo, insist that the International Criminal Court (ICC) should first withdraw arrest warrants before the rebels agree to the agreement. The court issued warrants for five LRA leaders in 2005.
But officials from both sides, along with the UN special envoy to the talks, former Mozambican president Joachim Chissano, recently held an apparently successful meeting in the Ugandan capital Kampala in an effort to salvage the faltering peace process.
