Uganda rebels 'to rejoin talks'

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Uganda's government says the northern rebels have agreed to resume stalled peace talks because a number of African countries will join the mediation team.

The Lord's Resistance Army had accused the south Sudan negotiators of bias in favour of the Ugandan government.

The rebels say they will go back to the table to end their 20-year war if this and certain other conditions are met.

The development follows a meeting between a UN peace envoy and LRA leader Joseph Kony in his jungle hideout.

A truce signed last August between the Ugandan government and rebels expired in February.

Some 2m people have fled their homes and thousands of children have been abducted by the LRA during the civil conflict.

Conditions

Ex-Mozambican leader Joaquim Chissano, recently appointed United Nations envoy for Uganda, and Uganda's internal affairs minister were among those who attended the weekend meeting with Mr Kony in Ri-Kwangba, south Sudan.

In January, the LRA refused to resume talks in south Sudan's capital, Juba, after Sudan's president accused them of committing atrocities in south Sudan and threatened to evict them.

"We have agreed that the mediation of southern Sudan government is going to be beefed up with South Africa, Mozambique, Tanzania, Kenya and the Democratic Republic of Congo," Internal Affairs Minister Ruhakana Rugunda told a press conference after the meeting, AFP news agency reports.

The rebels are reported to have set out 18 conditions to their return to Juba.

"We have agreed to resume conditionally - that is if the government of Uganda satisfies the conditions we have put across," LRA spokesman Obonyo Olweny told the BBC's Network Africa programme.

The rebels' conditions include:

<li> Other African mediators to attend the talks</li><li> Khartoum to join negotiations, as an assurance they will not be evicted from south Sudan</li><li> the withdrawal of Ugandan government forces from south Sudan</li><li> a safe corridor north of Juba to allow the LRA to cross the River Nile and consolidate their forces on the West bank</li><li> a 1,000-strong protection force to guarantee the security of the LRA in Juba</li><li> an allowance increase for the negotiation team</li><li> to be treated with respect by the mediation team</li>

Mr Kony and three of his top commanders are wanted for war crimes at the International Criminal Court.