The Ugandan government has welcomed a pronouncement by the leader of rebel Lord's Resistance Army (LRA)to resume the stalled peace process, a government spokesman said on Thursday.
Capt. Chris Magezi, the spokesman of the government delegation which negotiated with the LRA, told Xinhua that rebel leader Joseph Kony should go further and sign the final peace agreement.
"We hope this pronouncement means Kony is ready to sign the final peace deal. For us as the government, we are ready to sign," he said.
The elusive rebel leader on Sunday announced that he wants to return to peace negotiations that were almost faltered after he snubbed the signing of a final peace deal on April 10.
The peace talks which last over 20 months were mediated and hosted by the government of southern Sudan in its capital city of Juba.
The mediator of the talks, Riek Machar, who is also the vice president of southern Sudan, wrote to Kony recently pushing him for direct communication and a faster conclusion of the final peace agreement.
The indicted rebel leader by the International Criminal Court has shunned the peace talks in Juba for fear of arrest, but sent a delegation to negotiate with Ugandan team.
The Ugandan government said it supports the mediator's pursuit to revamp the peace process aimed at ending a two-decade conflict that has left tens of thousands of people dead and over two million more displaced in northern Uganda.
"We are not putting any pressure on the mediator about when the deal should be signed, we are patient," said Magezi.
The government, however, warned that the rebel group currently hiding in Garamba National Park in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo face military action if they launch any attack on Uganda.
Source:Xinhua
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