By Francis Kwera
RI-KWANGBA, Sudan (Reuters) - Peace talks to end northernUganda's civil war are not dead, a U.N. envoy said on Monday,despite rebel infighting that apparently killed a fugitivecommander and delayed the signing of a final deal.
Hopes of an agreement to end one of Africa's longestconflicts were dashed last week after Joseph Kony, leader ofthe Lord's Resistance Army, failed to appear on the remoteSudan-Congo border, stalling nearly two years of tortuousnegotiations.
United Nations envoy Joaquim Chissano, the formerMozambican president, blamed a breakdown in communication withthe elusive guerrilla boss.
"The peace process is not dead. There is a lack ofeffective communication, and that is what the LRA leaderwants," Chissano told Reuters in the frontier hamlet ofRi-Kwangba.
"There are people who are assisting in establishing thateffective communication, and once that clarification is madethe peace process will be back on the road."
The U.N. envoy then boarded a helicopter for Juba, Sudan,where security was tight as Ugandan President Yoweri Museveniflew in for talks with his south Sudanese counterpart SalvaKiir.
The 22-year civil war has killed tens of thousands ofpeople and uprooted 2 million more in northern Uganda alone. Ithas also destabilised neighbouring parts of Sudan'soil-producing south and eastern Congo, which has large mineralwealth.
ICC TARGET DEAD?
Kony, who is wanted for war crimes by the InternationalCriminal Court in The Hague, had been expected to sign a finalagreement in Ri-Kwangba on Thursday. But he failed to show up.
An LRA spokesman has said the rebel leader remains ready tosign, but wants guarantees of his safety and financialsecurity.
Then on Sunday, rebel sources said disputes within the LRAover the proposed deal triggered gun battles last week thatkilled at least nine people -- including Okot Odhiambo, a topcommander who is also wanted by international prosecutors.
Kony, Odhiambo and a third senior rebel, Dominic Ongwen,were accused by the ICC in 2005 of offences including rape,murder and the abduction of thousands of children who wereforced to serve the group as fighters, porters and sex slaves.
If confirmed, Odhiambo would become the third of five LRAsuspects named by the ICC who have since died.
Kony executed his deputy Vincent Otti last October afteraccusing him of being a government spy, while fifth indicteeRaska Lukwiya was killed by the Ugandan military in August2006.
Even if Kony does sign a peace agreement, the LRA says itwill not disarm until the ICC indictments are scrapped. TheUgandan government has said it will only call for the warrantsto be lifted after a final deal has been reached.
The world court says its warrants remain active, and thatUganda has a legal obligation to arrest the targets.
(Writing by Daniel Wallis, editing by Mark Trevelyan)
(For full Reuters Africa coverage and to have your say onthe top issues, visit: http://africa.reuters.com/)
