Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) leader, Joseph Kony, has written to President Kaguta Museveni asking him to reopen peace talks with the defunct rebel group.
Kony even lists names of the team President Museveni should send to negotiate with him, among them deputy speaker of parliament, Jacob Oulanyah according to veteran journalist Andrew Mwenda.
Previous attempts in 2007, 2009 and 2013 among others flopped. Most remarkable were the talks in the southern Sudanese town of Rikwamba with members of his peace negotiating team for consultation on the way forward in the LRA’S peace negotiations with the Ugandan government.
The LRA and Kampala were scheduled to sign the peace deal last April. But Kony did not show up and the talks were suspended.
The rebel leaders are reluctant to come out of hiding in the absence of solid security guarantees because the International Criminal Court (ICC) has issued arrest warrants for Kony and four of his commanders for war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Mr Kony has always insisted he will not sign a peace agreement with the government of Uganda, unless the warrant for his arrest is lifted.
The ICC has issued arrest warrants for Kony and his top deputies on charges of war crimes including murder, forced recruitment of children, rape and mutilation.
The conflict in northern Uganda, which has spilled over into southern Sudan, eastern Congo and the Central African Republic, displaced some two million people and killed thousands.
Northern Uganda is now peaceful.
