VZCZCXRO2508
PP RUEHROV
DE RUEHKH #0567 1021125
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 121125Z APR 07
FM AMEMBASSY KHARTOUM
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 6801
INFO RUCNIAD/IGAD COLLECTIVE
RUEHKI/AMEMBASSY KINSHASA 0073
RUEHTO/AMEMBASSY MAPUTO 0012
RUEHSA/AMEMBASSY PRETORIA 0145

UNCLAS KHARTOUM 000567 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR AF/SPG 
PLEASE PASS TO USAID FOR AFR 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PINR KDEM MARR MOPS SU UG
SUBJECT: LRA PEACE TALKS SET TO RESUME AMID RENEWED ATTACKS 
IN SOUTHERN SUDAN 
 
 
1.(U) Summary:  The Government of Southern Sudan (GOSS)-led 
peace talks with the Ugandan Lord,s Resistance Army (LRA) 
are set to resume in Southern Sudan the week of April 9. 
Talks will include mediators from South Africa, Kenya and 
Mozambique, as the LRA has demanded.  There have been at 
least three reported LRA attacks in Southern Sudan during 
March.  End Summary. 
 
Juba Talks Restarting 
--------------------- 
 
2.(U) The Co-Chairman of the GOSS Secretariat for the LRA 
Peace Talks, who is also a Member of the Southern Sudan 
Legislative Assembly (SSLA), told the Consul General recently 
that South Africa, Kenya, and Mozambique would be sending 
representatives to Juba to join the GOSS-led LRA mediation 
efforts.  Advance teams are to arrive April 9.  By the end of 
that week, the expanded mediating team is expected to arrive 
in Juba and then go to Nbanga (Democratic Republic of the 
Congo) to meet with LRA leaders Joseph Kony and Vincent Otti. 
 UN Special Envoy on the LRA Peace Process and former 
Mozambican President Joachim Chissano is expected to travel 
to Nbanga. 
 
¶3. (U) Subsequently, the expanded mediation team will go to 
Ri Kwangba (Southern Sudan) to meet up with the other LRA 
commanders.  The Government of Uganda (GOU) delegation will 
go to Ri Kwangba, along with GOSS lead mediator Vice 
President Dr. Riek Machar.  The GOSS officials believe that 
the LRA mediators, venue shopping has been successfully 
rebuffed by the regional states and that Juba offers the best 
and last chance for reaching a negotiated settlement.  Up to 
eighty UN, GOSS, and other international participants will be 
traveling to Nbanga and then to Ri Kwangba to restart the 
peace talks, according to a UN contact. 
 
¶4. (U) The Catholic relief organization Caritas International 
is reportedly  bringing three truckloads of food to feed the 
LRA members who will return to the Ri Kwangba assembly area. 
The food will not be turned over to the LRA, however, but 
remain under the control of the GOSS, according to the GOSS 
official.  The provision of food has been a critical issue, 
with Kony threatening not to resume talks until his men were 
provided with adequate supplies.  UN officials recently 
complained to ConGen staff that Austria, Sweden, and Denmark 
had abruptly cut off food distributions which they were 
giving to the LRA remnants still at Ri Kwangba, following an 
escalation in violent attacks in Southern Sudan over the last 
two months. 
 
¶5. (U) The GOSS legislator said the SSLA had provided USD 2 
million for the continuation of the peace process, but noted 
that the GOSS still needed significant contributions from the 
international community to sustain the talks.  The LRA 
mediating team was receiving USD 70 a day during the last 
round of talks and is expecting to receive as much this time, 
which the UN is reportedly likely to cover. 
 
LRA Attacks and Looting Continue 
-------------------------------- 
 
¶6. (U) During March, at least three violent attacks 
attributed to the LRA occurred in Southern Sudan,s Eastern 
Equatoria region near the Uganda border.  Several earlier 
attacks took place in Western Equatoria.  In two separate 
incidents, buses were attacked on the Nimule Road in March, 
resulting in several deaths, scores of injuries and property 
looted.  The Sudan People,s Liberation Army (SPLA) has 
deployed approximately 3,000 men along this critical road 
from Uganda to Juba, but is reportedly only in a defensive 
posture. 
 
¶7. (SBU) According to a GOSS official, Vice President Machar 
downplays the ongoing attacks by the LRA because he fears 
such information will undermine his mediation efforts.  The 
GOSS contact added that many in the GOSS believe that 
Khartoum continues to support the LRA and is not encouraging 
a quick resolution of the conflict. 
 
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