2006–2008 Juba talks

The Juba talks were a series of negotiations between the government of Uganda and the Lord's Resistance Army rebel group over the terms of a ceasefire and possible peace agreement. The talks, held in Juba, the capital of autonomous Southern Sudan, began in July 2006 and were mediated by Riek Machar, the Vice President of Southern Sudan. The talks, which had resulted in a ceasefire by September 2006, were described as the best chance ever for a negotiated settlement to the 20-year-old war. However, LRA leader Joseph Kony refused to sign the peace agreement in April 2008. Two months later, the LRA carried out an attack on a Southern Sudanese town, prompting the Government of Southern Sudan to officially withdraw from their mediation role.

A delegation from the LRA arrived in Juba, Sudan on 8 June 2006 to prepare for talks with the Ugandan government, to be mediated by the Government of Southern Sudan and by the Community of Sant'Egidio. These talks were agreed to after Kony released a video in May in which he denied committing atrocities and seemed to call for an end to hostilities, in response to an announcement by Museveni that he would guarantee the safety of Kony if peace was agreed to by July. Museveni had pledged to grant Kony total amnesty if he gave up "terrorism". Uganda's security minister Amama Mbabazi urged the International Criminal Court to drop the indictments issued in 2005 against leaders of the LRA, but LRA legal adviser Krispus Ayena Odongo rejected the offer, saying that accepting amnesty "presupposes surrender" and would mean the LRA was no longer available for discussions. Several organizations, including the ICC and the International Bar Association's Human Rights Institute insisted that LRA leaders must be arrested in accordance with the Rome Statute.

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