Uganda's LRA rebels ask war victims for forgiveness

GULU, Uganda - Uganda's Lord's Resistance Army rebels pleaded for forgiveness on Tuesday for atrocities committed during their 20-year insurgency, but some victims said they had mixed feelings about the appeal.

Speaking during a visit to northern Uganda as part of a historic return to the country aimed at boosting talks to end the conflict, delegates representing the LRA asked locals to put past wrongs behind them.

Gulu was the epicentre of a rebellion by LRA guerrillas who increasingly targeted civilians from their own Acholi tribe.

Two million people fled their homes and tens of thousands were killed. The rebels built a reputation for mutilating their victims and kidnapping thousands of children to serve the group as fighters, porters and sex slaves.

"We're not here to deny anything," Ayena Odongo, a lawyer with the LRA delegates, said in a speech. "We ask you all to forgive us. If we don't forgive, we cannot move forward."

The comments followed a radio show late on Monday in which the head of the LRA delegation, Martin Ojul, admitted the rebels had made "plenty of mistakes".

A ceasefire was agreed at peace talks that began in South Sudan more than a year ago, raising hopes of a conclusion to one of Africa's longest wars.

But LRA leader Joseph Kony and other commanders remain holed up in jungle hideouts in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, fearing international arrest warrants.

Kony and three top deputies are wanted for war crimes by prosecutors at the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague. The indictments are a sticking point for any peace deal.


"RECONCILIATION FOR PEACE"

"It doesn't matter where we sign the agreement, we are going to need to get Kony on a plane to do it. How can he know the plane isn't going to take him to the ICC?" Odongo asked.

The LRA are in Gulu mainly to canvas local opinion about what kind of justice people want the rebels to undergo. Many of the LRA's victims have said they would happily forgive Kony if he makes peace.

"We can forgive," said Richard Otim, as he hobbled on stumps blown off at the knee. "I lost my legs to a landmine, but I have no bitterness. We need reconciliation for peace."

Not all agree.

"Kony should be taken to The Hague," said market trader Consy Lawil, 35, who lost her ears, nose and lips when the rebels sliced them off with a machete. "He should be jailed for life for what he's done."

Having initially sought a scrapping of the ICC indictments as a condition of a peace deal, the rebel delegates now say they want to negotiate with the court after the indictees have signed and undergone local justice procedures in Uganda.

The ICC insists any trials would have to dish out stiff punishments to deliver justice.

"We don't want to condone impunity; we want to find a way that those indicted can face justice in Uganda ... The ICC will back down," Ojul told Reuters on Tuesday.

Local leaders say they want the LRA commanders to undergo traditional rituals where they face the victims' relatives and are forgiven. Rights groups reject that as too soft.