The Monitor and New Vision are reporting that the chief mediator Reik Machar, the LRA negotiation team and northern Ugandan leaders have returned to Juba after LRA chief Joseph Kony failed to meet with them. The peace delegation had been waiting since May 10th to meet with the rebel leader in the South Sudan town of Nabanga in an attempt to reinvigorate the stalled peace process. Kony’s failure to show raises further grave doubts about his commitment to the peace process and willingness to sign a final peace agreement. Although the Ugandan government’s official reaction to the failed meeting was to defer to the chief mediator’s advice on how to move the process forward, The Monitor today quoted a “top government official” warning that Kampala is “losing interest in the talks and that may mean other options.” Read more at The Monitor and New Vision.

The New Vision reports that LRA leader Joseph Kony has once again kept his guests in suspense. A team of elders and leaders from northern Uganda have been waiting for him at Nabanga for the last three days, but by press time, the rebel leader had not shown up. Yet, international relations minister Henry Okello Oryem said Kony’s advance team, led by Lt. Col. Opio, the commander of Independent Brigade, was in Ri-Kwangba. "The local leaders and the LRA peace delegation are in touch with Kony and they expect to meet anytime," he said. Security sources yesterday confirmed that between 100 and 200 LRA fighters were moving to the meeting point of Ri-Kwangba.

As we await news of a scheduled meeting between LRA leader Joseph Kony and mediators, the leaders of Uganda and the DR Congo issued a statement this weekend calling on Kony “to sign urgently a final peace agreement.” Presidents Yoweri Museveni of Uganda and Joseph Kabila of DR Congo met in Tanzania this weekend to discuss security issues and resolve an escalating border dispute on Uganda’s northwest border. Read more at AFP.

A meeting scheduled for yesterday between LRA leader Joseph Kony, chief mediator Reik Machar and leaders from northern Uganda has been rescheduled for today. Reports said that the delay is to allow Kony more time travel to the South Sudan border town of Ri-Kwangba, where he refused to meet with mediators and leaders to sign a final peace agreement last month. The mediators and leaders meeting with Kony hope to explain to him the accountability and reconciliation provisions of the agreement and address his security concerns related to pending the International Criminal Court (ICC) warrants for him and two other LRA commanders.

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LRA leader Joseph Kony is expected to meet in person this Saturday with chief peace mediator Riek Machar and local leaders from northern Uganda. Meanwhile, an LRA delegation has been attending a workshop in Kampala with Uganda’s Principal Judge Justice James Ogoola, as well as traditional and local leaders. Speaking on Voice of America, the Government's lead negotiator Ruhakana Rugunda said, "There have been consultations over the implementation of accountability and reconciliation. And this has necessitated the workshop between the traditional leaders from the conflict-affected areas plus the leadership of the judiciary to see how the legal system in Uganda and the traditional conflict resolution system will be used in order to implement the agreement that has been signed on accountability and reconciliation." He called on Kony to take advantage of the remaining window of opportunity and sign the final agreement.

The UN Secretary-General's April 2008 report on Sudan reveals that LRA attacks on civilians in the southern half of the country have been on the rise in recent months. It also states that LRA rebels responsible for the attacks are likely splinter groups operating outside Kony's direct authority. The existence of LRA splinter groups in south Sudan, as well as difficulty concretely verifying responsibility for alleged LRA attacks in eastern DR Congo and southeast Central African Republic (CAR), raises serious questions about what effect a broken chain-of-command within the LRA could have on the Juba peace process and prospects for demobilizing the LRA.

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Reuters reports that LRA leader Joseph Kony is scheduled to meet mediators on Saturday on the Sudan-Congo border and may even sign a final peace deal. However, Kony still wants more details on how Uganda's government plans to use traditional reconciliation rituals to help him avoid prosecution for war crimes by the International Criminal Court. "On May 10 Kony is ready to meet leaders from northern Uganda, the mediator and probably sign the final peace agreement," LRA lead negotiator James Obita said. Meanwhile, today a group of nearly 40 non-governmental organizations released a united statement urging all parties in the conflict not to give up on the peace process. "A failure to secure the peace and resort to a 'military solution' would trigger renewed fears of insecurity and threaten the considerable progress made on the ground in northern Uganda," it said.

The Monitor reports that a group of LRA commanders have allegedly become impatient over the Juba peace talks and have put pressure on their leader Joseph Kony to sign the peace deal or risk being abandoned in the bush. "For the first time ever, the LRA commanders have put pressure on Kony. According to intelligence reports I received yesterday," Gulu RDC Walter Ochora said on Friday. "We don't want to speculate what happens tomorrow. However, this is a sign that the LRA is a defeated army. Let us wait as events unfold in LRA camp," he said.

Professor Dani Nabudere has written a powerful Op/Ed in The Monitor, titled "Only Peace Agreement Will Save Govt, Kony." He writes, "Both the LRA and the Uganda government must see that the successful signing and implementation of the Final Peace Agreement as the best (and perhaps the only) option for them, for failure to do so will lead to the weakening of both of them to the detriment of the people of northern Uganda and indeed, Uganda as a whole. So we should stop engaging in gimmicks of the past and be serious in ensuring that Kony is fully explained the implications of the agreement on accountability and reconciliation and its annexure even if this takes longer than was expected. This will not only remove the grounds for further refusals to sign on the part of Kony, but it will also expose Kony to the people of Uganda that he and his group are not to be trusted. In this way, the Uganda government may regain the confidence of the people of Acholi, which they had never enjoyed before."

Ugandan international affairs minister Henry Okello Oryem said yesterday that the Ugandan government will not return to Ri-kwangba to sign a final peace deal until after mediators meet with LRA leader Joseph Kony and confirm his presence there. Since a failed signing attempt in Ri-kwangba on April 10th mediators and Acholi leaders have been in dialogue with Kony in an attempt to set another date for him to sign.

This weekend Oryem also gave some insight into members of the Acholi Diaspora who allegedly advised Kony against signing the peace deal last month. He said that Owiny Omoya, an Acholi living in Europe, and Alex Oloya, a relative of Kony, had promised Kony resources to continue fighting and accused the LRA negotiation team of a conspiring to have Kony arrested and sent to the International Criminal Court. Read more at The New Vision.