Uganda's Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) rebels failed today to send their deputy leader to peace talks in southern Sudan, despite pressure from mediators who say he is needed to give the negotiations credibility.
South Sudan's Vice President Riek Machar, who is leading efforts to end the 20-year insurgency, said the rebels had promised to send their internationally wanted deputy leader Vincent Otti to the talks, which are due to resume on Monday.
But a rebel delegation emerged from their camp in Democratic Republic of Congo to meet Machar at the south Sudanese border outpost of Nabanga on Wednesday, without Otti.
Machar said he told the delegates to return to their base in Congo until they could produce Otti, who is wanted for war crimes by the International Criminal Court, along with four other senior LRA commanders.
Machar's convoy then left the outpost to start his return journey to the regional capital Juba. The group of about 15 LRA representatives could be seen trudging back down a muddy path towards their base, which lay several hours walk away. "We want somebody who will make a decision," Machar told reporters on reaching the south Sudanese town of Maridi.
"We don't want negotiations by proxy, any minute we have to consult, that is not acceptable. We saw that in the last talks," he said, referring to an initial round of discussions which opened on July 14th in Juba.
Otti is the LRA's chief negotiator, but he has yet to turn up to the talks despite weeks of pressure from Machar. Machar said he would provide transport to retrieve the delegation from Nabanga on Saturday, by which time he hopes they will be joined by Otti.