Moving Towards Peace...

This in from the Associated Press today. LRA rebels are moving to two camps in southern Sudan. Peace seems near, but tenuous. There is a palpable sense that people are holding their breaths, and are not willing to let out a sigh of relief that the war is over, until it really is...over.

September 12, 2006
Ugandan Rebels Enter Sudan Camp Under Truce
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
JUBA, Sudan, Sept. 11 — The first group of Ugandan rebels have turned up at a neutral camp in southern Sudan as part of a truce to end 19 years of conflict with the government, the chief mediator said Monday.

The Lord’s Resistance Army rebels, notorious for cutting off the tongues and lips of civilians during the insurgency, signed the truce with the government last month.

The deal calls for rebel fighters to gather in largely uninhabited areas across the border in southern Sudan, where they will be protected while a broader peace deal is negotiated.

Several hundred rebels — led by a deputy, Vincent Otti, with the leader, Joseph Kony, expected to follow — showed up at Ri-Kwangba camp, just north of the Congo border, said southern Sudan’s vice president, Riek Machar, who is mediating the talks.

A comprehensive peace deal would be a major breakthrough in pacifying this part of Central Africa where northern Uganda, eastern Congo and southern Sudan join.

Rebels from those nations had operated across the borders with impunity for decades until a peace accord ended Congo’s civil war in 2003 and southern Sudanese rebels joined Sudan’s government in 2005.

Under the truce, the rebels were given several weeks to gather at two designated sites. About 400 rebels have arrived at the other camp, Owiny-Ki-Bul, in southern Sudan just north of the Ugandan border, Mr. Machar said.

Earlier Monday, the rebels said they were willing to release women and children seized during the conflict. United Nations officials say the rebels have kidnapped an estimated 20,000 children over two decades, turning boys into soldiers and girls into sex slaves for commanders.