s said.
“We stormed out of the talks after we informed the mediator that we are not ready to proceed with the negotiations until the government declares a unilateral cessation of hostilities,” Obonyo Olweny told Agence France-Presse.
Last week, the LRA declared a unilateral ceasefire in an apparent bid to boost faltering peace talks and urged the Kampala government to reciprocate. The government refused.
This is confusing. A phrase like “stormed out of the talks” – that’s for journalists to use when describing angry withdrawals. It’s not for those who angrily withdrew to describe themselves as having “stormed out of the talks”. You wouldn’t find old-style trade union leaders, unhappy with management’s offer of a 1% across-the-board pay rise, emerging from Transport House to say “We stormed out of the talks….” Dear me no. Some gravitas needs to be maintained. They’d say, “We felt there was little point in continuing with the talks, in the face of management’s frankly insulting offer, and shall therefore recommend to our members that the strike action be continued, and picketing intensified.” Then you’d get the breathless BBC industrial affairs correspondent saying, “Union leaders today stormed out of a meeting…..”
After last week’s, “I do hope that the government of Uganda shall reciprocate this gesture of goodwill“, I have to say that I have my doubts about the competence of these LRA negotiators. Plus the fact that they’re crazed cultists who specialise in the abduction rape and brutalisation of young children.
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