C.Africa president claims to be negotiating Kony surrender 
 
 By Christian Panika (AFP) – Nov 21, 2013 
 
 Bangui (Central African Republic) — The Central African Republic's president said Thursday he was negotiating the surrender of wanted Ugandan militia boss Joseph Kony but Washington dismissed the claims. 
 
 The announcement had raised hopes that Kony and his Lord's Resistance Army were on their last legs, but US officials quickly moved to describe reports the rebel leader himself was involved in surrender talks as not "credible". 
 
 "It's true, Joseph Kony wants to come out of the bush. We are negotiating with him," Michel Djotodia said during a meeting with political leaders in the capital Bangui. 
 
 "He asked for food supplies and the government took care of that," the Central African interim leader said. 
 
 Kony's LRA, which claimed to be fighting for the Ten Commandments when it was founded a quarter century ago, is considered one of the most brutal groups in Africa's recent history. 
 
 It started as an insurgency fighting President Yoweri Museveni's regime but in recent years, its defeated remnants have operated mostly in neighbouring countries as a roving mercenary and extortionist gang. 
 
 LRA men have raped and massacred villagers in the region, evading arrest in one of the most impenetrable regions of Africa straddling the borders of the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of Congo and South Sudan. 
 
 Envoys from the United Nations and the African Union said on Wednesday after meeting Djotodia there were indications that Kony might be seeking to come out of the bush because he is thought to be seriously ill. 
 
 The LRA -- described by the International Crisis Group as a "multinational criminal and terror band" -- is thought to be a dwindling force of 500 fighters at most. 
 
 "There are 7,000 people with him," Djotodia said Thursday, presumably referring to enslaved abducted villagers. He did not provide further information on Kony's whereabouts. 
 
 'No reason to believe' 
 
 While Djotodia is believed to have had contact with some LRA fighters, "we've no reason to believe that Joseph Kony is part of these negotiations," a senior US official told AFP. 
 
 The group of fighters is thought to have said it would lay down arms if given some form of amnesty and land to farm in the Central African Republic, the official said. 
 
 The group has claimed it could draw out other LRA fighters but "we have no reason to believe that Joseph Kony himself is involved, at least at this time," the official added. 
 
 The LRA has a loose structure, other gangs have used the name to sow terror in the region and a number of men have claimed to have a line to its elusive boss over the years, making any talks very complicated. 
 
 UN envoy Abu Mussa and his AU counterpart Francisco Madeira said Wednesday they warned Djotodia against being tricked by Kony, who has walked out on several peace negotiations in the past. 
 
 Djotodia, whose country has been sliding into chaos since he seized power in a March coup, is himself under increasing pressure from the international community, including the United States. 
 
 He has failed to rein in his former Seleka rebel comrades and the UN has said it might have to send in thousands of peacekeepers amid growing concern a possible genocide was in the making. 
 
 A former altar boy 
 
 A 3,000-strong Ugandan-led African force is currently hunting Kony. 
 
 They are backed by about 100 military advisors from the United States, which has offered a $5 million reward for Kony's capture. 
 
 Moussa said the Central African Republic authorities had expected a mass surrender by LRA fighters on November 3, but it did not happen. 
 
 The 50-year-old Kony, a former altar boy who followed in the footsteps of messianic former prostitute and rebel leader Alice Lakwena in the late 1980s, is wanted by the International Criminal Court. 
 
 In 2005, he was charged with 12 counts of crimes against humanity and 21 counts of war crimes, including murder, rape, forced enlistment of children and sexual enslavement. 
 
 The list of crimes has grown longer since and according to a recent UN report, the LRA is responsible for 100,000 deaths over the past 25 years. 
 
 It is also estimated to have abducted up to 100,000 children and caused the displacement of 2.5 million people over the same period. 
 
 Kony surged to unexpected worldwide prominence in March 2012 on the back of a hugely popular Internet video that called for his capture. 
 
 Copyright © 2013 AFP. All rights reserved. More » ||||| Image caption Kony is one of the world's most infamous fugitives 
 
 US officials have cast doubt on reports that Ugandan rebel leader Joseph Kony is negotiating his surrender in the Central African Republic (CAR). 
 
 A US State Department official told the BBC that some rebels had been in contact but Kony was not among them. 
 
 However, CAR officials later insisted that Kony, who is wanted for alleged war crimes, has been in talks with their government. 
 
 The US has offered up to $5m (£3.3m) for leads resulting in his arrest. 
 
 Kony founded the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) in northern Uganda more than 20 years ago, and his fighters are notorious for abducting children to serve as sex slaves and child soldiers. 
 
 Analysis We have been here before. There were even better prospects when former Ugandan official Betty Bigombe made direct contact with Kony. What is slightly different this time is Kony is a shadow of his former self, reportedly in fading health, having lost many fighters and operating in a volatile region. In South Sudan, he does not have sanctuary - since Khartoum stopped support. A local vigilante group on the border with Uganda and CAR has been protecting people against LRA attacks. In DR Congo, a robust UN mission has just helped the local army defeat M23 rebels. This force could be easily deployed to help in the hunt for Kony. In CAR, near-anarchy makes it relatively easy for regional armies hunting him to cross the border and capture him. Armed gangs in the chaotic nation could also seek to catch him to claim the $5m bounty offered by the US. After two decades on the run, Kony is short of options. That he has reportedly talked of possible surrender indicates how desperate he is. 
 
 The US official also noted that Kony had previously used "any and every pretext to rest, regroup, and rearm, ultimately returning to kidnapping, killing, displacing and otherwise abusing civilian populations". 
 
 The LRA was forced out of Uganda in 2005 and since then has wreaked havoc in CAR, South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo. 
 
 Kony was on the verge of signing a peace deal in 2008 but insisted that the International Criminal Court (ICC) first drop its arrest warrant, which it refused to do. 
 
 On Wednesday, a CAR government spokesman told the BBC that Kony was in the country but wanted his security to be guaranteed before giving himself up. 
 
 According to AFP news agency, CAR leader Michel Djotodia, said: "Joseph Kony wants to come out of the bush. We are negotiating with him." 
 
 A US State Department official said Washington was aware that CAR authorities had "been in contact for several months with a small LRA group in CAR that has expressed interest in surrendering". 
 
 But later on Thursday, a spokesman for Mr Djotodia told the BBC's Newshour radio programme that the president had had a phone conversation with Kony, who was in the remote Central African town of Nzoka "with nearly 7,000 people, with his whole group, women and children". 
 
 BBC Africa security correspondent Moses Rono says this is not the first time that a breakthrough has been reported with the LRA. 
 
 But he says that Kony is now a shadow of his former self, reportedly in fading health, having lost many fighters and operating in a volatile region, with armed gangs keen to earn the $5m reward. 
 
 The African Union's special envoy on the LRA, Francisco Madeira, told the UN Security Council on Wednesday he had seen reports that Kony was suffering from a "serious, uncharacterised illness". 
 
 In April the Ugandan army suspended a search for Kony in CAR, blaming "hostility" from the government formed when Mr Djotodia's rebel forces seized power there. 
 
 Some 3,000 African troops, backed by 100 US special forces, have been hunting him and his fighters across the region. 
 
 Mr Madeira said the military pressure had kept Kony and the LRA "on the run". 
 
 Kony claims the LRA's mission is to install a government in Uganda based on the Biblical Ten Commandments. 
 
 But he is wanted by the International Criminal Court in The Hague on charges of rape, mutilation and murder of civilians, as well as forcibly recruiting children to serve as soldiers and sex slaves.
– "It's true, Joseph Kony wants to come out of the bush," says the president of the Central African Republic. Tantalizing words, though there's plenty of doubt about how true they actually are. President Michel Djotodia insists his country has been in direct talks with Kony on a possible surrender, reports AFP. (Most Americans are probably familiar with Kony, whose Lord's Resistance Army has been fighting the Ugandan government for two decades, via a viral video calling for his capture. He just might be the world's most wanted warlord.) US officials say they doubt that Kony himself has been involved in any such talks. But even if that's true, there's another to think his days as a warlord are numbered. The BBC cites reports that Kony is in "fading health" and a "shadow of his former self," while an African Union envoy told the UN this week that he may be suffering from a "serious, uncharacterized illness." The International Criminal Court in The Hague, meanwhile, wants Kony on charges that include forcing children to serve as soldiers and sex slaves.