Ugandan government negotiators said today's deadline for a peace deal with the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) had been extended due to a recent truce under which rebels were gathering at safe locations.
"There's not really a deadline anymore," spokesman for the government team said in southern Sudan, whose authorities are mediating negotiations. "With the cessation of hostilities, we are moving towards a new timeframe."
President Yoweri Museveni had originally set a September 12th deadline for a conclusion to talks and vowed that the army would crush the LRA - one of Africa's most feared rebel groups - should the negotiations fail.
But the government signed a landmark truce with the LRA last month, raising hopes of an end to a brutal 20-year insurgency that has killed tens of thousands and forced 1.7 million into refugee camps. Peace talks are ongoing in the south Sudanese capital Juba.
Hundreds of Ugandan rebels, including their deputy commander, gathered at two locations as agreed under the truce, the chief mediator, southern Sudan's vice president Riek Machar, said yesterday.