Uganda's Lord's Resistance Army rebel leader Joseph Kony used his first news conference in 20 years of rebellion today to call for a ceasefire with the government as a prelude to peace talks.
"We wish to categorically state that no meaningful negotiations can take place without a cessation of hostilities," Kony said in a statement read out at the news conference by a rebel spokesman before Kony took questions himself.
Asked what he would do if the government did not accept his call for a ceasefire, Kony said: "I will not do anything, but I will try also to talk so that we cease the fire."
The elusive rebel commander is wanted by the International Criminal Court for war crimes and crimes against humanity. But asked if he would ever stand trial in The Hague, he said: "No, no, no... because I did not do anything."
The cult-like movement is accused of killing civilians and mutilating its victims in a war against the Ugandan government that has uprooted nearly 2 million people and killed tens of thousands, as well as destabilising southern Sudan.
The LRA launched one of the world's most brutal insurrections from northern Uganda before moving to south Sudan and more recently hiding out in the jungles of the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Kony, who spoke in halting English, earlier met South Sudan's vice president on the Sudan-Congo border for talks aimed at ending one of Africa's longest wars.