The Ugandan government is to sign a peace deal with the rebel Lord's Resistance Army on 5 April to end one of Africa's longest running conflicts.
Mediators announced the date on the last day of formal negotiations in the southern Sudanese capital of Juba as rebel and government delegations signed and exchanged an implementation schedule of the agreement.
The Lord's Resistance Army has waged war for 20 years in northern Uganda and is notorious for mutilating civilians and enlisting child soldiers.
A ceasefire was struck in August 2006, paving the way for peace talks in Juba that have dragged on for more than a year and a half.
‘We will implement everything that we have committed to in the agreements that we have signed,’ said the head of the Ugandan government delegation.
The rebels, however, voiced doubts that Kampala would fully implement the deal.
Aid agencies estimate that more than 1.5m people have been displaced during the war. Under the final peace agreement, the government will resettle the displaced.
The government has previously said the LRA had given assurances that its veteran leader Joseph Kony would attend the signing in Juba.
But the group's chief negotiator has since said that the rebel leader will not come out of hiding unless a war crimes arrest warrant issued against him by the International Criminal Court is lifted.
