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. '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. 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. We are negotiating with him," Michel Djotodia said during a meeting with political leaders in the capital Bangui. 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". 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". Some 3,000 African troops, backed by 100 US special forces, have been hunting him and his fighters across the region.
– "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.