Officials gave conflicting reports about why Uganda’s fugitive rebel leader did not sign a peace accord Thursday to end one of Africa’s longest wars, raising doubts about the agreement’s fate.

Rebels and negotiators had gathered in a jungle clearing waiting for Joseph Kony, leader of the vicious Lord’s Resistance Army, to emerge from hiding and sign a deal to end the two decade-long insurgency.

A comprehensive deal will be a major breakthrough in pacifying the volatile region comprising northern Uganda, eastern Congo and southern Sudan.

But Kony, who has not been seen in public since 2006, wants clarification on how the government will address atrocities charges against him and other rebels, said Riek Machar, the southern Sudanese vice president mediating the peace talks.

Kony “still wants these issues explained to him _ that is why we have delayed,” Machar told journalists.

But David Matsanga, who until Thursday had been the rebel group’s chief negotiator, said he had not spoken to Kony in four days and didn’t know if he was near Ri-Kwangba, the venue planned for the peace deal signing.

Matsanga, who said he resigned because he did not want to lie “to the world,” suggested Kony may never have meant to come to signing.

“Kony keeps lying to me and saying he’ll come to meet us and then he doesn’t come to meet us,” said Matsanga, who is the second LSA chief negotiator to leave the group in recent months.

Kony and four other members of the rebel high command wanted by the International Criminal Court have gone into hiding. As part of the final deal, Uganda has agreed to approach the ICC and request that the indictments be withdrawn. Any decision to drop the international charges would have to be approved by judges at the court, who would first want to be sure the rebels get a proper trial in Uganda.

Under the deal, those charged with serious crimes during the insurgency would be tried in a special division of Uganda’s High Court. Those accused of lesser crimes would be judged according to northern Uganda’s traditional justice system, known as Mato Oput.

Mato Oput is a style of mediation that involves a public apology from the offender, who must also give a payment set by local elders _ often in cattle or sheep _ to the victims, or bereaved. In return, victims agree to forgive the accused.

Some human rights groups condemn such punishment as too lenient.

Ruhakana Rugunda, the Ugandan government’s chief negotiator, said the delay is no big deal.

“Long-lasting peace in northern Uganda is what we want, and we won’t be derailed by a time schedule,” said Rugunda, Uganda’s internal affairs minister.

Kony’s rebel force is known for cutting off the lips of its victims and for recruiting child soldiers. More than a year of peace talks that Machar has mediated have been marked by walkouts and accusations of sabotage on both sides.

U.N. officials estimate that the LRA has kidnapped 20,000 children in the past two decades, turning the boys into soldiers and the girls into sex slaves for rebel commanders.

The Lord’s Resistance Army was formed from the remnants of a northern Uganda rebellion that began in 1986 after Museveni, a southerner, overthrew a brutal military junta.

Kony mixed northern politics with religious mysticism, declaring himself a Christian prophet fighting to rule this country of 26 million people by the Ten Commandments.