RPT-Uganda gives amnesty to former rebel spokesman

(repeats to widen distribution)

KAMPALA, Aug 5 (Reuters) - Uganda granted amnesty on Tuesday to a former senior figure in the fugitive Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) rebels who fell out with the group's leader Joseph Kony.

James Obita, a 58-year-old exile, was the spokesman of the guerrilla group during some of the stop-start peace talks between Kony and Uganda's government that collapsed in April.

"I am humbled ... this is a very good window of opportunity for everybody else still in the bush," Obita told journalists.

He said the talks would have succeeded if some individuals had not called Kony, who is wanted by the International Criminal Court in The Hague, and told him he was being sold out.

Obita did not name the individuals he blamed.

Two decades of civil war in northern Uganda forced 2 million people from their homes and also destabilised neighbouring parts of oil-producing south Sudan and mineral-rich eastern Congo.

Justice Peter Onega, chairman of the Ugandan government's amnesty commission, said Obita had made the right choice.

"He was, until today, a very senior external mobiliser of the rebel group and we call upon all the other fighters to emulate him," Onega said. (Reporting by Frank Nyakairu; Editing by Daniel Wallis and William Schomberg) (For full Reuters Africa coverage and to have your say on the top issues, visit africa.reuters.com/)