NAIROBI (AlertNet) - One of Africa's fiercest rebel organisations, Uganda's Lords Resistance Army, has denied a report that it has moved into western SudanÂ?s turbulent Darfur region.
A U.S.-based anti-genocide group, the Enough Project, said Ugandan rebels notorious for mutilating their victims and abducting children had found a safe haven in Darfur.
But two senior members of the rebel group's political wing in the Kenyan capital Nairobi dismissed the claims.
"This is part of continued fabrications and guesswork about LRA whereabouts and we would like to dismiss this baseless report with all the contempt it deserves," Colonel Michael Anywar, who acted as LRA military liaison, told Alertnet in Nairobi.
Led by self proclaimed prophet Joseph Kony, the LRA has fought the Ugandan government since 1987.
But following the collapsed of a peace process in 2008, the rebels, who were once supported by SudanÂ?s President Omar al-Bashir, have since sought safe havens in DR Congo, Central African Republic (CAR) and Sudan.
"It's true that Khartoum once supported LRA but that kind of support stopped in 2002 after which we chose cut those ties," said Justine Labeja, who said he is the head of LRA peace delegation.
Analysts say that with political tensions flaring in Sudan, the LRA is likely to strike an alliance with the Khartoum government as a regional mercenary force.
The cultÂ?like group, accused of turning boys into child soldiers and girls into sex slaves, seeks to rule Uganda according to the Bible's Ten Commandments.
At the height of Kony's war, thousands were killed and 2 million Ugandans were forced into precarious camps that dotted northern Uganda and southern Sudan for close to two decades.
Both men declined to disclose the whereabouts of LRA leader Kony, who is wanted by the International Criminal Court for war crimes and crimes against humanity.
CALL FOR CEASEFIRE
The rebel representatives also echoed recent calls for peace talks made by a religious leadersÂ? group from the four countries affected by the LRA activities.
"Ugandan forces need to heed to this call for ceasefire so that this war can end once and for all," said Labeja, who says he coordinates LRAÂ?s external affairs.
But the Ugandan army, which has been fighting the LRA in Congo, Sudan and CAR, with little success, insists on a military option.
"We gave LRA the best option to talk peace but they decided to squander it," said Lt. Col. Felix Kulayigye, a spokesman for Uganda's military.
He said military intelligence indicated the rebels had bases in CAR and southern Darfur but could not confirm any link between the LRA and its former ally, Khartoum.
"They are oscillating between CAR and southern Darfur but we have no information that they are receiving any kind of help from anyone," said Kaluyigye in a telephone interview from the Ugandan capital.
Relations between Kampala and Khartoum have always been fraught as Uganda supported rebels now heading the semi-autonomous government in southern Sudan.
COULD DARFUR CRISIS WORSEN?
Darfur's conflict surged in 2003 when the rebel groups took up arms against Sudan's government, accusing it of leaving the mostly desert region underdeveloped.
If the LRA joins the complex web of Darfur's conflict, the scale of human suffering could increase, the U.N. refugee agency (UNHCR) warns.
"The LRA has been leaving a trail of devastation from their bases in DRC, South Sudan and CAR. If they go to Darfur, we could seen more displacement there," said Hassan Yusuf, UNHCRÂ?s regional spokesman based in Nairobi.
According to the U.N. refugees agency, the LRA caused most of the displacement in central Africa in 2009 with hundreds of thousands uprooted.
The rebels have looted, killed civilians and abducted children from three countries, forcing many to flee their homes, according to a report by Human Rights Watch.
"This is a very unpredictable outfit and it makes it very difficult to plan for humanitarian response," said Yusuf.
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