Peace talks between the Ugandan government and the rebel Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) are still going on, the chief mediator has said.

Betty Bigombe was quoted by the state-owned newspaper, The New Vision as saying on Friday that any chance geared towards peace must be exploited to the maximum by the government.

She said she had been working quietly and has been in touch with the International Criminal Court (ICC), which indicted the top LRA commanders for crimes against humanity.

"The latest peace gesture is not out of the blue. I have been influencing the rebels quietly to come to the round table. The ICC knows what I am doing because I am constantly in touch with them," she was quoted as saying.

Last week, the LRA's deputy commander Vincent Otti said the rebels were ready to hold talks with the government to end the 19- year insurgency. Shortly after that the Ugandan government said its doors to peace talks were still open provided the rebels were serious.

The head of the government peace team and Minister of Internal Affairs Ruhakana Rugunda said the government is ready to talks to the rebels provided the move does not conflict with the proceedings of the ICC.

Bigombe said the rebels' latest call for peace talks should be given the benefit of doubt, instead of being dismissed as their leader Joseph Kony buying time to reorganize.

Bigombe's comments came at a time when some leaders from the war-torn northern Uganda and the army are dismissing the calls by the rebels to talk peace.

The army spokesman Maj. Felix Kulaigye described the call for peace talks as a desperate move by the LRA after the Ugandan troops launched military offensives on them.

The district chairmen of Gulu and Kitgum said that Otti telephoned them last Tuesday and sounded desperate.

"Otti sounded desperate. I told him that they are not serious on peace talks and only use it to reorganize and continue killing of civilians," Kitgum district chairman Nahaman Ojwee was quoted as saying by local media.

Gulu district chairman Col. Walter Ochora said he told Otti that time has come to handle LRA militarily.

Late last year, peace talks between the government and the LRA collapsed after the rebels failed to turn up to sign the final peace agreement requesting for more time. However they resumed carrying out attacks which prompted the Ugandan army to declare full-scale war against them.

The rebellion in northern Uganda has been raging on for the last 19 years, killing tens of thousands of people and displacing over 1.4 million people.

Source: Xinhua