The peace talks between the Ugandan government and the rebel Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) have reached a crucial stage as the rebels joined force with their leadership in the hideouts, reported State-owned New Vision on Saturday.

"The next weeks will be absolutely crucial for whether or not we can bring to an end one of our generation's worst wars. It is an extremely fragile process," said Jan Egeland, UN's Under- secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs, on Friday in Geneva.

Egeland, who has visited northern Uganda a couple of times this year, said "dramatic progress" had been made in peace process though there was a struggle to keep the momentum going.

The newspaper said senior commanders and "genuine" fighters left Owiny-ki-Bul, one of the two assembly zones on the east side of River Nile in southern Sudan, and entered their hideouts a few days ago in Garamba National Park, northwest of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), joining force with the elusive leaders.

The estimated 200 LRA fighters were reportedly led to Garamba by several senior LRA commanders including Dominic Ongwen, one of the five wanted LRA leaders by the UN's International Criminal Court (ICC) for war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Security sources said the rebels traveled northwards from Owiny- ki-Bul and crossed River Nile to Western Equatoria State at a point north of Juba before they entered Garamba, an attempt that had been sternly warned against by the Ugandan military.

"They have joined their leaders in Garamba. The territory they used was under Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) control and we bear no responsibility for whatever will happen," said a senior Ugandan security source.

The latest development put more pressure on the chief mediator of the talks, Riek Machar and the government of southern Sudan. Last week, SPLA deployed around Owiny-ki-Bul following LRA claims that the Uganda People's Defense Force (UPDF) had besieged them around the assembly zone.

The UPDF has showed concerns on a possible reunification of those who were operating in northern Uganda and southern Sudan with the LRA High Command hiding in the DRC.

The rebel's move to Garamba comes at a time when the LRA has struck a deal to ally with other two rebel factions, the People's Redemption Army (PRA) and the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) in DRC.

During the movement of the group to Garamba, the LRA delegation in Juba said the rebels would not sign a peace agreement with the government if the international arrest warrants for their leaders were not dropped.

Joseph Kony, Vincent Otti, Okot Odhiambo, Dominic Ongwen and the late Raska Lukwiya were indicted by ICC based in The Hague for atrocities committed in northern Uganda, where their brutal insurgency has left tens of thousands of people dead and over 1.4 million displaced.

The ICC recently renewed pressure for their arrests.

Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni has offered the rebels amnesty against prosecution, despite condemnation by human rights groups, saying peace was more important than a trial.

The talks, started on July 14 under the auspice of southern Sudan authority, are seen as another chance to end the conflict in northern Uganda, one of Africa's longest, after a dozen of such attempts failed in the last few years.

Source: Xinhua