The Ugandan government has issued a stun warning to the rebel Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) against violating the truce agreement as the peace talks continue to drag on in the southern Sudan capital of Juba.

Ruth Nankabirwa, the chairperson of the government Peace Talks Support Committee and the Minister of State for Defense told a news briefing here on Wednesday that the LRA have continuously violated the August 26 truce agreement they signed with the government.

She said the latest incident was on Tuesday when the rebels ambushed and killed a Uganda People's Defense Force (UPDF) officer in southern Sudan.

Capt. Sam Mugarura belonging to the 91 battalion of the UPDF was killed by the LRA 4 km east of the River Nile, and 115 km northwest of Owiny-Ki-Bul, an assembly zone for the rebels.

"This is blatant violation of the cessation of hostilities agreement. I am demanding that the mediator takes a strong action against the LRA for their continued violation," Nankabirwa said, adding that the rebels should be wiped out of southern Sudan if they continue to do so.

According to the truce, the LRA rebels are supposed to assemble in Owiny-Ki-Bul and Ri-Kwagnba in southern Sudan before Sept. 19. The rebels, however, have not assembled in the areas.

Nankabirwa said the government is going to give its formal protest to the mediator Riek Machar, vice president of southern Sudan.

She said the government is still committed to ending the 20- year conflict peacefully though it is concerned over the pace at which the talks are progressing and the continued supply of food to the rebels by the mediator.

The LRA brutal rebellion has left tens of thousands of people dead and over 1.4 million homeless in northern Uganda, which was labeled by UN top official as one of the world's most forgotten humanitarian crises.

Source: Xinhua