By Francis Kwera KAMPALA, Feb 12 (Reuters) - Hundreds of Ugandan rebels have left an assembly point on the Sudan-Congo border and were heading towards the Central African Republic (CAF), a senior Sudanese official said on Tuesday. Uganda said the movement of Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) rebels could be a violation of a truce agreement. It is the second time in a year that the LRA has been seen moving towards a CAF region controlled by a local rebel group. The LRA rebels appeared to be shifting camp from the Ri-Kwangba an assembly point, Joseph Ngere, the deputy governor of Western Equatoria Province said. "We have seen hundreds of LRA rebels, children, the elderly and fighters moving westwards in the direction of Central African Republic (CAR), they have been moving for the last two days," he told Reuters via satellite telephone. Uganda, which has been in talks with LRA representatives for 20 months, said the rebels could put themselves at risk. "If the LRA has left Ri-Kwangba, they should know that that is tantamount to a violation of the agreement and wherever they go they will not be safe," Ugandan army spokesman Captain Paddy Ankunda said. Under a truce signed in August 2006, the LRA was meant to assemble in Ri-Kwangba -- as part of efforts to end a two-decade conflict that has killed tens of thousands. A spokesman for the LRA, which gained notoriety for mutilating victims and abducting children, dismissed the report as government propaganda. "Those are stories cooked up by those who are against peace returning to northern Uganda, we urge them to stop such damaging talk," said LRA chief negotiator David Matsanga-Nyekorach. The United Nations Mission in Sudan said in February 2007 that some 400 LRA rebels made their way to CAR to join fighters from the Popular Army for the Restoration of Democracy. CAR's President Francois Bozize last year reassured his Ugandan counterpart Yoweri Museveni that his government would deal with any LRA presence in his country. Uganda has given LRA leader Joseph Kony until end of March to sign a deal or risk a returning to war. (Editing by Katie Nguyen and Keith Weir)
African Union (AU) troops from Uganda sit on top of a tank as they patrol past Madina hospital in the south of Mogadishu February 6, 2008. At least 20 people killed ...
