NAIROBI, Jan 12 (Reuters) - Ugandan Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) rebel representatives want peace talks with the government to be held in Kenya instead of southern Sudan, where they say they are not welcome, an LRA official said on Friday. The new U.N. envoy for Uganda's conflict, former Mozambican president Joaquim Chissano, was expected to attend the resumption of talks to end one of Africa's longest-running wars in the southern Sudanese capital Juba on Monday. But Martin Ojul, head of the LRA peace team, said delegates representing some of Africa's most feared insurgents had withdrawn from Juba, citing strained relations with Sudan. The LRA statement came three days after Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir vowed to "get rid of the LRA from Sudan". "In the circumstances and due to security considerations the LRA delegation for the peace talks are not going back to Juba but would prefer that the talks resume in a neutral venue, preferably in Kenya," Ojul said in a statement read out to reporters in Nairobi. Ojul said he met Chissano on Thursday to explain why the LRA delegation would not be returning to Juba and said South Africa was another desired venue. It was the latest upset in stop-start talks that were brokered by the regional Government of South Sudan to end a two-decade war that has killed tens of thousands and uprooted nearly two million more people. The two sides last month extended a landmark truce until the end of February while talks continue, but little progress has been made towards a final agreement with both sides accusing each other of violating the ceasefire. Before moving to the jungles of the Democratic Republic of Congo, the LRA used to have bases in southern Sudan where they would launch their attacks across the border into Uganda. Chissano arrived in Uganda on Friday morning for talks with government officials and was due to visit the country's war-ravaged north over the weekend.
