The Ugandan government has said that it is still interested in peace negotiations with the rebels of the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) to end the 19-year-old rebellion in northern Uganda.

The head of the government's peace negotiation team with the rebels and Minister of Internal Affairs, Ruhakana Rugunda told Xinhua by telephone on Wednesday that government is still pursuing peace negotiation with the LRA rebels.

"The door for peace negotiations is still open and I can assure you we are in touch with the rebels through our mediator Betty Bigombe," said Rugunda.

He noted that despite the country's army, Uganda People's Defense Force (UPDF) registering major success in its fight against the LRA, government still thinks that peace negotiation is also relevant.

In spite of the tremendous work the UPDF is doing in fighting the LRA, government deems it right that it should also talk peace with the rebels so that the insurgency in northern Uganda can be brought to an end," said Rugunda.

Recently, the UPDF said that it had secured over 90 percent of the war-ravaged northern Uganda. The country's President, Yoweri Museveni said that only 80 rebels had fled to deeper southern Sudan with their leader Joseph Kony.

Last week, Betty Bigombe said that she had made contacts with rebel leader Joseph Kony and expect that this time the negotiations will be serious.

Various attempts by the government and the rebels to talk peace have not yielded any fruit.

On the eve of 2005, the rebels and government were supposed to sign a final peace deal but the rebels claimed that they needed more time to study the final peace agreement deal.

Northern Uganda has been ravaged by the LRA rebellion, which is seen as one of the most gruesome insurgencies the African continent has ever faced.

The last 19 years, tens of thousands of people have died and over 1.4 million people displaced from their homes because of the rebellion.

Source: Xinhua