The Sudanese People's Liberation Army/Movement (SPLA/M) has issued an ultimatum of three months to the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) rebels fighting the Ugandan government using their bases in southern Sudan.

The SPLM deputy vice-chairman and the southern Sudan acting president, Riyak Machar was quoted by the Ugandan state-owned newspaper, The New Vision on Friday as saying that the LRA rebel leader Joseph Kony and his fighters had three options to take within three months.

Machar said the first option available to the LRA was to surrender to the SPLA and accept to negotiate with the Ugandan government under the chairmanship of the SPLA.

The second was for the rebels to vacate Sudan and continue fighting for their cause inside Uganda.

The last option is for LRA to be flushed out of southern Sudan by force.

Machar said that the ultimatum would be implemented in the next two months.

"The President of Southern Sudan, Salva Kiir has notified the LRA leadership about these three options starting from October. If the rebels fail to respond, we shall have no option but to use maximum force to flush them out," said Machar.

Machar was speaking at the last funeral rights of the former SPLA/M chairman, John Garang who died in a Ugandan presidential helicopter accident on July 31, while traveling from Uganda to New Site in southern Sudan.

The LRA have been fighting the Ugandan government for the last 19 years killing tens of thousands of people and displacing over 1. 4 million people in northern Uganda. The rebels use their bases in southern Sudan to attack Uganda.

Until the recent past, the LRA also started carrying out attacks against the people of southern Sudan, killing some and forcing thousands to flee to Uganda and other parts.

Source: Xinhua