Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni has said the southern Sudan city of Juba will remain the venue for the peace talks with the rebel Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) despite demands by the rebel group that a new venue and mediator be found.

The president who was speaking on a local radio in war-ravaged northern Uganda over the weekend said the venue of the talks will not change and the vice president of southern Sudan Riek Machar would stay as chief mediator.

"There is no change of venue for talks or mediator. For Kenya or South Africa to understand issues of Uganda, it will take them three months," President Museveni was quoted as saying by the Daily Monitor on Monday.

"For Kenya's case, they can't hold the talks because they are busy with elections. Dr Machar didn't know the issues of Uganda. He took time to understand them. He has now educated himself. If Kony (LRA rebel leader) wants more assurance, we shall bring more people from Kenya, South Africa and any other country they want to reinforce Dr. Machar," Museveni added.

The LRA last month pulled out of the talks with the Ugandan government citing security concerns after Sudan, the host of the talks, threatened to flush them out.

The rebel negotiators demanded that the talks be transferred to Kenya or South Africa before they return to the negotiation table. But Kenyan government has, however, turned down LRA's request to host the talks in Nairobi.

The Juba talks, which started in July last year, were seen as the best chance to end the two-decade long LRA insurgency that has left tens of thousands of people dead and over 1.4 million people homeless in northern Uganda.

Source: Xinhua