The New Nation - Internet Edition

AFP, Kinshasa

Ugandan Lord's Resistance Army rebels have killed almost 200 people in northeast Congo, a UN agency said in a report released Monday, although rebels issued a swift denial.

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said in its report that the rebels had killed 189 people and torched 120 houses during the bloody campaign in Democratic Republic of Congo.

However, LRA deputy peace delegation chairman Justin Labeja told AFP by telephone that "the accusations that LRA has killed 200 people in DRC are totally untrue. LRA has not killed anybody."

Labeja, a long-time confidant of LRA leader Joseph Kony, said the group "is still committed to negotiating with the Ugandan government as long as there are guarantees and the International Criminal Court warrants are suspended."

Troops from DR Congo, Uganda and southern Sudan have been working together since mid-December to find Kony, who is wanted by The Hague-based tribunal for war crimes.

The vice-governor of Orientale province, Joseph Bangakya Angaze, told AFP by telephone that local authorities would ask the Congolese government Tuesday to include the Central Africal Republic in the joint mission.