"We stormed out of the talks after we informed the mediator that we are not ready to proceeed with the negotiations until the government declares a unilateral cessation of hostilities," rebel spokesman Obonyo Olweny told AFP.

Last week, the LRA declared a unilateral ceasefire in an apparent bid to boost faltering peace talks and urged the Kampala government to reciprocate.

The government refused, arguing that such a move would give the LRA time to regroup, rearm and recruit new fighters.

Olweny said the chief mediator in the peace talks, southern Sudan's vice president Riak Machar, had told the Ugandan rebels and government that the talks, which adjourned on June 24, would resume after both sides declare a unilateral truce.

"In the circumstances, whereas we remain firmly committed to the peace talks, our firm position is that no meaningful negotiations will take place without the cessation of hostilies," the LRA delegation said in a statement, read to AFP by its spokesman.

"As such, we are not willing to resume the peace talks before the government of Uganda also declares a unilateral cessation of hostilities, so that the first task upon the resumption of the talks shall be to agree on terms of a bilateral ceasefire agreement," he added.

Neither the government delegation, which attended the talks in Juba, nor the mediators were reachable for comment.

The rebels also protested on Wednesday at the killing of eight LRA fighters in northern Uganda since August 4, when LRA's deputy leader Vincent Otti announced a unilateral rebel truce.

Ugandan army spokesman Lieutenant Chris Magezi told AFP that the fighters killed between August 4 and 8 were "trying to raid villages for food".

The peace negotiations in the southern Sudan capital Juba are seen as the best chance to bring stability to northern Uganda, where tens of thousands of people have been killed and almost two million displaced since the LRA began fighting the government in 1988.

LRA leader Joseph Kony, a self-proclaimed prophet and mystic, claims to be fighting to replace Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni's government with one based on the Biblical Ten Commandments.

But his rebel group has become better known for atrocities, particularly the kidnapping of an estimated 25,000 children -- girls for sex slaves and boys for fighters.

His group is considered a "terrorist" organisation by the Ugandan authorities.

The International Criminal Court in The Hague has issued arrest warrants for Kony, Otti and four of his top commanders on war crimes charges.

The United Nations says the civil war in northern Uganda is one of the world's worst humanitarian disasters and deplores thet fact that it has largely gone unnoticed by the international community.

In order to improve the chances of the peace talks suceeding, Museveni has assured Kony of total amnesty if there is a peace deal. Meanwhile Sudan is working with foreign powers to have the arrest warrants withdrawn, in a bid to encourage the elusive Kony to come out of hiding and negotiate directly with the government.

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