Uganda says LRA rebels fought south Sudan forces

(Updates with SPLA denial)

By Frank Nyakairu

KAMPALA, June 17 (Reuters) - Fugitive rebels from Uganda's Lord's Resistance Army have clashed with south Sudanese forces for a second time this month, Uganda's military said on Tuesday.

But a spokesman for southern Sudan's army, the SPLA, denied the incident had taken place.

Captain Chris Magezi, a Ugandan military spokesman, said one rebel was killed and three captured on Sunday after LRA fighters raided Nimule town, which lies on a major trade route between northern Uganda and the south Sudanese capital Juba.

But his south Sudanese counterpart said that was wrong.

"There has been no fighting between the LRA and the SPLA," Peter Parnyang, the SPLA spokesman, told Reuters.

He said there had been suspicions LRA fighters were looting in the Nimule area, but that the identity of the culprits was unclear.

Parnyang said Ugandan troops, who also operate in southern Sudan, had arrested three fishermen and killed one. "It's a mix-up," he said.

The differing accounts could not immediately be reconciled.

Nimule is in an area that was once an LRA stronghold, but had been relatively quiet since mid-2005 when the rebels moved deep into northeastern Congo's lawless Garamba Forest.

On June 4, the LRA attacked south Sudanese barracks on the Congo border, killing 30 people including 14 SPLA troops.

Uganda's two-decade civil war uprooted 2 million people and also destabilised neighbouring parts of oil-producing southern Sudan and mineral-rich eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.

South Sudan's Vice-President Riek Machar chaired two years of peace talks between the rebels and Uganda's government that collapsed in April when the LRA's elusive leader, Joseph Kony, failed to appear on the Congo-Sudan border to sign a final deal.

Kony and two of his deputy commanders are wanted for war crimes by the International Criminal Court in The Hague.

Machar has said he is not giving up on the negotiations, and has said preparations by Kampala, Khartoum and Kinshasa for a joint military offensive against the LRA were premature.

Analysts believe such an operation could carry big risks for the forces involved and would be likely to fail.

"More than ever a more constructive response is required," Machar said on Monday. "I don't think the LRA could be destroyed by military force... it is cheaper to persuade them." (Additional reporting by Skye Wheeler in Juba; Writing by Daniel Wallis; Editing by Catherine Evans) (For full Reuters Africa coverage and to have your say on the top issues, visit: africa.reuters.com/)