Kony's rebels say they are scared they will contract Ebola and malaria if they go to Owiny Kibul and Kisenga, prompting a sharp response from the UPDF.

President Yoweri Museveni asked the rebels to assemble at either place as a condition for cease-fire.

Army Commander Maj. Gen. James Kazini Monday offered the rebels safe passage to the places named by Museveni.

But LRA commander Sam Kolo yesterday called media houses say the two areas, both located in southern Sudan, were "inhabitable."

He claimed that some UPDF soldiers who contracted Ebola in DR Congo in 1998 were transferred to Owiny Kibul and several died there. He alleged they were buried in four mass graves. He said the rebels risk contracting Ebola if they assemble in the area. He said Panyikwara was near Owiny Kibul.

"We informed the Sudan government about it. Even River Panyikwara and a hill nearby have both been named Ebola," Kolo said.

About Kisenga, he said it was heavily forested and infested with mosquitoes and snakes and could spark off a malaria outbreak within the rebel ranks.

But Army spokesman, Maj. Shaban Bantariza, dismissed the rebels' fears as flimsy excuses to back out of peace talks.

"How can rebels fear mosquitoes and snakes?" he asked before bursting in to a bout of laughter. "Have they been staying in Sheraton (hotel) in the Imatong hills?" he asked.

He said the LRA have often operated in mosquito infested areas such as Aswa swamp in Gulu district, which is no less hazardous than Kisenga.

Asked about the alleged UPDF graves at Panyikwara and Owiny Kibul, Bantariza said: "Those are ebyekwaso [excuses]. They are just unwilling to have peace talks."

He said the army buries its dead at gazetted grounds in Uganda, while some are buried at their ancestral homes.

Kolo also said that Kazini does not have the "jurisdiction to order the LRA to assemble in Sudan, a sovereign nation."

But Bantariza said Sudan would have no objection to the rebels moving to its territory if it would help the peace process. He said that in any case the rebels have always operated from Sudan.