Nairobi — An optimistic note about the prospects for talks to end war in northern Uganda has been sounded by Salva Kiir: vice president of Sudan and head of the regional authority in southern Sudan, which is mediating in the discussions.

For the past 19 years, northern Uganda has been ravaged by fighting between government and the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), a rebel group notorious for human rights abuses -- including the abduction of children to serve as soldiers and sex slaves. Over 20,000 children have been forcibly taken since the start of the conflict, according to the United Nations.

"We have talked to both parties and they have committed themselves to negotiating peace. We are expecting a peaceful solution to the conflict by the end of the period given," Kiir told journalists in the Kenyan capital of Nairobi, Monday, in reference to the Sep. 12 deadline for a peace deal that was set by Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni.

"Since they (the LRA) have accepted to negotiate we expect they will commit to the responsibilities they have assigned themselves so that they can reach a peaceful solution rather than a military one," he added.

The talks got underway Friday in the south Sudanese capital of Juba, and were plunged into difficulties almost immediately when the government delegation took exception to an LRA statement that reportedly accused Kampala of corruption and other wrongdoing.

Nonetheless, Carlos Rodriguez, who forms part of a team of religious leaders from northern Uganda observing the talks, remains hopeful about the outcome of the discussions.

"At least in the last three days the two sides have been meeting every day, and holding discussions face-to-face. If they continue talking at this level on a daily basis, I think there is a serious chance for peace," he told IPS.

"You cannot expect people who have been fighting all along to be friendly the first time they meet. Yes, there is tension, but the two sides are talking."

A further complication looms in the form of an amnesty promised by Museveni to LRA leader Joseph Kony earlier this month, on condition that he lay down arms. The amnesty is at odds with an arrest warrant issued for Kony and several senior rebel officers last year by the Netherlands-based International Criminal Court, which has charged the LRA members with war crimes.

While the rebel group is said to have set up bases in north-eastern Democratic Republic of Congo in recent months, it also operates from southern Sudan, which borders Uganda.

Kiir told reporters that this was a key factor in south Sudan's decision to mediate in the peace process.

"We were forced to (do) this because it is our people who are dying. The war in northern Uganda has drifted into southern Sudan, and all the atrocities being committed in Uganda by the LRA are being committed (against) the people of southern Sudan," he noted.

Previous efforts to bring government and the rebels to the negotiating table have failed. As the civil war has dragged on, tens of thousands of people have been killed, and close to two million displaced, according to relief agencies.

The LRA accuses authorities of marginalising the people of northern Uganda. It wants to set up a government in the East African country that is based on the Biblical 10 commandments.

Developments in Darfur were also highlighted during the press conference given by Kiir.

This western Sudanese region has been mired in conflict since early 2003, when the Sudan Liberation Army (SLA) and the Justice and Equality Movement began opposing government to protest against its alleged neglect of the area.

Authorities have been accused of widespread rights abuses in their campaign to rout the rebels, with Arab militants known as "janjaweed" -- or "men on horseback" -- coming in for particular criticism.

While African Union peacekeepers have been deployed in Darfur, there are calls for a better-resourced U.N. force to be sent to the region.

Sudan's government had appeared receptive to such a force after signing a peace agreement with the main faction of the SLA, the largest rebel group in Darfur, in Nigeria about two months ago. But, it later hardened its position.

The south Sudanese leader said this change was not universally endorsed.

"Our position was that we sit down and decide on the size of the force, its mission and duration, as had been agreed before. But the president (Omar Hassan Ahmed el-Bashir) has rejected the coming in of U.N. peacekeepers. He has said no international forces should come to Darfur," noted Kiir, en route to the U.S. capital of Washington where he is expected to hold talks with American officials about Darfur, and the January 2005 peace deal that ended a long-running civil war in southern Sudan.

David Mozersky, an authority on Sudan at the International Crisis Group, a Brussels-based think-tank, believes Khartoum's opposition to a U.N. force stem from concerns about the accountability of those responsible for rights abuses.

"The government is fearful that a strong U.N. force in Darfur will lead to the arrest of people in government who have been mentioned by the International Criminal Court to have been involved in war crimes in the area," he told IPS last month.

Some 200,000 people have died in the violence in Darfur, while more than two million have been displaced, according to U.N. statistics.