Ri-Kwangba — UN humanitarian chief Jan Egeland met the reclusive commander of the LRA rebels in the jungle on Sunday but the rebels said the two sides were unable to reach agreement.

Egeland had wanted to persuade LRA leader Joseph Kony to release women and children they may be holding and to let any wounded go to hospital. The LRA wants the International Criminal Court to revoke arrest warrants against Kony and other leaders. But after a 10-minute encounter in a green UN tent at an assembly point near the border with DR Congo, Kony told reporters no agreement was reached.

"We don't have any children. We only have combatants. There are no wounded," added Kony, speaking to reporters.

LRA deputy leader Vincent Otti said the question of the arrest warrants came up in the talks as an obstacle to Kony and his lieutenants taking part in negotiations with the Ugandan government in Juba, capital of southern Sudan.

"If the warrants are lifted, then we can go to the peace talks," Otti told reporters. Egeland has no authority over the international court, which is independent by treaty.

LRA officials had said it was unlikely Kony would agree to Egeland's request that he release women and children. "These people are families. They don't want to leave," said one. At the brief meeting, Kony's first with an international official of Egeland's rank, voices were raised and the discussion was heated, witnesses said.

Egeland flew by helicopter from Juba to the border settlement of Nbanga and then drove through thick tropical forest for his meeting with Kony. After waiting for hours at an assembly point for the LRA, 15 young LRA fighters turned up to clear the way for Kony, who could be arrested for trial in The Hague.

After arrival in Rikwangba, one of two assembly points set up under the truce arrangements, Egeland had preliminary discussions with Otti.

Otti went out to make a phone call and then returned for intense consultations with Riek Machar, the vice president of south Sudan and a key mediator with the LRA. A few minutes Machar said aloud: "OK, our guns 100 metres, your guns 100 metres, agreed."

Armed men from the two sides - the LRA and soldiers of the south Sudan's Sudan People's Liberation Army - then began to withdraw from around the UN tent where Egeland and Otti had met, apparently in readiness for the arrival of Kony.

Though the Sudan government party agreed to a weapons-free zone for the meeting Kony's armed escorts stood close through the meeting.