Kampala- Uganda said Tuesday that its forces are engaged in a multi-national offensive against Ugandan rebels in the north-east of the Democratic Republic of Congo to force its leaders back into recently collapsed peace talks.

Ugandan, Congolese and southern Sudanese forces on December 14 began a joint attack on the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) bases in DR Congo's Garamba national park, where the rebels holed up in late 2004 after being pushed out of southern Sudan.

The attack seemed to sound the death knell for peace talks aimed at ending a conflict that has left thousands dead or mutilated and hundreds of thousands displaced in the northern region.

The three armies have for the last two days carried out attacks on LRA positions and are closing in on the rebels, Ugandan Foreign Minister Sam Kutesa told reporters.

"The principal objective of the attack was to flush out the LRA from their hideouts so that they return to the negotiating table," Kutesa said.

LRA spokesman David Matsanga, however, told Deutsche Presse- Agentur dpa that Uganda was destroying the peace process and that the attacks were "not working."

Uganda claims that it has destroyed several rebel bases and scattered the LRA in all directions.

Matsanga said that the LRA would make an official statement about the attacks on Thursday after "collecting all the facts."

Peace negotiations began in mid 2006 between the government and the LRA, but the rebels remain hesitant to sign the final peace treaty.

They say that the International Criminal Court (ICC) should first withdraw arrest warrants it issued in 2005 for five rebel leaders, including Joseph Kony, for crimes against humanity.

The court in The Hague wants the guerrilla commanders to be triedfor rape, murder, abductions, torture and conscription of children into war.

The rebels want Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni to get the ICC to drop the warrants.

Kony failed to turn up to sign the final peace agreement on November 29.

Reports in recent months suggested that the LRA was once again gearing up for conflict, attacking villages around its base to recruit more soldiers.

According to Kutesa, during October and November, the LRA abducted nearly 400 civilians including 686 Congolese, 95 Sudanese and 107 others from the Central African Republic (CAR).

He claimed that children and wives are staying separately and the army is targeting only combatants' camps in the current offensive. (dpa)