Ceasefire monitors say the Ugandan government and a rebel group have violated a landmark truce, further straining peace talks aimed at ending a 20-year insurgency in northern Uganda.
The independent monitoring team said Sunday Ugandan troops breached the agreement by approaching a rebel safe haven near Uganda's border with Sudan. The team says members of the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) also violated the truce by leaving the designated assembly point in southern Sudan.
The Ugandan defense minister (Ruth Nankabirwa) has apologized and says the government did not intend to breach the agreement. She says troops were escorting a team of journalists and diplomats on a fact-finding trip near the rebel encampment.
Rebel leaders say they moved away from the camp in violation of the agreement because they feared an attack by the Ugandan force.
Under the ceasefire agreement, LRA rebels were supposed to assemble at two locations in south Sudan without interference from Ugandan forces.