KAMPALA, March 27, 2008 (AFP) - Uganda said Thursday it will sign a final peace accord with the Lord's Resistance Army rebels even if the movement's leader Joseph Kony is absent at ceremony.

'In the unlikely event Kony cannot come to Juba, it will not torpedo -- nor will it jeopardize -- the signing of the peace agreement,' Interior Minister Ruhakana Rugunda told reporters here.

'The government is willing to accept any other credible, rational and legally sound [representative],' added Rugunda, also the government chief negotiator.

It is not yet clear who will sign for the rebels at the April 5 ceremony in the South Sudan capital Juba.

'The final text of the peace agreement is a compilation of all the agreements that have been signed. What follows now is the implementation phase,' he added.

Kony, believed to be hiding in central African jungles, has vowed never to sign the accord unless the International Criminal Court lifts the arrest warrants against him for alleged war crimes.

The Ugandan talks, which opened in July 2006, are seen as the best chance to end one of Africa's most brutal war that has claimed tens of thousands and displaced nearly two million people.

Kony took over a two-year-old rebellion in northern Uganda in 1988 to overthrow President Yoweri Museveni's regime, but his rebellion has gained notority for brutality against civilians.