“The hardcore of the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) is in a swampy forest in the Garamba national park,” Mende told the French news agency, AFP. He added that the rebels have no way out of the swamp except to surrender.

Kony is the target of a joint operation by Congolese, Ugandan and South Sudanese forces that was launched last December.

Mende said President Yoweri Museveni and Congolese leader Joseph Kabila would meet on the common border before the end of February to assess the situation.

Meanwhile, two LRA commanders Okot Odhiambo and Dominic Ongwen, who were reportedly ready to surrender, failed to appear at a rendezvous near the Congolese border, a UN official said.

Odhiambo and his deputy Ongwen had been in negotiations mediated by the International Organization for Migration (IOM) to hand themselves in. The UN peacekeeping force in Sudan, UNMIS, had been preparing their return to Uganda.