KAMPALA, Sept. 26  -- The Ugandan military on Friday said it had declined to join the UN peacekeeping mission in the Central African Republic (CAR) over the change of the mandate of the troops deployed in the country.

Gen. Katumba Wamala, Chief of Defense Forces told reporters at the military headquarters that the UN wanted the Ugandan troops already deployed under the African Union to abandon the hunt for the notorious Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) rebels.

The UN wanted the Ugandan troops to be moved to Bangui, the capital of CAR where there was fighting.

"We had proposed to the UN to allow us join the UN mission in CAR but stay focused on pursuing the LRA but the UN had a different idea. They wanted us to move away from the sector and from the mission which took us to CAR," he said.

"We are still focused on hunting the remnants of the LRA and the operations have continued to be successful," Wamala said, noting that there is an increasing number of people fleeing from the LRA captivity.

Uganda had hoped that if it had joined the UN peacekeeping mission, the UN would pick up the costs of maintaining the Ugandan troops in CAR.

Uganda already has more than 4,000 troops in CAR pursuing the LRA, whose leader, Joseph Kony and some of his commanders are wanted by the International Criminal Court to answer charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity in northern Uganda.