KAMPALA, Uganda -(Dow Jones)- The Ugandan military said Tuesday that regional military chiefs are meeting in the capital Kampala to design strategies to end the rampant insecurity in mineral-rich eastern Congo.

In a statement General Aronda Nyakirima, head of the Ugandan delegation, said military chiefs from Congo, Southern Sudan, Rwanda and Burundi will discuss plans - including military options - to tackle "the negative forces in the region."

Aid agencies estimate there are over 78,000 armed militias in eastern Congo, a situation that has rendered the region lawless, disrupting mining and other economic activities.

Rebel elements in eastern Congo include Ugandan dissidents of the Lords Resistance Army, or LRA, and Allied Democratic Forces, or ADF, as well as Congolese Mayi Mayi militia and rebels loyal to Congo's renegade former General Laurent Nkunda. Rwandan Hutu extremists rebels accused of participating in the 1998 genocide also have bases in eastern Congo.

In March, Congo banned tin mining in Walikale, North Kivu, over a lack of safety. North Kivu province is Congo's leading tin producer.

According to Nyakirima, the regional states are to consider military strategies to wipe out the negative elements; he singled out Uganda's LRA rebels currently holed up in north eastern Congo forests.

Since 2006, LRA rebels have been in peace talks with the Ugandan government but their leader Joseph Kony declined to sign the final peace agreement in April. Kony and some of his rebel commanders are wanted by the International Criminal Court for war crimes.

Uganda is planning to start oil output on its side of the Lake Albert basin but analysts have warned insecurity on the Congolese side could hamper the program.

London listed Tower Resources (LSE:TRP) (TRP.LN) announced early this year it would start drilling operations in block 5, north western Uganda near the region where LRA is believed to be operating.

In March last year, ADF rebels infiltrated Uganda's oil exploration region but were repulsed by the Ugandan army. Other oil exploration companies operating on the Ugandan side of the Lake Albert basin include U.K.-based (TUWLY) and Canada's Heritage Oil Corp. (Toronto:HOC) (HOC.T).

-By Nicholas Bariyo, contributing to Dow Jones Newswires; 256-752624615; bariyonic@yahoo.co.uk

    (END) Dow Jones Newswires   06-03-08 0618   Copyright (c) 2008 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.