By Justin Dralaze

ENTEBBE, Uganda, Nov 1 (Reuters) - Delegates representing Uganda's rebel Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) arrived in Kampala on Thursday to meet government officials in their first visit since talks began in neighbouring South Sudan last year.

LRA delegation leader Martin Ojul and others arrived at Entebbe airport smiling and exchanged handshakes and hugs with the waiting head of the government peace team, Ruhakana Rugunda.

Talks began in July last year, but the top LRA commanders have refused to quit their jungle hideouts in east Democratic Republic of Congo to participate, fearing international arrest warrants for war crimes committed in their 20-year rebellion.

They appointed representatives including Ojul instead.

For some of the LRA delegates -- mostly rebel sympathisers from the Ugandan Diaspora in Britain, the United States and Kenya -- it was their first visit home since they fled Uganda after President Yoweri Museveni seized power in a 1986 coup.

They had avoided Uganda for fear of arrest.

This year, the two sides signed phase three of a five-stage deal aiming to end a war that killed tens of thousands of civilians and forced two million more to flee their homes.

Violence has died down in northern Uganda in recent months, but many of its victims are eagerly awaiting the end of talks.

The LRA say they plan to meet Museveni for the second time before visiting people displaced by the war in northern Uganda.

A brief meeting between the Ugandan president and the LRA in South Sudan a year ago ended in acrimony, with the rebels saying Museveni had abused them. One refused to shake his hand.

Analysts say a peace deal is far from certain. LRA leader Joseph Kony and three others are wanted by the International Criminal Court in The Hague for crimes like killing civilians, hacking off limbs and kidnapping children to use as fighters.

They want the court to drop the indictments before signing.

Ugandan Justice Minister Khidu Makubuya told Reuters late on Wednesday that the government had drafted a law letting rebel war crimes be tried in Uganda, rather than The Hague.

"The final decision will come out of parliament ... a special crimes court is featuring high as an option," he said. The ICC says any such court must dish out suitable punishments.

The LRA's arrival came a day after that of LRA commander Opiyo Makasi, who surrendered to Congo authorities last month.

Makasi told journalists of a split between Kony and deputy Vincent Otti, though he declined to give details.

"This rift ... forced me out of the rebellion," he said. Kampala fears that if the LRA splits into factions, a peace deal would be unworkable.

An LRA spokesman denied reports of a rift. "They are united," he said. (Additional reporting by Francis Kwera in Kampala)

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