By Abdoulaye Massalatchi

NIAMEY, July 6 (Reuters) - Niger's ruling party has backed growing demands for peace talks with Saharan rebels, piling pressure on President Mamadou Tandja to sit down with the authors of a bloody five-month-old uprising.

The Niger Movement for Justice (MNJ), made up largely of light-skinned Tuareg and other nomadic tribes, has attacked government and mining interests in Niger's mineral-rich north, home to the world's fourth biggest uranium mining industry.

The group has killed at least 33 government soldiers since February, and is holding dozens more hostage after capturing them in its deadliest attack a fortnight ago.

Tandja has refused to recognise the MNJ, dismissing them as bandits and drug pushers and banning a newspaper that reported on them. His government has declined comment on MNJ assertions that it has bought two attack helicopters to fight rebels.

Political opponents have been increasing pressure on Tandja to negotiate with the rebels, and his own National Movement for a Developing Society (MNSD) party threw its weight behind a cross-party call for mediated peace talks late on Thursday.

"A new rebellion is beginning in the repeated attacks of the armed group known as the MNJ," the cross-party National Council for Political Dialogue (CNDP), which includes Tandja's party, said in a statement.

OUTSIDE MEDIATION

"In a conflict situation, outside mediation could make an appreciable contribution to the search for a solution ... We would like the support of Niger's friends to find a rapid and final resolution to the rebellion," it said.

The group called for both sides to stop the violence, noting the rebels said their worst attack, in which 15 government soldiers were killed a fortnight ago, was in revenge for the reported killing of three elderly Tuareg men.

Rebels accuse government soldiers of attacking civilians in the sparsely populated north of the country, where many of the people are nomads from light-skinned minority ethnic groups, unlike most of the black African government in the south.

An MNJ spokesman said around 10 armed men killed by government troops on Wednesday near Niger's border with Algeria were traders involved in cross-border commerce. Civilian traders in the poorly-policed Sahara often carry guns for self-defence.

The MNJ has targeted government forces as well as businesses linked to the mining industry, saying the government should give local people greater control over the area's mineral resources, which include uranium, iron ore, silver, platinum and titanium.

Despite its minerals, Niger is one of the poorest nations on earth, ranking bottom of the U.N. Human Development Index.

Disaffected Tuaregs and other nomadic tribes in northern Niger and neighbouring Mali launched rebellions in the 1990s. Violence subsided after a series of peace deals, but armed attacks have increased in both countries in the past two years.

Tuareg rebels in Mali signed an Algerian-mediated peace and disarmament deal last year.

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