(Adds Chissano, paragraphs 14)

By Francis Kwera

RI-KWANGBA, Sudan, April 13 (Reuters) - Infighting among Ugandan rebels killed nine people, including a commander wanted by international prosecutors, and delayed the signing of a final peace deal, sources involved in the talks said on Sunday.

Hopes of an end to one of Africa's longest wars were dashed after Joseph Kony, leader of the Lord's Resistance Army, failed to attend a signing ceremony on the remote Sudan-Congo border, stalling nearly two years of tortuous negotiations.

Rebel sources said differences over the proposed agreement triggered gun battles between LRA factions earlier this week that killed nine people, including Okot Odhiambo.

Along with Kony and a third commander, Odhiambo is wanted by the International Criminal Court in The Hague for war crimes including rape, murder and the abduction of thousands of children forced to serve as fighters, porters and "wives".

Rwot David Acana, the paramount chief of Kony's Acholi tribe, could not confirm the reports of Odhiambo's death. But he said he had heard about the violence.

"I have got similar information, that nine lives have been lost in the LRA after an internal clash," he told Reuters.

"We think that is why the signing failed."

Northern Uganda's 22-year conflict has killed tens of thousands of people, uprooted 2 million more and destabilised neighbouring parts of Sudan's oil-producing south and eastern Congo, which has large mineral wealth.

If confirmed, Odhiambo would become the third of five LRA suspects named by the ICC who have since died.

Kony executed his deputy Vincent Otti in October after accusing him of being a government spy, while fifth indictee Raska Lukwiya was killed by Ugandan forces in August 2006.

MUSEVENI TO SUDAN

Meanwhile, Ugandan International Affairs Minister Okello Oryem said President Yoweri Museveni would fly to southern Sudan on Monday to consult his counterpart Salva Kiir.

"The president is still willing to move the process forward, including finding a new mediator or a new venue," Oryem said.

Mozambique's former president, Joaquim Chissano, the U.N. envoy to the war, arrived on the border on Sunday.

"We have to be patient and let Kony sign for the good of the nation," Chissano told reporters. "If Kony is asking for guarantees, why don't we give them to him and see?"

Kony had been due to sign a final agreement on Thursday. But he failed to turn up, asked mediators to clarify part of the document, and then fired the head of his negotiating team.

An LRA spokesman has since said Kony remains ready to sign, but wants guarantees of his safety and financial security first.

Acana is the only member of a delegation of northern elders flown in by mediators to have talked to Kony.

He said the rebel boss was unsure how Uganda's government planned to use its own courts and ancient reconciliation rituals to counter arrest warrants issued by the ICC.

Acana, one of a small group that stayed in Ri-Kwangba with mediators led by south Sudan's Vice President Riek Machar, said Kony told him he sacked his negotiator because he had "rushed the peace process for money". He did not elaborate.

Machar plans to wait on the border until Tuesday.

Even if Kony does sign a peace agreement, the LRA says it will not disarm until the ICC indictments are scrapped. The Ugandan government has said it will only call for the warrants to be lifted after a final deal has been reached.

The court says its warrants remain active, and that Uganda has a legal obligation to arrest the targets. (Writing by Daniel Wallis, editing by Mary Gabriel) (For full Reuters Africa coverage and to have your say on the top issues, visit: http://africa.reuters.com/)

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