A spokeswoman for the United Nations mission in Central African Republic says the government is sending a delegation to the east of the country this week to assess reports that fighters with the Lord's Resistance Army rebel group are disarming.

Uwolowulakana Ikavi said Monday that the U.N. peace building office was asked to provide logistics support to the delegation, which was heading to the eastern town of Bria on Monday and Tuesday.

The LRA, headed by warlord Joseph Kony, originated in Uganda in the 1980s as a popular tribal uprising against the government. It is notorious for recruiting children as fighters and forcing girls to be sex slaves.

Previous vows by the LRA to disarm have proven false, and the most recent reports of disarmament could not be independently verified.