By Francis Kwera KAMPALA, Feb 21 (Reuters), - The International Criminal Court will pursue charges against Ugandan rebel leaders despite efforts to establish a local war crimes court as part of a peace deal, an official of the tribunal said on Thursday. Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) leader Joseph Kony and two of his lieutenants have been charged with atrocities in the Hague-based ICC, which under international law requires they be turned over immediately upon capture or surrender. But the Ugandan government and rebels agreed on Monday to set up special war crimes courts locally for the most serious crimes. The rebels have made any peace deal dependent on the international charges being dropped. "The office is very confident that the case for which warrants have been granted remains admissible," the international court's chief prosecutor, Luis Moreno-Ocampo, said in an e-mailed response to Reuters' queries. "A challenge to the admissibility of the case before the court remains hypothetical and, in any event, would be a matter for the judges of the Court to decide upon," he said. The rebels are notorious for brutal attacks against civilians such as burning them to death or hacking their limbs off. In 2005, the ICC indicted the leaders for killing, sexually abusing, looting and abducting children, mainly from the Acholi people in northern Uganda. The rebels said the international court was a stumbling block in peace talks mediated by the semi-autonomous government of southern Sudan. Tens of thousands of people have been killed in the 21-year conflict. "Going to the ICC will mean that Uganda's judiciary is non-functional," said David Nyekorach-Matsanga, LRA's chief negotiator in a telephone interview from southern Sudan's capital, Juba. "We strongly appeal to the ICC to consider that the people have suffered very much in northern Uganda and withdraw those indictments so that peace can return," he said. But the ICC said it was also concerned over allegations of continued killings by the LRA in southern Sudan. The rebels deny the allegations. The ICC was set up in 2002 as a permanent court to bring prosecutions for genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes. It currently holds three Congolese militia leaders awaiting trial. It has also issued arrest warrants over accusations of war crimes in Darfur. (Editing by Matthew Tostevin)
An African Union-U.N. soldier stands in front of an old African Union APC during a patrol in West Darfur in El-Geneina February 19, 2008. Sudan on Monday bombed an emptied refugee ...
