World Court Hears Kony Case

[gottaB]

The International Criminal Court (ICC) was by last evening supposed to decide whether Ugandan rebel LRA leader Joseph Kony has a case to answer.

But in the same statement, The Hague-based court asked Uganda to cooperate for a neutral investigation. The ICC Chief Prosecutor, Luis Moreno Ocampo, assigned the case dealing with conflicts in northern Uganda to the court's pre-trial chambers to decide on its merits.

The court's President, Judge Philippe Kirsch, issued the assignments on Monday after receiving a letter last month from the Chief Prosecutor describing his office's investigations into the two conflicts, the statement from ICC said.

Moreno said his office had informed the Ugandan authorities concerned about the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) rebels, that it must interpret the scope of their referral "consistently with the principles of the Rome Statute" that established the court. "Hence we are analysing crimes within the situation of northern Uganda by whoever committed," the statement said. The prosecutor's letter said his office was analysing and seeking additional information to support a determination on the situation in northern Uganda.

World Court Hears Kony Case....