Wednesday, March 01, 2006

ICC says cells ready for Uganda war crimes suspects

March 1, 2006 Reuters report says International Criminal Court cells are ready to receive war crimes suspects and officials said on Tuesday the court hoped indictees from Uganda would be arrested this year so its first trials can start.

The ICC, set up as the world's first permanent global war crimes court to try individuals, issued its first arrest warrants last year for five leaders of Uganda's Lord's Resistance Army, accused of stoking 19 years of conflict.

"We all hope there will be arrests in the Uganda situation in the coming year," Christian Palme, spokesman for the ICC's chief prosecutor, told the briefing.

The court has also launched investigations into war crimes in Congo and Sudan's Darfur region.

Palme said the ICC was planning a new trip to Khartoum, but could not say when. Sudan's government refuses to allow any Sudanese citizen to be tried outside national courts and says it will not allow ICC investigators to work in Darfur.

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