Uganda rebel lawyers to meet with war crimes court

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - Lawyers for Ugandan rebels were to meet International Criminal Court officials on Monday to push the court to drop charges against their leader, which are a sticking point in talks to end the 21-year war.

Despite rapid progress in the past month at peace talks in Sudan, the Lord's Resistance Army rebels insist any final deal with Uganda's government be conditional on the ICC dropping war crimes' charges against leader Joseph Kony and two deputies.

That poses a serious dilemma for the fledgling ICC, set up in 2002 as the world's first permanent war crimes court, which could be accused of bowing to politics if it drops the charges and wrecking peace talks if it does not.

"We have an appointment to hold a landmark meeting with officials from the ICC registry to whom we're going to hand our application for deferral of the indictments," rebel chief negotiator David Nyekorach Matsanga told Reuters by telephone.

The Hague-based court confirmed in a statement that registry officials would meet the LRA delegation, but said they would just discuss procedural issues such as how to file documentation with the court and how to organise defense counsel.

"As a neutral organ that facilitates fair trial, the registry does not engage in substantive discussions with any of the parties on the merits of cases before the court," it said.

ICC prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo has repeatedly said the arrest warrants against the LRA leaders remain valid. Last week, he said he would not meet the rebels himself but they could approach the court's judges if they want to challenge his case.

IMMUNITY?

Uganda has rejected guaranteeing the LRA immunity to international prosecution until the signing of a final deal, which it wants tied up by March 28 to bring an end to one of Africa's longest-running and most brutal wars.

But it has said it will request the U.N. Security Council to ask the court to defer its case and the two sides have also agreed to set up special war crimes courts in Uganda.

Rebel negotiator Matsanga said he hoped the agreements Kony has reached with the Uganda government would help the LRA's case at the court: "Based on that, we expect the ICC not to continue blocking peace and drop those indictments."

In late February, Uganda and the LRA signed the last in a series of documents paving the way for a final deal to end an insurgency that has killed tens of thousands, displaced nearly 2 million, devastated north Uganda, and spilt into neighbors.

A mediator said last week that Kony -- whose group is notorious for hacking off body parts and abducting children for soldiers and sex slaves -- was set to emerge from hiding to sign a final deal.

But it was unclear if he would be prepared to leave his hiding place in remote eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) before he receives guarantees on the ICC.

Analysts say Kony, who has not attended any of the negotiations in neighboring south Sudan, must approve a final deal. No outsiders have seen him for months.

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(Additional reporting by Francis Kwera in Kampala; Editing by Matthew Tostevin)