Ugandan community leaders and the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court said on Saturday they had agreed to work together to end violence in northern Uganda and bring about reconciliation. ICC Chief Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo had invited the leaders to the Hague court for three days of talks after mediators hoping to end a civil war warned a war crimes investigation could undermine peace efforts. Moreno-Ocampo said last year he would investigate government claims of human rights abuses by the rebel Lords Resistance Army (LRA) during a 19-year war. "The Lango, Acholi, Iteso and Madi community leaders and the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court have agreed to work together as part of a common effort to achieve justice and reconciliation, the rebuilding of communities and an end to violence in Northern Uganda," a joint statement said. It called on LRA members to "respond positively to the appeal to end violence". A prosecution spokesman would not comment on details of the talks, which began on Thursday. Some 1.6 million people have crowded into camps to escape the war in the north, which has been called one of the world's most neglected emergencies. The Ugandan government asked the ICC in 2003 to investigate charges of abuse by the LRA. Prosecutors later opened an investigation into any crimes committed in the conflict after July 2002. The ICC is the first permanent international court set up to investigate the world's worst atrocities.
