UGANDA: Cult-like fighters kidnap thousands of children and force them to wage a brutal insurgency across northern Uganda. The rebels have no clear political goals, but they have killed tens of thousands in 19 years of war and triggered one of the world's worst humanitarian catastrophes.
On the face of things, this is an ideal test for the International Criminal Court (ICC). Analysts said it expected local applause for launching an investigation last July into atrocities by the Lord's Resistance Army and its elusive leader Joseph Kony.
But one year on - with arrest warrants for the self-styled mystic and five of his commanders expected to be issued next month - the investigation remains controversial and Ugandans are divided over what impact it will have on the war.
"My fear is the rebels will go on the rampage and kill," said Betty Bigombe, a former government minister who set up landmark face-to-face talks with LRA officers late last year. She said a warrant made it no more likely Kony would be caught, but it guaranteed he would never give up his campaign. "The international community needs to review whether the ICC should intervene in an ongoing conflict."
Contacting the rebels became much harder amid renewed fighting after the LRA's key negotiator surrendered in February. Ms Bigombe said ICC indictments would end her mission entirely.
Many in the north share her fears and say since Uganda's army has failed to beat the rebels, talks and a long-standing government amnesty offer are the only way to free the hundreds of children still held captive as LRA fighters and sex slaves.
Many residents are even prepared to forgive the rebels, who come from the same Acholi tribe. They say their concept of atonement is based on clan rituals, not prison sentences.
"Most people still believe the traditional mechanisms provide a longer, much more healing process than the Western model, particularly the type pushed by the ICC," said Zachary Lomo, director of Uganda's Refugee Law Project. He said few victims of the conflict know much about the ICC, which he accused of not acting transparently.
"Some people see it as this all-powerful animal with American military power that is going to come and get Kony for them. If only they knew it was just powerless bureaucrats sitting in The Hague, they would be so disappointed."
Supporters of arrest warrants say the rebels must be held accountable and that Acholi healing ceremonies like Mato-Oput - where elders decide compensation before both parties are blessed and share a symbolic drink - are not enough.
Paul Omach, political scientist and senior lecturer at Uganda's Makerere university said: "That is a very dangerous proposition because it neglects that this is a war that is national in nature and has international dimensions."
Ugandan president Yoweri Museveni asked the ICC for help in 2003, but has since seemed less enthusiastic, saying that if Kony asked for forgiveness he would tell prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo that Uganda had solved its problem.