"I am ready to be investigated for war crimes ... and if any of our people were involved in any crimes, we will give him up to be tried by the ICC," Museveni told journalists at Okwang, 40 kilometers (24 miles) northeast of Lira in north Uganda, where the government has set up a forward base to direct the war against Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) rebels.

"And in any case, if such cases are brought to our attention, we will try them ourselves," Museveni said.

Museveni recently appealed to the ICC to investigate the LRA, which has battled government forces in northern Uganda since 1988 and is known for its atrocities against civilians.

Museveni said the LRA's fight against his government was not a war but a terror campaign, which has to be defeated.

"The negative forces must be defeated or they should reform," he said.

"We shall defend our people by killing these thugs or else they should take advantage of our amnesty. There is no short-cut," Museveni warned.

The ICC, the world's first permanent war crimes court, said Monday its prosecutor would investigate a massacre in north Uganda on Saturday, when suspected LRA members slaughtered people at a displaced persons' camp.

"The prosecutor of the ICC, Luis Moreno Ocampo, will investigate the crimes committed on Saturday 21 February 2004 in Barlonya camp, northeastern Uganda," the court said in a statement.

UN Secretary General Kofi Annan on Monday strongly condemned the "senseless massacre".

The new base at Okwang, where Museveni is to oversee efforts to stop the LRA, lies in the middle of a deserted area in north Uganda, where houses and schools were abandoned long ago.

Ruins of trading centres and abandoned settlments destroyed by rebel attacks dot the countryside between Lira town and Okwang.

WAR.WIRE