Leading humanitarian aid groups are to meet today with the international prosecutor investigating war crimes in the Darfur region of Sudan.
The agenda for the meeting, called by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation in New York, suggests there may be "opportunities . . . for cooperation" between the aid groups and International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo.
But it raised questions about whether the groups could be perceived as compromising their long-cherished reputations for neutrality, which have been central to their ability to work effectively in conflict zones.
Kenneth Bacon, president of Refugees International, said aid groups "have legitimate security concerns about anything that makes the [Darfur] security situation worse and potentially the ICC could make it worse. . . . This meeting is the beginning of a dialogue.
"Gathering information for war crimes investigations is not part of our mission," Nancy Aossey, chief executive of California-based International Medical Corps, said in a written statement.
But Ms Aossey said she would attend "to share our concerns about the possible impact a war crimes investigation could have on the safety of our staff and the people we are trying to help".
More than two million people have fled their homes, and thousands have been killed each month in fighting in Darfur.