UN stalls on Kony

Aug 09, 2006

THE UN Security Council has delayed passing a resolution that would have okayed or denied the UPDF permission to hunt Joseph Kony’s Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) rebels in the DR Congo

By Emmy Allio

THE UN Security Council has delayed passing a resolution that would have okayed or denied the UPDF permission to hunt Joseph Kony’s Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) rebels in the DR Congo.

Sitting in New York last Friday, the Security Council agreed that the on-going peace process in Juba should be given an opportunity to progress.

The director of the media centre, Robert Kabushenga, said the debate was a follow up of earlier ones held in New York and Geneva in January and February. He said UN Secretary General Koffi Annan’s report of last month also comprehensively addressed the LRA issue.

“It is a significant step taken by the Security Council to allow the peace process to continue. Uganda is happy that there is global concern on the LRA issue,” Kabushenga said.

Council members said the UN missions in Congo (MONUC) and in Sudan (UNMIS) neither had the capacity nor the mandate to enter Garamba National Park in Congo to capture the indicted LRA leaders or enforce the warrants of arrest issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC).

If passed, the Security Council resolution will have far reaching effects because it calls for the indictment of not only LRA leaders but also LRA collaborators and those who facilitate their activities.

The Council noted that because of ICC investigations, the full extent of the plunder and destruction of lives and property by the LRA was globally known.

The debate was sponsored by Britain, which wanted the Security Council to recognise Uganda’s specific security interests with respect to the LRA in Garamba. Present at the debate was Uganda’s representative to the UN, Francis Butagira.

Indicted LRA leaders are Kony, Vincent Otti, Okot Odhiambo, Raska Lukwiya and Dominic Ongwen.

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