Kony arrest warrant out
<b>NAIROBI, Kenya, Sunday -</b> The UN International Criminal Court (ICC) has issued a warrant of arrest for LRA chief Joseph Kony, a senior UN official said in Nairobi over the weekend.
NAIROBI, Kenya, Sunday - The UN International Criminal Court (ICC) has issued a warrant of arrest for LRA chief Joseph Kony, a senior UN official said in Nairobi over the weekend.
UN Under-Secretary General for Political Affairs Ibrahim Gambari said the warrant of arrest was written on Tuesday but had not been publicised by the ICC, a unit of the UN, until now.
“We believe he (Kony) is in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) but we cannot say as to whether the UN forces can apprehend him,†Gambari revealed when asked whether UN forces were in pursuit of Kony.
The warrant for Kony, wanted for atrocities committed in northern Uganda, comes as Uganda appealed for help to bring rebels based in the Congo to book.
“The ICC has issued a warrant for the arrest of Ugandan rebel leader but it has not been publicised. The issue here is where to locate Kony and the capacity of the UN to apprehend him,†Gambari said.
Kony’s crimes include torture and mutilation, abduction, sexual violence, forced recruitment and the killing of people the LRA considers are supporters of President Yoweri Museveni.
The ICC assumed the jurisdiction to investigate serious war crimes in northern Uganda last year after Museveni referred the matter to the court.
On Thursday, Museveni said the Congolese government and the UN mission there known as MONUC must, in two months, disarm the LRA rebels who recently crossed into eastern Congo or else the UPDF would do so.
“If the international community does not come in to do it, we shall go there,†he told reporters in Kampala.
LRA deputy commander Vincent Otti led 400 rebels into Congo’s Garamba National Park in early September, fleeing Uganda’s military operations in southern Sudan, where the rebels have been based for years.
On Monday, the Congolese vice-president in charge of security and defence, Azarias Ruberwa, said in the Congolese capital, Kinshasa, that the army was planning operations to oust the rebels.
Kinshasa gave an ultimatum to all foreign groups to leave the country by the end of Friday.
“We have no choice. We absolutely have to disarm them,†Ruberwa said.
Yesterday, the army said Otti had rejected calls to surrender or disarm voluntarily. The LRA has waged a devastating rebellion.
UN Under-Secretary General for Political Affairs Ibrahim Gambari said the warrant of arrest was written on Tuesday but had not been publicised by the ICC, a unit of the UN, until now.
“We believe he (Kony) is in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) but we cannot say as to whether the UN forces can apprehend him,†Gambari revealed when asked whether UN forces were in pursuit of Kony.
The warrant for Kony, wanted for atrocities committed in northern Uganda, comes as Uganda appealed for help to bring rebels based in the Congo to book.
“The ICC has issued a warrant for the arrest of Ugandan rebel leader but it has not been publicised. The issue here is where to locate Kony and the capacity of the UN to apprehend him,†Gambari said.
Kony’s crimes include torture and mutilation, abduction, sexual violence, forced recruitment and the killing of people the LRA considers are supporters of President Yoweri Museveni.
The ICC assumed the jurisdiction to investigate serious war crimes in northern Uganda last year after Museveni referred the matter to the court.
On Thursday, Museveni said the Congolese government and the UN mission there known as MONUC must, in two months, disarm the LRA rebels who recently crossed into eastern Congo or else the UPDF would do so.
“If the international community does not come in to do it, we shall go there,†he told reporters in Kampala.
LRA deputy commander Vincent Otti led 400 rebels into Congo’s Garamba National Park in early September, fleeing Uganda’s military operations in southern Sudan, where the rebels have been based for years.
On Monday, the Congolese vice-president in charge of security and defence, Azarias Ruberwa, said in the Congolese capital, Kinshasa, that the army was planning operations to oust the rebels.
Kinshasa gave an ultimatum to all foreign groups to leave the country by the end of Friday.
“We have no choice. We absolutely have to disarm them,†Ruberwa said.
Yesterday, the army said Otti had rejected calls to surrender or disarm voluntarily. The LRA has waged a devastating rebellion.