Amama asks ICC to lift LRA case

Jul 11, 2006

SECURITY minister Amama Mbabazi flew to the Hague yesterday to convince the International Criminal Court (ICC) to drop indictments against five LRA leaders,

SECURITY minister Amama Mbabazi flew to the Hague yesterday to convince the International Criminal Court (ICC) to drop indictments against five LRA leaders, reports Emmy Allio.

“Mbabazi has gone to the Hague to ask the ICC to support the on-going peace talks. He will assure the ICC that there will be no more impunity on the part of the LRA and that the African traditional justice system would be put to use to end the insurgency,” said a senior government official yesterday.

Capt. Paddy Ankunda, a spokesman for the Government delegates due to travel to southern Sudan for talks with the LRA, said, “Mbabazi has gone for regular consultations with the ICC. I must emphasize that the ICC are our allies in the struggle.”

ICC issued warrants of arrest for Joseph Kony, Vincent Otti, Otim Odhiambo, Raska Lukwiya and Dominic Ongwen for crimes against humanity. The court called on Congo, Sudan and Uganda to arrest the five. ICC chief prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo said the LRA may be talking peace, but secretly reorganising and rearming.

Ankunda said emphasis was being given to the African tradition justice system where elders perform rituals to ensure that there is reconciliation and forgiveness. “We expect the rebels to apologise for the suffering of the population,” he said.

On July 4, President Yoweri Museveni declared amnesty to the indicted rebel leaders and assured Kony of amnesty.

Sources said Uganda was toeing the path of South Africa and Northern Ireland in resolving the northern conflict. South Africa established the Truth and Reconciliation Commission to heal the wounds caused by apartheid.

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