Ofwono on Otunnu’s ICC petition
Jun 04, 2010
THE renewed vigour by the UPC’s Olara Otunnu to have President Yoweri Museveni and the UPDF investigated by the ICC for alleged war crimes, genocide and crimes against humanity is a desperate attempt to clear the UPDA, Holy Spirit Movement and LRA from the atrocities they committed against the peo
By Ofwono Opondo
THE renewed vigour by the UPC’s Olara Otunnu to have President Yoweri Museveni and the UPDF investigated by the ICC for alleged war crimes, genocide and crimes against humanity is a desperate attempt to clear the UPDA, Holy Spirit Movement and LRA from the atrocities they committed against the people of northern Uganda.
UPDA was the armed outfit of former UNLA soldiers that NRM threw out for attempting to restore Gen. Tito Okello, Bazillio Okello, Brig. Odong Latek, Dr Benjamin Obonyo and Otunnu back into state power in August 1986.
Uganda has had enough atrocities for which leaders can be investigated, but Otunnu’s attempt to drag UPDF involvement in DR Congo and South Sudan as aggression is an attempt to create another regional conspiracy against Uganda. But NRM welcomes any inquiry preferably when UPC is back in government since they claim Museveni is on his way out.
And it was good the ICC prosecutor Moreno Ocampo challenged Otunnu “to produce evidenceâ€. “If he (Otunnu) has information he wants to submit, let him give it to me.†As the prosecutor of the ICC, my role is to ensure the control of massive crimes with tangible evidence.
Almost everyone including LRA leaders Joseph Kony and Dominic Ongwen know they were solely behind what Otunnu calls genocide in the north. It is only Otunnu in denial on behalf of LRA. It is on record that during the Juba talks, the LRA accepted responsibility and asked for amnesty and the withdrawal of the ICC indictment for them to surrender.
And again as Ocampo said last week, his (ICC investigations) “had found the LRA responsible for most atrocities.†As a former UN official, Otunnu knows how the UN system works, unless he proves that the UN process of gathering information as that of Ocampo is compromised.
LRA having accepted responsibility, it would appear, therefore, that Otunnu and other Acholi elite associated with the LRA, are asking for the indictment of Museveni to sidetrack the pursuit of the known killers.
Using this strategy, Otunnu knows that perhaps the truth about his involvement will never be known, since if captured, the LRA leaders are likely to name those who supported them.
Museveni’s credibility goes beyond Otunnu’s views about him. Therefore, Otunnu’s views that “It is a travesty and mockery of the ICC, that Museveni, who has the longest record of impunity, should be the host of the review. I fear that the ICC risks losing its way if it agrees to be used,†is a nullity.
“I have provided all this information and he (Ocampo) has requested for more. I shall be providing more in regard to the atrocities against the people of northern Uganda,†Otunnu is reported to have said. But it is well-known that those IDP camps Otunnu refers to as genocide chambers have been saved hundreds of thousands from death from starvation and abductions by the LRA.
The writer is deputy NRM spokesperson
THE renewed vigour by the UPC’s Olara Otunnu to have President Yoweri Museveni and the UPDF investigated by the ICC for alleged war crimes, genocide and crimes against humanity is a desperate attempt to clear the UPDA, Holy Spirit Movement and LRA from the atrocities they committed against the people of northern Uganda.
UPDA was the armed outfit of former UNLA soldiers that NRM threw out for attempting to restore Gen. Tito Okello, Bazillio Okello, Brig. Odong Latek, Dr Benjamin Obonyo and Otunnu back into state power in August 1986.
Uganda has had enough atrocities for which leaders can be investigated, but Otunnu’s attempt to drag UPDF involvement in DR Congo and South Sudan as aggression is an attempt to create another regional conspiracy against Uganda. But NRM welcomes any inquiry preferably when UPC is back in government since they claim Museveni is on his way out.
And it was good the ICC prosecutor Moreno Ocampo challenged Otunnu “to produce evidenceâ€. “If he (Otunnu) has information he wants to submit, let him give it to me.†As the prosecutor of the ICC, my role is to ensure the control of massive crimes with tangible evidence.
Almost everyone including LRA leaders Joseph Kony and Dominic Ongwen know they were solely behind what Otunnu calls genocide in the north. It is only Otunnu in denial on behalf of LRA. It is on record that during the Juba talks, the LRA accepted responsibility and asked for amnesty and the withdrawal of the ICC indictment for them to surrender.
And again as Ocampo said last week, his (ICC investigations) “had found the LRA responsible for most atrocities.†As a former UN official, Otunnu knows how the UN system works, unless he proves that the UN process of gathering information as that of Ocampo is compromised.
LRA having accepted responsibility, it would appear, therefore, that Otunnu and other Acholi elite associated with the LRA, are asking for the indictment of Museveni to sidetrack the pursuit of the known killers.
Using this strategy, Otunnu knows that perhaps the truth about his involvement will never be known, since if captured, the LRA leaders are likely to name those who supported them.
Museveni’s credibility goes beyond Otunnu’s views about him. Therefore, Otunnu’s views that “It is a travesty and mockery of the ICC, that Museveni, who has the longest record of impunity, should be the host of the review. I fear that the ICC risks losing its way if it agrees to be used,†is a nullity.
“I have provided all this information and he (Ocampo) has requested for more. I shall be providing more in regard to the atrocities against the people of northern Uganda,†Otunnu is reported to have said. But it is well-known that those IDP camps Otunnu refers to as genocide chambers have been saved hundreds of thousands from death from starvation and abductions by the LRA.
The writer is deputy NRM spokesperson