Uganda: Peace negotiators agree Special Court for top LRA leaders
By Gloria Nakiyimba, Capital Radio
The following story was broadcast on Capital Radio on February 19, 2008 and does not necessarily reflect the views of the BBC WST.
Kampala, February 19, 2008 - The Ugandan government and Lord’s Resistance Army peace negotiators have agreed to set up a Special Division of the High Court to try top LRA rebel leaders for alleged war crimes committed during the 20-year old insurgency in northern Uganda, according to negotiators from both sides.
The agreement was signed on Tuesday morning in Juba, South Sudan, where peace talks between the government of Uganda and the LRA are taking place. Spokesperson for the government negotiating team Captain Chris Magezi told Capital Radio in a phone interview that the Special Division of the High Court must conform to national and international standards to effectively address international concern. He says the court will try LRA leader Joseph Kony and his top commanders for atrocities committed during the conflict.
This is in line with an agreement already signed by the government of Uganda and the LRA peace negotiation team on principles of accountability and reconciliation, which they hope will do away with International Criminal Court arrest warrants against top LRA leaders for war crimes and crimes against humanity. There has been fear that the ICC indictments of Kony and his commanders could jeopardize the signing of a comprehensive peace agreement to end the war in the north.
The LRA has demanded the withdrawal of the ICC arrest warrants. Although such warrants cannot officially be retracted, Ugandan prosecution of LRA leaders could render the ICC indictments ineffective. The ICC has a mandate to try genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity, but only where national courts are genuinely unable or unwilling to do so.
Captain Magezi says other members of the LRA accused of abuses will be tried under alternative justice mechanisms, such as the widely accepted traditional “Mato Oput” process, in order to be accepted back into the community.
The peace negotiations are chaired by the vice president of South Sudan, Riek Machar. Magezi says both the government of Uganda and the rebel side are now discussing the implementation protocol for a comprehensive peace agreement.
Captain Paddy Ankunda, spokesman for the Ugandan army, UPDF, said that now Agenda Item Three on accountability and reconciliation has been signed, the rebels should assemble at Ri-Kwangba, in southern Sudan, the agreed assembly point. He says the UPDF has information that the rebels are moving away from Garamba, eastern DRC, where they have been holed up, towards the Central African Republic.