International Criminal Court (ICC)—Uganda Situation: LRA Arrest Warrants Remain in Force

Last week we reported that government of Uganda is planning to offer amnesty to Joseph Kony against prosecution for crimes against humanity, at the International Criminal Court (ICC) in the hopes of advancing the cause of a peaceful resolution to the civil war in that nation. Although Mr. Kony was not initially inclined to accept the offer, government officials are pressing forward.

Yesterday, Ugandan Security Minister Amama Mbabazi flew to The Hague to convince the ICC Chief Prosecutor, Luis Moreno-Ocampo, to drop the charges against all five accused Ugandan Lords Resistance Army (LRA) leaders.^[1] Senior government officials said that "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."^[2]

Delegate spokesman Captain Paddy Ankunda suggested that if the peace process is allowed to go forward, "[w]hat will happen is that the rebels will apologize, there is a cleansing ceremony and reconciliation like it has been done in the post apartheid South Africa, Northern Ireland has also done the same".^[3] President Museveni last week extended the deadline for the end of talks with the rebel LRA.^[4]

In response, the ICC Chief Prosecutor issued a terse statement today, stating that in the meeting with Mr. Mbabazi, “[t]he Government of Uganda did not ask for any withdrawal of the warrants of arrest. The arrest warrants remain in effect. It is the view of the Office of the Prosecutor and the Government of Uganda that justice and peace have worked together thus far and can continue to work together.”^[5]

The Chief Prosecutor’s statements about the proposed amnesty last week, while not ceding any legal or political ground, also referred to the concurrent justice and peace processes.^[6] The state’s amnesty offer poses a serious challenge to the validity and competence of the Court.

In a related development, the ICC released the results of DNA tests aimed at establishing the identity of a body said to be that of Mr. Kony’s alleged LRA cohort Dominic Ongwen. The results, unsealed last Tuesday, showed that the DNA testing failed to prove that the dead man was Mr. Ongwen.^[7] In spite of persistent media reports that Mr. Ongwen was killed in battle last year, he remains subject to an ICC arrest warrant and is considered by the Court to be “at large” and on the move in the Sudan.^[8]

---

[1] Uganda Minister Travels to The Hague to Have ICC Drop Indictments Against Rebels, BBC, July 12, 2006 (citing The New Vision website, Kampala).
[2] Amama Asks ICC to Lift LRA Case, The New Vision, July 11, 2006.
[3] Uganda: Rebels Increase Number of Negotiators Ahead of Talks with Government, BBC, July 12, 2006 (citing The New Vision website, Kampala).
[4] Sudan: Uganda Government, LRA Peace Talks Delayed, IRIN News, July 12, 2006.
[5] Statement by the Chief Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo, ICC-OTP-20060712-149-En, July 12, 2006.
[6] Statement by Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo, ICC Press Release ICC-OTP-20060706-146-En, July 6, 2006.
[7] ICC Unseals Results of Dominic Ongwen DNA Tests, ICC-OTP-20060707-147-En, July 7, 2006.
[8] Id.