Uganda sets up tribunal for LRA

2008-05-27 09:49

Kampala - Uganda has set up a special tribunal to try Lord's Resistance Army rebel commanders accused of war crimes during a two-decade insurgency in the north, said an official on Monday.

Acting Foreign Minister Daniel Omara Atubo said the tribunal was formed last week under the terms of a peace accord with the LRA, which rebel supremo Joseph Kony nevertheless refused to sign in April because of outstanding International Criminal Court (ICC) arrest warrants.

Ugandan's Principal Judge James Ogoola had assigned judges to preside over the tribunal.

"It is an indication that the government is still committed to the peace process despite the LRA's unseriousness," Atubo said.

"(The new) court will be working alongsides the traditional courts, which will be dealing with lower crimes. The special court will actually save LRA top commanders from the ICC that they have resisted," he added.

"Once that (trials) is done, the government will go to the ICC and ask it to withdraw the warrants of the commanders," he added.

Tens of thousands killed

In July 2005, The Hague-based ICC issued warrants accusing commanders, including Kony, of responsibility for the rape and mutilation of civilians, forcibly recruiting child soldiers and the massacre of thousands of people.

In April, Kony refused to show up and sign a peace agreement with his movement, insisting that ICC warrants be lifted first. The rebel leader had indicated his willingness faced a traditional Ugandan tribunal.

Last week, ICC registrar Silvana Arbia met officials from Uganda's foreign affairs, justice and internal affairs ministries and urged them to arrest and hand over the rebels.

Kony, a semi-literate former altar boy, took charge in 1988 of a regional rebellion among northern Uganda's ethnic Acholi minority.

The original rebellion was mounted in 1986 by Holy Spirit Movement commander Alice Lakwena, who told her fighters she could rely on magic potions to turn enemy bullets into stones.

The war had killed tens of thousands dead and displaced two million people, mainly in northern Uganda, spurring what humanitarian workers had described as one of the most neglected conflicts.

- SAPA