RIGHTS-AFRICA: Uganda, DRC in Sights of International Criminal Court

By Moyiga Nduru Reprint | | Print |

Moyiga Nduru

JOHANNESBURG, Jan 29 2005 (IPS) - Luis Moreno Ocampo, chief prosecutor of the Netherlands-based International Criminal Court (ICC), is going to be a busy man this year as far as Africa is concerned.

Reports indicate that the court could begin trying those accused of perpetrating atrocities in the conflict between Uganda’s government and rebels from the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) this year.

The LRA, led by Joseph Kony, took up arms against Kampala in 1986, saying it wanted to establish a government based on the Biblical ten commandments. Various crimes have been laid at the door of the rebels since then, including the abduction of about 20,000 children who have been made to serve as soldiers, porters and sex slaves.

Active in northern Uganda, the rebels are also accused of amputating the lips, ears and noses of civilians in a campaign of terror.

"The atrocities in Uganda were mainly committed by the LRA," said Ocampo Friday at a press conference in South Africa’s commercial capital, Johannesburg – this during a visit to explore ways in which the country could assist the ICC in its work.

But, he added, "The problem in Uganda is not only atrocities. There are 1.5 million people who have been displaced. I hope the problem there will be resolved soon."

ICC trials are also planned for those accused of carrying out atrocities during the civil war in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

A peace accord signed in December 2002 ended the five-year conflict that pitted Kinshasa against rebels backed by Rwanda and Uganda. It also shared posts in the interim administration that will manage the DRC until elections later this year between government officials, opposition members and former rebels.

Human rights activists allege, however, that some of those who now sit in government may be responsible for rights abuses in war-torn areas of the Congo.

According to Ocampo, Rwanda, the Ivory Coast and the Central African Republic have also asked the court to investigate crimes in their territory.

The ICC, set up in 1998, is entitled to prosecute people accused of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity (such as torture and rape) that were committed after July 2002. This was when the treaty establishing the court, the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, came into effect.

The court has jurisdiction over crimes committed in countries that have ratified the Rome statute, and over crimes by nationals of these countries, (this in the event that states which adhere to the treaty have proved unable or unwilling to prosecute the crimes.)

As a result, abuses carried out in the western Sudanese region of Darfur are beyond the pale for Ocampo: Khartoum has not ratified the ICC treaty.

Over recent months, Sudan’s government has been accused of conducting a scorched earth campaign in Darfur in response to attacks by two rebel groups, the Sudan Liberation Army/Movement and the Justice and Equality Movement. It is also said to have supported Arab militias known as the Janjaweed ("men on horseback") in this campaign, which has killed up to 70,000 people and displaced almost two million.

The attacks have focused on three ethnic groups – the Fur, Masaalit and Zaghawa – prompting former U.S. secretary of state Colin Powell to describe the Darfur campaign as genocidal. The United Nations is expected to issue a report next week giving its own findings on whether genocide has been committed in Darfur.

Nonetheless, "Sudan is not under my jurisdiction. I cannot comment or make an opinion on it," Ocampo said Friday. "Only the (U.N.) Security Council can initiate investigations in Darfur." Cases may also be referred to the ICC by the Security Council.

This week the United States, which has not joined the ICC, tried to persuade the council to set up a separate court for people accused of genocide and other crimes in Darfur. However, opponents of the measure argue that the ICC is already equipped to do so, and that setting up another tribunal would be a waste of resources.

Other African countries accused of widespread human rights abuse which have yet to ratify the ICC treaty include Zimbabwe, Togo and Eritrea.

Kenya has also withheld its support from the court – although Nairobi is coming under pressure to sign the treaty.

"Kenyan ratification of the ICC treaty offers an amazing opportunity for strategies of peace-making in Africa," said William Pace of the New York-based Coalition for the International Criminal Court in a statement issued earlier this month.

"Considering the level of respect Kenya has earned as a peace-builder on the continent, Kenya’s ratification would send an important signal to other African states which have yet to ratify about Africa’s growing commitment to international justice and the rule of law," he added. The coalition lobbies nations who have not yet thrown their support behind the ICC to do so.

The United States, which fears that its citizens might be subject to politically-motivated prosecutions by the ICC, is also monitoring Kenya’s deliberations on this matter.

In a Jan. 11 letter to President Mwai Kibaki, the Coalition for the International Criminal Court praised Kenya for resisting a U.S. request that it sign an agreement guaranteeing American nationals in the East African nation immunity from ICC proceedings that might occur in the future.