Ugandan rebel leaders should face justice: Egeland
Sat Sep 9, 5:37 PM ET
OPIT, Uganda (AFP) - The commanders of Uganda's rebel Lord's Resistance Army should be brought to justice despite a government offer of amnesty, the UN's top humanitarian official said.
Jan Egeland, United Nations Undersecretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, said the authorities should explore ways of delivering justice to the
five LRA commanders sought by the International Criminal Court (ICC).
"Those who have been indicted should face justice," Egeland said as he visited a camp for displaced people in northern Uganda, where he is to spend the night.
"But we should also use all other ways to deliver justice. What is more important now is that we should concentrate on ending the war," he added, suggesting that even traditional systems could help.
Egeland made his comments at Opit Camp, some 40 kilometres (25 miles) outside the northern township of Gulu, where some 24,700 people are living.
The envoy said it was up to the ICC to decide and act on LRA deputy chief Vincent Otti's claim that the insurgents would not agree to a final peace deal unless war crimes charges against its leaders are dropped.
"It is up to the prosecutor to decide on this, but I don't think this will stop the agreement. There should not be impunity for the indicted
people or anybody else who has committed crime against humanity," he said.
The Hague-based tribunal has charged Kony, Otti and fellow LRA commanders Dominic Ongwen, Okhot Odhiambo and Raska Lukwiya with numerous counts of war crimes for atrocities allegedly committed during their brutal, two-decade war.
But Museveni has offered the indicted rebels a blanket amnesty if they agree to a peace deal, and hinted at a possible extension of a September 12 deadline he set for an agreement if the talks show progress.
Egeland, who is scheduled to travel to the venue of the peace talks in southern Sudan, said a truce reached last month had improved security in the region, a theatre of fighting
since the LRA took over a two-year-old rebellion in 1988.
"I look forward to spending a night with you at this camp, it is a sign that things have changed that I can stay in the camp with you and enjoy your hospitality," he told the displaced people.
"We want to build the confidence in the people of northern Uganda that we are with them in this hour of need and we want to help them to return to their normal lives."
"I am also going to Juba to encourage the peace talks because they are the best hope for northern Uganda and a quick return to your homes," said Egeland, adding that a ceasefire signed last month was holding.
"There is an effective ceasefire for the first time. We have to believe in peace and not create any problems for the peace talks," he added.
The Juba negotiations are widely seen as the best chance to end the fighting in northern Uganda that has claimed tens of thousands of lives and displaced
nearly two million people.
"I think we are seeing the beginning of an end to the most terrible conflict of this generation," he added.
The conflict is regularly described by UN and aid workers as one of the world's worst and most-forgotten humanitarian crises, with the area's poor civilian population subjected to massive abuses and neglect.
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