Acholi leaders build ‘war crimes’ case against UPDF
Tabu Butagira
Kampala
Political leaders in Acholi are secretly gathering evidence to convince the ICC
to prosecute some UPDF soldiers for alleged war crimes and crimes against
humanity.
In Kampala, the army gave a jaded response to the initiative, set to increase
mistrust between the northern leaders and the government. Mr Livingstone
Okello-Okello, the chairman of the Acholi Parliamentary group, said war victims
will only feel that justice has been done when all parties to the conflict,
including the army personnel accused of killing civilians in counter-insurgency
operations, are brought to account.
“We have since last year collected substantial evidence, showing atrocities
committed by the UPDF soldiers,” said Mr Okello-Okello, “But there are other
heinous crimes where the key witnesses are not yet willing to cooperate because
they fear to give evidence against a government that will harass them.”
The allegations, heinous as they maybe, will, however, not be entertained by
the ICC because the court, established in 1998, has no jurisdiction to try
crimes pre-dating July 1, 2002. Spokesman Paddy Ankunda however said, “UPDF
does not condone crime. We will investigate the cases and there will never be
cover-up of any crime(s) committed.”
The politicians have been buoyed by the Amnesty International report released
on Monday, implicating UPDF soldiers in killing of civilians suspected to be
rebel collaborators or in possession of illegal guns.
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