Uganda, rebels agree local justice for war crimes
By Tim Cocks
KAMPALA, July 2 (Reuters) - Uganda has agreed to handle war crimes committed by northern rebels internally, moving closer to protecting insurgent leaders from international arrest warrants they say will prevent them from signing a final peace deal.
In an accord signed over the weekend by Uganda's government and the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), Kampala stops short of promising to shelter rebel leaders from war crimes indictments issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague.
But the agreement -- the third in a five-stage deal to end one of Africa's longest wars -- says Uganda has "national laws capable of addressing the human rights violations during the conflict", according to a copy seen by Reuters on Monday.
The ICC has issued warrants for LRA leader Joseph Kony, his deputy commander Vincent Otti, and two other senior rebels for mass murder, mutilation and using child soldiers in the 20-year war, which has been on hold since a truce last August.
But Otti said the rebels would move no further towards a final peace deal until the ICC is called off.
"Now we've signed this, we want to see progress on the government side with the ICC. The government now should go to the ICC and get them to withdraw the warrants," Otti told Reuters by satellite phone from his Congolese jungle hideout.
"We shall go for national reconciliation only after the indictments have been withdrawn. We shall see about penalties and national courts later."
The Ugandan government has argued the LRA's only hope of avoiding the ICC warrants was to sign a deal, undergo national tribunals for crimes, and then approach the international court's judges.
"ALTERNATIVE JUSTICE"
The weekend agreement is vague on punishment and the government only promises to "address conscientiously the question of the ICC arrest warrants relating to the leaders of the LRA".
ICC officials were not immediately available for comment.
The deal outlines "alternative justice mechanisms" to promote reconciliation and traditional justice processes.
Traditional leaders from Kony's Acholi tribe, who have borne the brunt of the conflict, want the LRA undergo a "Mato Oput" reconciliation ritual, where victims effectively forgive a murderer after he admits his crime and pays compensation.
Human rights groups reject that, saying a credible process must dish out harsher penalties.
The new agreement hints that punishments for grave crimes, many of which carry the death sentence in Uganda, will be softer or suspended for the sake of national reconciliation.
"Formal courts and tribunals established by law shall ... introduce a regime of alternative penalties (to) ... replace existing penalties," it said.
In neighbouring Rwanda, traditional "gacaca" courts trying people suspected of involvement in the 1994 genocide have been criticised for being slow and biased.
KAMPALA, July 2 (Reuters) - Uganda has agreed to handle war crimes committed by northern rebels internally, moving closer to protecting insurgent leaders from international arrest warrants they say will prevent them from signing a final peace deal.
In an accord signed over the weekend by Uganda's government and the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), Kampala stops short of promising to shelter rebel leaders from war crimes indictments issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague.
But the agreement -- the third in a five-stage deal to end one of Africa's longest wars -- says Uganda has "national laws capable of addressing the human rights violations during the conflict", according to a copy seen by Reuters on Monday.
The ICC has issued warrants for LRA leader Joseph Kony, his deputy commander Vincent Otti, and two other senior rebels for mass murder, mutilation and using child soldiers in the 20-year war, which has been on hold since a truce last August.
But Otti said the rebels would move no further towards a final peace deal until the ICC is called off.
"Now we've signed this, we want to see progress on the government side with the ICC. The government now should go to the ICC and get them to withdraw the warrants," Otti told Reuters by satellite phone from his Congolese jungle hideout.
"We shall go for national reconciliation only after the indictments have been withdrawn. We shall see about penalties and national courts later."
The Ugandan government has argued the LRA's only hope of avoiding the ICC warrants was to sign a deal, undergo national tribunals for crimes, and then approach the international court's judges.
"ALTERNATIVE JUSTICE"
The weekend agreement is vague on punishment and the government only promises to "address conscientiously the question of the ICC arrest warrants relating to the leaders of the LRA".
ICC officials were not immediately available for comment.
The deal outlines "alternative justice mechanisms" to promote reconciliation and traditional justice processes.
Traditional leaders from Kony's Acholi tribe, who have borne the brunt of the conflict, want the LRA undergo a "Mato Oput" reconciliation ritual, where victims effectively forgive a murderer after he admits his crime and pays compensation.
Human rights groups reject that, saying a credible process must dish out harsher penalties.
The new agreement hints that punishments for grave crimes, many of which carry the death sentence in Uganda, will be softer or suspended for the sake of national reconciliation.
"Formal courts and tribunals established by law shall ... introduce a regime of alternative penalties (to) ... replace existing penalties," it said.
In neighbouring Rwanda, traditional "gacaca" courts trying people suspected of involvement in the 1994 genocide have been criticised for being slow and biased.
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