Museveni Promises Kony Amnesty

On July 2nd, Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni indicated that if Joseph Kony, leader of the notorious Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) rebel group in northern Uganda agrees to abandon terrorism, the Ugandan government will grant him total amnesty despite his indictment by the International Criminal Court (ICC). The ICC issued arrest warrants for Kony on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity last October. Museveni has agreed to begin talks with the LRA in southern Sudanese capital of Juba next week. The talks will be moderated by southern Sudanese leaders.

The Lord’s Resistance Army has been accused of abducting children and forcing them to fight, carry out hard labor, and serve as sex slaves to commanders in its conflict with northern Uganda and southern Sudan. The LRA, once backed by the Sudanese government, has set up a base cape in southern Sudan and eastern Congo. Pursuant to the arrest warrants, the governments of Uganda, Sudan and Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) are under a legal obligation to cooperate with the ICC.

Museveni’s offer of peace talks and amnesty for Kony directly clashes with his earlier referral of the rebel conflict in northern Uganda to the ICC in December 2003. The 2003 referral invoked the ICC’s jurisdiction over individuals involved in the conflict, and since then, the Court’s Office of the Prosecutor (OTP) has issued five arrest warrants for Kony and four other LRA officials. Responding to Museveni's amnesty offer, Christian Palme, spokesperson for ICC Prosecutor Luis Moreno Ocampo stated that "right now we can only repeat what we said a few months ago: we expect the three countries (Uganda, Sudan and DR Congo) which are involved, and signed and ratified the [ICC] treaty, to arrest the leaders who are wanted." Under Article 58 of the Rome Statute, an arrest warrant issued by the Prosecutor is valid unless otherwise ordered by the Court. Furthermore, Article 86 requires member states to cooperate fully with the Court in any investigation or prosecution that falls within the jurisdiction of the Court. Therefore, Uganda, an ICC member state, cannot legally offer LRA leaders amnesty. 

Museveni has blamed the UN, which he claims has known of Kony’s whereabouts, for having failed to arrest him.


Updated July 3, 2006

ICC Issues Arrest Warrants for LRA Leaders

Warrants are historic first for new Court.

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