February 23, 2008:
The ICC decision to
continue to pursue its warrants has direct ramifications on the Uganda-LRA
peace process. If the LRA does sign a peace agreement, the senior members of
the LRA risk facing arrest and trial in an international court. This is the
dilemma that most "insurgent wars" confront; over the course of the conflict,
war crimes are committed. The ICC indictments of LRA senior commanders are very
telling. The leaders are charged with murder, sexual abuse of children and
kidnapped women, looting and abduction (mostly of women and children). Judicial
institutions in countries like Uganda are at best described as "fragile." That
is usually a euphemism for several traits, like corruption, minimal competence,
and extraordinary influence of government elites or the military on judicial
decisions. The ICC is certainly part of the Uganda-LRA peace process. Maybe
they need a negotiator at the table. (Austin Bay)
February 22, 2008: The LRA signed a
peace deal with the government. Key terms are government protection, for LRA
leaders, from prosecution. LRA leaders will also receive government jobs. The
terms take effect once the LRA disarms.
February 21, 2008: The International
Criminal Court (ICC) announced that it would continue to seek the arrest of
senior LRA leaders. Despite an agreement by the government of Uganda and the
LRA that indicted LRA leaders would be tried in Ugandan courts, the ICC argued
that its warrants are still in force. Essentially the ICC is saying that only
ICC judges can decide to drop ICC arrest warrants. The LRA has taken the
position that it will not agree to a final peace treaty until the ICC
indictments are dismissed.
LRA negotiators quit the Juba peace
talks after the Ugandan government said that it would not promise positions in
the government to LRA rebels. The LRA is also at odds with the mediation teams
and the Ugandan government over finances. Since mid-2007 the LRA has complained
that it lacks the funds to support its end of the negotiating process.
February 19, 2008: The Ugandan
government said that it had signed a deal with the LRA that crimes committed by
LRA commanders during the war would be "tried under a special division of the
High Court of Uganda." The deal is an attempt to circumvent the indictments of
senior LRA commanders by the ICC.
February 10, 2008: Peace mediators at
the Juba peace talks said that they have teams investigating charges by the
Government of South Sudan (GOSS) that LRA rebels have launched numerous attacks
on civilians in South Sudan. South Sudanese officials have asked the Ugandan
government to help stop the raids. This is something of a conundrum. If the
Ugandan Army helped stop LRA movements in Sudan it would be accused by the LRA
of violating the Cessation of Hostilities Agreement (the current document that
frames the Uganda-LRA peace process).