Editorial
June 18, 2003
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President Yoweri Museveni has signed the so-called Article 98 agreement with the United States of America. By this action he has exposed this country to a situation where an American soldier can commit crimes against humanity here and get away with it. The soldier would escape because the US is presently carrying out a diplomatic operation that frees it from the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court (ICC). Let us reflect on what the ICC is all about. The final Act establishing this court became enforceable after 17 July 2002. It was a culmination of a process following the United Nations General Assembly adoption of Resolution 51/207 on 17 December 1996. Months after, when all the legal niceties had been worked out, Uganda as a “States Party” signed into this agreement and our Parliament subsequently ratified our signature. The ICC was a conscious effort by the world community to put an end to the impunity of perpetrators of war crimes, genocide, crimes against humanity and aggression. This was an attempt to end crimes, vivid examples of which are provided by the illegal internment of Afghan prisoners of war by the US on Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and the ongoing killings inside Iraq. But almost from stage one, the United States, a country that purports to uphold human rights and dignity in all its forms, thwarted this noble effort enshrined in the ICC. First, the US Senate has not ratified their signature. Second, the US is presently going around signing Article 98 agreements with countries – as obscure as Tonga. The essence of the Article 98 is that it annuls the “co-operation [of a given state] with respect to waiver of immunity and consent to surrender”. This means that the US is not compelled to waive the immunity of, or surrender its nationals for prosecution by the ICC. Mr Museveni’s decision was unilateral in a matter that definitely required discussion in Parliament and the Cabinet. He single-handedly committed Uganda in a process that comes very close to abetting the commission of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity, etc. Did our President sign because he believed it was in the national interest or was he buying some hidden favours from the Americans, who as we all know are increasingly acting in near criminal fashion worldwide? |
© 2003 The Monitor Publications
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