| Amnesty bitter on Kony pardon |
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WELCOME: UPDF 505 brigade chief Lt. Col. John Wasswa receives the withdrawing troops |
By Maurice Okore
AMNESTY International has protested plans by the Government to withdraw war crime charges against Joseph Kony, the leader of the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), and his rebels.
The human rights body has urged the International Criminal Court (ICC) not to bow to pressure from the Government to drop the charges committed in the 18-year-old rebellion.
“Uganda cannot ‘withdraw’ its referral made in January 2004, to the Prosecutor of the ICC of the situation in the northern part of the country,” Erwin Van Der Borght, Amnesty’s deputy director of the Africa Programme, said.
Borght was reacting to President Yoweri Museveni’s suggestion to intercede with the ICC to drop the charges of crimes against humanity committed by the LRA.
After declaring a seven-day suspension of operations against the rebels, Museveni said rebels could come out and engage in internal reconciliation mechanisms suggested by former minister Betty Bigombe.
However, Amnesty said in a statement yesterday that withdrawing the charges would fail a fair trial before independent and impartial courts.
“The ICC Prosecutor should make it clear that he intends to continue to investigate vigorously the crimes committed by all sides in the north.
Yielding to pressure from the state that referred the situation to stop the investigation would not be in the interests of justice nor in the long term interests of peace and reconciliation,” Borght said.
Uganda referred the case to the ICC earlier this year, and the ICC opened investigations into the crimes committed in the north.
Published on: Thursday, 18th November, 2004 |
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