Analysis: In Uganda, Peace Versus Justice
Council on Foreign Relations
November 17, 2006
Prepared by: Stephanie Hanson
The International Criminal Court (ICC) appears set to break ground on its first case. It recently began pretrial hearings to prosecute a Congolese citizen, Thomas Lubanga Dyilo, accused of conscripting child soldiers to fight in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s civil war. The Court, which relies on states to carry out its warrants, was only able to proceed with Lubanga’s case because the Congolese government arrested him. But the Ugandan and Sudanese governments have limited the ICC’s ability to move forward with cases in their countries, provoking questions about the newborn Court’s ability to broker international justice. This new Backgrounder examines the ICC cases in Africa and recent criticism of the Court.
In Darfur, the ICC’s investigations bear the imprimatur (IRIN) of the UN Security Council. Yet Sudan has actively thwarted its proceedings, and, as a result, no indictments have been handed down. In Uganda, four outstanding arrest warrants for top-level members of the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), including leader Joseph Kony, await action by the Ugandan authorities. But the LRA is demanding these warrants be dropped before it engages in full peace talks. The Ugandan government—which itself referred the situation to the ICC—has said it will support dropping the charges if Kony surrenders.
But the ICC says the Ugandan government lacks the authority (Guardian) to drop the ICC’s charges or revoke the warrants once they are issued. And international legal experts point out that war crimes charges rule out any amnesty under international law.
Read the rest of this article on the cfr.org website.
Copyright 2006 by the Council on Foreign Relations. This material is republished on GlobalSecurity.org with specific permission from the cfr.org. Reprint and republication queries for this article should be directed to cfr.org.
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