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Uganda: Peace talks; Related articles and opinions

28 Aug 2008

Dear all,

Please find below information about recent developments related to the International Criminal Court's investigation in Uganda. This message includes the latest updates on the peace talks as well as related news articles and opinion pieces.

Please take note of the Coalition's policy on situations before the ICC (below), which explicitly states that the CICC will not take a position on potential and current situations before the Court or situations under analysis. The Coalition, however, will continue to provide the most up-to-date information about the ICC.

With regards,

CICC Communications
[email protected]

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I. STATUS OF PEACE TALKS

i. "Ugandan Rebel Leader Wants ICC Warrant Lifted before Peace Deal", by Derek Kilner (VOA), 22 August 2008, http://voanews.com/english/2008-08-22-voa44.cfm

"A spokesman for the Lord's Resistance Army rebel group says its leader will not sign a peace agreement with the government of Uganda, unless an International Criminal Court warrant for his arrest is lifted....Joseph Kony, is scheduled to meet with mediators for the peace talks on Sunday.

Joseph Kony, the leader of the Lord's Resistance Army, or LRA, is set to meet on Sunday, with the U.N. special envoy for the conflict in Northern Uganda, former Mozambiquan president Joaquim Chissano, and mediator Riek Machar, vice president of the semi-autonomous southern Sudanese government. They are scheduled to meet along the border between southern Sudan, which is hosting the negotiations, and the Democratic Republic of Congo, where the rebels are currently based..."

ii. "Kony Meeting Request Raises Hopes", by Joe Wacha (IWPR), 21 August 2008, http://www.iwpr.net/?p=acr&s=f&o=346316&apc_state=henh

"Reports that Lord's Resistance Army, LRA, leader Joseph Kony has asked to meet with peace negotiators have revived hope that a peace deal may soon be signed

...`Last month, Kony telephoned us and asked for one last meeting before he can sign, and [I] am in the process of preparing a meeting between LRA leader Joseph Kony and the mediator [Riek Machar of South Sudan],' said Chissano.

Assuming such a meeting takes place, Chissano said he then would talk to Ugandan president Yoweri Museveni.

...Discussions regarding the suspension of the war crimes indictments were continuing, said Chissano, although he did not elaborate. `The outcome may be the suspension of the warrants to enable the implementation [of] the agreement so that General Kony can come back freely [to Uganda] without fear of being arrested to go to The Hague,' he said.

...The peace agreement includes a provision that Kony will be tried by a Ugandan court instead of the ICC. However, many are doubtful that this will happen, including representatives of the court..."

iii."Ultimatum for Ugandan government," Susan Wanjiku, Kenya Broadcasting Corp, 22 August 2008, http://www.kbc.co.ke/story.asp?
ID=52020

"The Lords resistance army movement has given the Ugandan government
48 hours to withdraw international criminal court indictments and warrants of arrest on their leader general Joseph Kony and other members of LRA or else they will pull out of the peace negotiations..."

iv. "LRA announced the agreement of all parties," Miraya FM, 21 August 2008, http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/db900SID/MUMA-
7HR8UB?OpenDocument

"The Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) has said on Wednesday that the peace agreement between the LRA and the Uganda government `has been officially opened for scrutiny'.
The recently appointed head of the LRA delegation Nyekorach Matsanga said in Juba that all negotiating parties in the LRA-Uganda government peace process `have agreed to reexamine the agreement reached between Uganda and the LRA'.
Speaking to Miraya FM Mr. Matsanga said that the key obstacle to the peace process is the International Criminal Court, ICC, indictment against LRAs leader Joseph Kony...."

See also:

Ugandan Rebel Kony Wants Arrest Warrant Withdrawn," Eric Ombok and Karl Maier, Bloomberg, 22 August 2008, http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?
pid=20601116&sid=apC3chpDCdaM&refer=africa

"Chissano in Gulu to salvage LRA-Govt peace deal", IRIN, 18 August 2008, http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=79868

"Kony phones Chissano over talks", by Chris Ocowun and Justin Moro, (New Vision), 17 August 2008,
http://www.newvision.co.ug/D/8/13/644956

UN envoy: Kony willing to sign Uganda peace deal," People's Daily Online, 17 August 2008, http://english.people.com.cn/90001/90777/90855/6478149.html

II. RELATED ARTICLES AND OPINIONS

i. "LRA rebel leaders to lose property," by Patience Aber (The Monitor), 20 August 2008 (Link Unavailable)

"Top LRA rebel leaders indicted by the International Criminal Court are bound to lose their property if convicted. Mr Joseph Akwenya, a lawyer with Victim Foundation in Uganda said the ICC may at the end of prosecution order the sale of the property.

`The court may order reparations to individual victims or as a collective award,' Mr Akywenya said. He said the awards to victims may be based on applications made by victims or on the court's own initiative..."

ii. "International court vital in resolving conflicts," Op-ed by Martha Nanjobe (New Vision) 18 August 2008,
http://www.newvision.co.ug/D/8/459/645092

"...The Rome Statute has changed parameters of resolving conflict and promoting peace. There is an emerging norm that perpetrators of crimes of international concern cannot go unpunished....The ICC has contributed to restoring peace and justice in conflict zones by reducing impunity and reaffirming the rule of law.

However, the ICC faces challenges in fulfilling its mandate. First, the Rome statute has not been universally ratified...

Secondly, the ICC faces structural weaknesses that undermine its capacity to enforce its decisions....The arrest warrants of five members of the Lords Resistance Army (LRA) were unsealed in 2005 but the suspects are not in ICC custody. This is because the ICC depends on cooperation which is sometimes not forthcoming. The ICC undertakes investigations in remote conflict zones which hamper the court's effective mandate. In cases like Darfur, investigations are mainly conducted outside Sudan because the Sudanese government is uncooperative.

Thirdly, the ICC's work is affected by politics or diplomacy based on practical considerations rather than ideology. In Africa, many wars end in local deals with victors reluctant to punish and losers getting benefits and/or government positions.

Fourthly, the ICC is subjected to public opinion pressures regarding the primacy of peace over justice. Whenever the ICC exercises its jurisdiction, there are people challenging its decisions or timing.
In the former Yugoslavia, Liberia and Uganda, indictments were opposed because they were likely to hinder peace negotiations.

Opponents of Bashir's indictment have also alleged that it could worsen the humanitarian crisis in Darfur. Pursuing justice during armed conflict creates challenges regarding the relationship between peace efforts and criminal prosecutions. In some cases, key players in peace talks are war crimes perpetrators. However, the role of the ICC in restoring peace and justice in conflict zones, as well as reducing impunity cannot be overstated."

iii. "ICC - Will Imposed Justice Solve Continent 's Problems?,"Op-ed by Chris Dolan (The Citizen (Dar es Salaam - Tanzania), 19 August 2008, www.allafrica.com/stories/200808190325.html

"On its own, the
International Criminal Court (ICC) can never bring justice to war affected countries. If such justice is to be done and seen to be done, it requires a far broader effort. The conditions for sustainable peace do not just happen, they are created.
My starting point is a book written more than twenty years ago. This seminal work led to the development of a whole range of critiques of humanitarian assistance to refugees and the establishment of the whole field of Refugee Studies...

That book was called 'Imposing Aid' and was authored by Dr Barbara Harrell-Bond. The disempowered refugees she wrote about were Ugandan refugees in southern Sudan. The Refugee Law Project's experience of watching the relatively newly established International Criminal Court over the last few years suggest that in addition to imposed aid, what the 21st century is also bringing is imposed justice - and, once again, Ugandans have been at the receiving end.

When the ICC is looked at overall, a number of problems stand out; one is the way that by focusing all its attention on Uganda, Democratic Republic of Congo, Central African Republic and Sudan (and continuing to ignore the numerous other situations which are crying out for justice - Burma, Sri Lanka and Iraq spring to mind), it perpetuates the idea that the world can be divided into Africa and the rest. In short, the ICC polarises the world.

The way in which many proponents of the ICC seek to argue that the practice of international justice by the ICC is totally separate from the reality of international relations and global power inequalities is paradoxical.

Only lawyers can really believe that law and politics are two discrete domains: the average person in the street is quick enough to make the connection between the two; during a talk show on KFM which looked at whether the ICC was a stumbling block or an opportunity to end impunity, the very first caller asked the question; `if they want to end impunity, why aren't they indicting George Bush instead of focusing only on Africans?'Clearly for the ordinary citizen (who after all is more likely to be the victim of the kinds of violations international justice claims to address), the practice of international justice to date has already been tainted with the suspicion that there is something racist lurking within it.

The ICC in Uganda has created a false polarization between justice and peace. But such accusations rest on very shaky foundations. As students of conflict and peace know, a distinction is drawn between negative and positive peace...

The failure to understand the intimate connection between the pursuit of positive peace and the pursuit of justice is part of the ICC's bigger failure to fully clarify its objectives.

Is it seeking justice for victims? To date most of its attention has been on pursuing the perpetrators, with only some minor gestures towards addressing the concerns of victims. Is it trying to reduce impunity by sending signals to other war criminals who are still out there doing what they do? And if so, is the primary focus on reducing impunity nationally or internationally? For many people in Uganda, the ICC's failure to investigate the UPDF is actually promoting a culture of impunity inside the country.

And what about bringing some peace - and again, if bringing peace is the objective, are we talking peace at national level or international level? Opinions are divided on whether or not the threat of arrest is what brought the LRA to the negotiating table.
Personally I doubt it, just as I doubt whether the threat of arrest is the real reason for the LRA's withdrawal from the talks. And, looked at internationally, how can polarising the world into Africa vs. the rest be a contribution to world peace?..."

iii. "ICC arrest warrants no impediment to peace," Op-ed by Thadeus Mabasi (New Vision), 27 August 2008,
http://www.newvision.co.ug/D/8/459/646751

"Many people have argued that the arrest warrants issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC) against the leaders of the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) are an impediment to the peace process in northern Uganda.

They argue that the ICC imposes a Western notion of retributive justice, which clashes with the local restorative justice system. I wish to disagree.

Although the LRA leaders continue evade arrest, the ICC indictments have contributed to the peace process in a positive way. There are two reasons for this view.

...First, international criminal justice deters the commission of future crimes. Global justice has a preventative effect. The deterrence effect is at work in Uganda because as the LRA case gained momentum in 2004, the humanitarian situation dramatically improved.

Secondly, it is evident that the ICC indictments have generated such pressure that the LRA was left with no other option but to negotiate.

This is because the ICC focused the international community's attention on the conflict in Northern Uganda and the horrific crimes committed by the LRA.

This has had the effect of increasing international legitimacy and support for the Uganda People's Defence Forces (UPDF) military campaigns; putting pressure on Sudan to stop supporting the LRA; and inducing states to restrict diaspora funding for the LRA.

Therefore, the ICC indictments have made war more costly and risky for the LRA and the rebels have no option but to seek a safe exit through a negotiated settlement with the Government.

Therefore, the ICC should be embraced by the international community. If in some cases it makes peace negotiations difficult, that may be the price that has to be paid."

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CICC's policy on the referral and prosecution of situations before the
ICC:

The Coalition for the ICC is not an organ of the court. The CICC is an independent NGO movement dedicated to the establishment of the International Criminal Court as a fair, effective, and independent international organization.
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