Francis Mugerwa & Zurah Nakabugo
Hoima / Kampala
A top US based human rights body is pushing the International Criminal Court to include the UPDF on its list of those who should be investigated for the commission of atrocities in the war ravaged northern Uganda.
In its latest report, the Human Rights Watch says by omitting the UPDF on the list of those suspected of committing atrocities in the north, the International Criminal Court (ICC) gave credence to reports by politicians and organisations in Uganda that The Hague-based court was biased in indicting the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) rebels.
ICC prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo indicted LRA leader Joseph Kony and five of his commanders on October 14, 2005. Only Kony and Dominic Ongwen are reported to be alive.
The report launched in New York on Friday coincided with the 10th anniversary of the Rome Statute on July 17, 1998 which establishes the ICC, the world’s first permanent court mandated to bring to justice the perpetrators of the worst crimes known to humankind.
The report analyses and recommends with regard to the ICC’s work in Uganda, based on fact-finding by HRW researchers in Kampala and northern Uganda in 2007.
“Representatives of civil society and community-based organisations that we interviewed in Kampala and northern Uganda consistently criticised the ICC’s failure to either investigate or prosecute UPDF abuses or to explain why this was not being done,” the rights group said.
“As a result, the prosecutor’s work in Uganda is perceived by many of those in affected communities as one-sided and biased,” the report says.
On Monday, Sudanese President Omar al Bashir was indicted on genocide and war crimes charges. It is understood that his indictment followed vitriolic complaints by international relief agencies and rights organisations, of the humanitarian situation in the war-ravaged Darfur region.
If the prayers of the HRW are to be answered, the UPDF would be indicted, so would its senior commanders. According to the group, sources pointed out that despite additional outreach efforts to affected communities in northern Uganda, more could be done to clarify about the ICC’s approach to alleged crimes by Ugandan army personnel.
The report said assistance provided by the UPDF to the ICC, such as armed escorts for travel in the region, while understandable at times due to security concerns, may have exacerbated the existing negative perceptions of the ICC in Uganda.
But acting Foreign Affairs Minister Henry Okello Oryem said the HRW should first help secure the release of children and women under constant abuse by the LRA, rather than accuse the UPDF.
“They (HRW) should be concerned about the signing of the Final peace Agreement rather than bringing diversionary issues,” he said. “At the appropriate time Uganda will investigate and examine everything in northern Uganda and other areas of Uganda where there has been conflict,” he added.
Mr Oryem said the government had provided, “the atmosphere, the security and the environment to ICC to do investigations but we could not do investigations for them.” Acting army spokesman, Capt. Chris Magezi said the ICC investigated the UPDF and it is from the investigations that the army was exonerated and the LRA implicated.
“The government has never shut down anybody who may wish to investigate the UPDF and this is manifested in the agreement on accountability (signed with LRA). HRW are misplaced and not at par with circumstances prevailing,” he added
While there has been pressure on the government to have the UPDF’s conduct investigated, military officials insisted the army had internal measures that addressed issues of atrocities. They challenged those with evidence to direct them to the investigative arms of the government for inquiry.
Recently to answer his critics, the prosecutor clarified that the scope of the ICC’s investigations is not limited to alleged perpetrators from LRA, but continues to seek information about crimes allegedly committed by the UPDF.
In its report, representatives of civil society organisations who were interviewed in Kampala and northern Uganda felt that ICC interaction with the UPDF “has compromised perceptions of the court’s independence and impartiality in its work in northern Uganda”.
It said while ICC used the assistance of the Uganda police, which is perceived as less of an abusive actor than the military, some felt that a general lack of trust by people in the institution makes it a poor choice to provide assistance in investigations.
“We can appreciate that to a certain extent, reliance on national police and military forces is inevitable…however, the negative perceptions outlined highlight why it is necessary to manage such interactions very carefully to avoid creating or feeding into misperceptions about the ICC’s independence and impartiality,” the report says.
The Rights body said although the government voluntarily referred the situation in northern Uganda to the ICC, Mr Ocampo’s announcement of the government’s referral at a joint press conference with Mr Museveni fed perceptions of the court as a “tool” being manipulated by him to serve his political interests.
President Museveni and Mr Ocampo held a joint press conference at Hotel Intercontinental Hyde Park, London on January 29, 2004. The body recommended that ICC should consistently engage with affected communities through a “robust outreach and communications strategy,” to better address the reality of operations on the ground and the negative impressions that can result.
http://www.monitor.co.ug/artman/publish/news/Quiz_UPDF_on_war_crimes_68362.shtml
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