Riek Machar prevents LRA Juba team from meeting Kony
Since the cessation of hostlities agreement was signed the LRA negotiation team in Juba have been seeking permission from the mediator, Riek Machar to travel to Kony's hide out so that they can update him on the agreement. The Uganda Government team had the opportunity to return to Uganda for a briefing while the LRA have not had similar opporunity. Part of the hold up in the LRA appointing their military representatives on the Cessation of Hostilities Monitoring Team (CHMT) has been attributed to this. It is not clear why Riek Machar is reluctant to allow the team to travel to Kony. Some observers think that Machar feels that such a meeting would result in the hardening of the LRA position. This comes during the time when the ICC have reportedly sent some of their officials to Juba. The ICC has maintained that it will not wave the warrants of arrest for the LRA leaders. Jan Egeland the UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs who who has been visiting displaced people's camps in Northern Uganda in the last two days was asked whether he will be requesting the ICC to remove the warrants since the majority view of people in Northern Uganda is asking for that. Egeland seemed quite confident that a peace agreement would be signed in Juba even with the warrants in palce. He stated categorically that the ICC indictment will not prevent a peace settlement being raeched. He will be travelling to Juba in the next few days. The whole approach of Machar, the ICC and Jan Egeland raise a lot of questions. The Juba LRA team are now being forced to rush back into the negotiations and sign an agreement without a propoer consultation with the LRA leadership. Could it be that the LRA Juba team are now being used, perhaps without their knowledge, as a cover for a more sinister action against the LRA leadership? This is an intersting question as one of the ICC officials currently in Juba was overheard enquiring about where the LRA leaders will be once the rest of the LRA soldiers have assembled in the designated points. In the meantime reports that the LRA Juba team demanded 3 million US dollars as part of the negotiation has given ammunition to those who right from the start of the talks have argued that the self selected LRA team are individuals who are looking for personal benefits. This could be a misreading of what may have transpired. The LRA team do not have any funds. It could have been that they presented a budget to enable them to effectively conduct the negoatiations and liaise with appropriate individuals and organisation that would give them the legal and technical support. Now that they remain without such a budget, they are reduced to begging from the mediator.
About Me
- juba talks
- Juba, South Sudan, Sudan
- Believe that although justice is important, peace must come first in certain cases. If justice is to be meaningful it must be applied equally to all parties in a conflict.
2 comments:
Jan Egeland...was asked whether he will be requesting the ICC to remove the warrants since the majority view of people in Northern Uganda is asking for that.
Majority of people of Northern Uganda do not understand that the ICC's charges against Kony is irreversable. According to the treaty signed in Rome by 20 ountries including Uganda, ICC must arrest try and convict or acquit Kony. ICC can't drop the current charges against KONY and his top LRA commanders. anyomokolo@hotmail.com
Anyomokolo,
Thanks for taking time to comment. We would just like to point out that it is not true that under the Rome Statute the charges against Kony and his commanders are irreversable. We posted the Rome Statute on this blogsite on Wednesday 2nd August if you check our archive. You will find that the Pre-trial ICC Pre-trial chamber can be petitioned by the victims and/or the state bringing the case to stop the invetigation. Article 53 paragraph (1) sub-paragraph (c) states: 'Taking into account the gravity of of the crime and the interests of victims, there are nonetheless substantial reasons to believe that an investigation would not be in serve the interest of justice. If the Prosecutor determines that there is no reasonable basis to proceed and his determination is based soleley on subpragraph (c) above he or she shall inform the Pre-trial Chamber'. Article 53 paragraph (4) goes on to say: 'The Prosecutor may, at any time reconsider a decision whether to initiate and investigation or prosecution based on new facts or information'. Our view is that prosecution of LRA only and not considering the crimes that Government has committed does not serve justice to people of Northern Uganda and Southern Sudan. There are new facts and information indicating that a subatantial proportion of the victims of the war would like traditional reconciliation as oppossed to western stylelegal retribution. All these are points that could be argued to at least allow for the suspension of the warrants on condition that a comprehensive agreement is signed. This will give Kony and his commanders the confidence to come and engage in the talks themselves and not to rely on the current LRA negotiation who cannot take some of the difficult decisions on their behalf. Regards.
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