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Senior LRA commander off to ICC for trial

Monday January 19 2015
Ongwen

Captured Lord's Resistance Army rebel chief Dominic Ongwen stands next to Ugandan Contingent Commander to African Union Regional Task Force in CAR Colonel Michael Kabango (R) before boarding a plane to Bangui, where he will board a plane bound for The Hague. PHOTO | UPDF |

The indicted senior Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) commander, Dominic Ongwen, who surrendered early this month, was on Saturday handed over to the International Criminal Court (ICC) for trial on war crimes and crimes against humanity.

The Central African Republic (CAR) state prosecutor, Mr Ghislain Grezengue, said on Friday that ICC officials were processing Ongwen’s transfer to The Hague, its headquarters, where he is indicted on seven counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity.

“I came back from Obo (in the east of CAR) where we went to get him from. We have already handed him over to ICC representatives, who will take him to the court tomorrow [Saturday],” Grezengue told Reuters on Friday.

A statement from the office of the UPDF Spokesman on Friday said the commander of the Ugandan troops in CAR, Col Michael Kabango, had handed over Mr Ongwen to the acting RTF Force Commander, Col Mayen Garang. The statement said Col Garang in turn handed over Mr Ongwen to representatives of the CAR government in Obo town, who would also forward him to ICC.

The UPDF statement also said the American Charge de Affairs in CAR David Brown witnessed Mr Ongwen’s handover.

Earlier last week, the Uganda government said President Museveni had made wide consultations with the acting Chief Justice Steven Kavuma and other members of the judiciary and decided that Mr Ongwen should be referred to the ICC for trial.

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In 2003, Uganda petitioned the ICC to indict Mr Ongwen, his former boss Joseph Kony and three other LRA senior commanders Vincent Otti, Raska Lukwiya and Okot Odhiambo for war crimes and crimes against humanity. Otti, Lukwiya and Odhiambo are said to be dead.

READ: False hope or is Kony nightmare finally drawing to an end?

Their arrest warrants were issued in 2005 but investigations in the mass atrocities committed by the rebels in Uganda, DR Congo, South Sudan and CAR have been going on since.

Foreign Affairs minister Okello Oryem early this week said whilst Uganda has the capacity to try Mr Ongwen, the crimes against him were not only committed in northern Uganda during the two decades of the LRA insurgency but were also spread out to neighbouring states of DR Congo, South Sudan and CAR which requires international jurisdiction.

Capture

Dominic Ongwen was captured on January 3 in the CAR jungles by the largely Muslim Seleka rebels in Kotétroi village, Sam Ouandja province, in the northeastern region of Haute Kotto. The rebels then handed him over to the American troops hunting the LRA in CAR on January 5.

Initial reports said Mr Ongwen had surrendered but later the Seleka rebel leadership refuted the claim and insisted he had been captured after a 25–minute gun battle with their fighters.

Identification

The UPDF positively identified Mr Ongwen but he remained in the custody of the American Special Forces until Thursday this week when the US government and African Union’s Regional Counter Task Force (AU-RTF), that are pursuing the LRA in CAR agreed to forward him to the ICC for trial.

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