“ICC closing in on Kony.” Really?
At a recent press conference in Uganda’s capital, ICC prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo said that the only way to eliminate the violence in central east Africa is to capture and prosecute Joseph Kony. We agree. But I find the headline of the Daily Monitor’s article puzzling. (The Daily Monitor is a Ugandan newspaper.) Kony is so slippery that it’s hard to be optimistic, even when Ocampo tells us that he is trying to “galvanize the efforts to arrest him.” Only when Kony has been apprehended will I find any true hope in a headline like “ICC closing in on Kony.”
One thing I’m glad he acknowledged is the violence that has been committed in the 7 years since Joseph Kony was indicted. He should have been apprehended long ago, but he wasn’t: “Joseph Kony’s case shows the cost of impunity…Almost 2,000 people have been killed after the arrest warrant was issued. This is the cost of impunity and I think it is an opportunity to be here to discuss it.”
-Azy
From the Daily Monitor:
Hiding space for indicted Ugandan LRA rebel leader Joseph Kony, his commanders and Sudan President Omar El Bashir for war crimes and crimes against humanity is growing smaller by the day. The International Criminal Court Chief Prosecutor, Luis Moreno Ocampo, said yesterday that new strategies are being employed to apprehend all suspects indicted by the Hague-based court.
“It will only be a matter of time, but they will end up in the Hague [Netherlands] for the trial,” declared Mr Ocampo at a press briefing at Munyonyo in Kampala, the venue for the 10-day review of the statute of the ICC that opened Monday.
….
On President Bashir, Mr Ocampo said he was happy more states, including Islamic countries like Turkey, which is not even a party to the ICC, had agreed to effect the arrest warrant. “For Bashir, it’s just a matter of time before he gets to The Hague for trial, although the victims of his atrocities are increasingly getting frustrated,” he said.
The world’s most feared prosecutor said Kony is elusive and in control of the LRA and it is the reason he is still killing people in the Central Africa Republic.
“Joseph Kony’s case shows the cost of impunity…Almost 2,000 people have been killed after the arrest warrant was issued. This is the cost of impunity and I think it is an opportunity to be here to discuss it.”
Mr Ocampo said whenever Kony suggests peace talks, he only comes to collect money to re-organise and then he kills his people involved in the negotiations. “That’s how he killed his number two, Vincent Otti. This is a clear case in which the arrest is what we need. The idea that Kony can make peace is just a fantasy,” said Ocampo, adding that the ICC judges have maintained the indictment on Otti because they need to be convinced beyond reasonable doubt that he is indeed dead.
Mr Ocampo said although the ICC got political will from Uganda, DR Congo and the Central Africa Republic to execute the warrants against Kony and his commanders, they have had difficulties to implement it and new strategies had to be devised.
“We’re trying to organise support to arrest Joseph Kony…There is a new scenario there and I hope we can galvanise the efforts to arrest him,” said Mr Ocampo.
The ICC official said he will on June 11 appear before the UN Security Council to report Sudan’s refusal to implement the arrest warrant against the indicated Darfur warlords.
For the entire article, go here.
