ICC Looms Over Peace Negotiations

Negotiators attempting to end the 21-year-old conflict in northern Uganda are expected to resume talks in the South Sudan capital, Juba, in the coming weeks.



Before that, however, representatives of the Lord’s Resistance Army, LRA, will visit rebel leader Joseph Kony in his hideout in Garamba Park in the Democratic Republic of Congo, DRC.



The message Kony gives to his team undoubtedly will dictate the ultimate success or failure of the talks.



Negotiators already met in Kampala with Ugandan president Yoweri Museveni who insisted that the issues surrounding accountability and reconciliation for the rebels be resolved before the talks tackle the next topic, a permanent ceasefire.



While substantial progress has been made, one major stumbling block has remained: how accountability and reconciliation will be implemented.



At the core of this question are the indictments issued in 2005 by the International Criminal Court, ICC, against the LRA leaders.



Kony and his team insist that no final deal can be signed unless and until the indictments are lifted.



LRA negotiators repeatedly alleged that the ICC was blocking a final settlement during a recent six-week tour of northern Uganda, aimed at consulting their victims on the accountability and reconciliation aspects of a proposed peace deal.



The Ugandan government rejects the LRA claim that the indictments are jeopardising negotiations.



"[The] ICC has been presented as the major obstacle to peace and the peace process by [the] LRA,” said Dr Ruhakana Rugunda, the Ugandan interior minister and the country’s chief negotiator in Juba. “We do not agree.



“Our view is that ICC is … not a hindrance, but complementing the peace process. It supports the peace process.”



While Rugunda apparently backs the ICC indictments, he also suggested that justice could be served by putting the LRA leaders on trial in Uganda in front of a Ugandan court.



“Our view is that if mechanisms for accountability and reconciliation are put in place [in Uganda], mechanisms to make sure there is justice, accountability, we can talk to the ICC [about its indictments]," said Rugunda.



When a peace deal is signed, Rugunda suggests that the ICC may be asked to lift its indictments in favour of a Ugandan tribunal.



"When we have done that (signed the comprehensive peace agreement), the government of Uganda will approach the ICC and say, 'well, you have indicted these people, but we have signed an agreement and we have peace,’” Rugunda told IWPR.



“We have also put in place mechanisms through our laws, our customs, [and] traditional justice system to ensure there is justice, accountability and no impunity...."



Rugunda disagrees with those who argue that Uganda, which first went to the ICC for help in dealing with Kony and the LRA, cannot now withdraw its request for assistance.



While he suggests that a Ugandan trial for Kony and his commanders might be negotiated with the ICC, some local legal experts insist the case should be handled by the Hague court.



"It’s now an international matter,” said Erias Lukwago, a lawyer in Kampala. “It’s an ICC case, and according to the Rome Statute, the regime in Kampala has no power to withdraw the case."



According to Lukwago, who is also a member of the Ugandan parliament, justice for the top commanders of the LRA is beyond Uganda's jurisdiction.



The LRA negotiators, meanwhile, contend that as long as the indictments exist, no peace deal will be signed, nor will they come out of the bush.



Some say they are just using this as an excuse not to sign an agreement, but others point out that the indictments keep the rebels at the negotiating table, and have given Kampala the upper hand in talks.



At the same time, President Museveni can claim that he has no control over the ICC, and therefore, should the rebels be pursued and arrested after signing an agreement, it is beyond him.



Should the talks collapse, the significance of the ICC indictments would suddenly increase as they would be the only remaining legal mechanism to administer justice.



John Barya, a law professor at Makerere University in Kampala, said that if a political settlement was reached, however, there would be less call for some form of accountability.



“If you have a political settlement, [and] if you are looking for the greater good, then you have to let certain things lie," said Barya.



Charles Mwanguhya Mpagi is the political editor for The Daily Monitor in Kampala and an IWPR contributor.