Lord's Resistance Army - LRA

[Birgitt]

Nach dem Filmerfolg im Netz gegen den ugandischen Warlord Joseph Kony startet nun eine weitere globale Kampagne. Heute sollen weltweit an Hauswänden, Brücken oder Hochhäusern rote Poster mit dem Schriftzug "Kony 2012" aufgehängt werden ...

Neue Kampagne gegen Joseph Kony
19.04.2012 - Frankfurter Rundschau

Gruß
Birgitt

[Kuno]

Warum erwischt den eigentlich nie einer?

[Birgitt]

Weil er es versteht, sich geschickt in den Wäldern "zurückzuziehen".
Die, die ihm auf den Fersen sind, kennen die Gegend scheinbar nicht gut genug ...

Außerdem gibt es wohl Kräfte, die ihn unterstützen bzw. ihm "Rückendeckung" geben.

Gruß
Birgitt

[Kuno]

Wenn ich es richtig verstanden habe, dann umgibt sich der Mann vorwiegend auhc mit zwangsrekrutierten Kindersoldaten. Ich kann mir vorstellen, dass man die schonen moechte und am liebsten nur ihn rauspicken wuerde. Das ist nicht einfach.

[Birgitt]

The Ugandan army says the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) led by Joseph Kony is being supported and supplied by the Sudanese government [...] A Ugandan army colonel told the BBC they had captured a member of the LRA who was wearing a Sudanese uniform, and carried its weapons and ammunition. Sudan's ambassador to London has denied the allegations as "a big lie" ...

Ugandan army says Sudan is backing Joseph Kony's LRA
30.04.2012 - BBC

The ministry also said LRA leader Joseph Kony who has been oscillating between the dense Garamba forest in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Central Africa Republic (CAR), is hiding in Bahr el Gazel, an area within Sudan territory. “He is in Bahr Gazel, a Khartoum-controlled area. We captured a rebel who was wearing a new uniform and said it was supplied by Khartoum, together with ammunition,” Col. Felix Kulayigye, the defence ministry spokesperson said. “Since he had run out of ammunition and uniforms, he had to go back to his God-father, if I am to use those words,” Kulayigye added. He told local and international journalists that whenever Kony runs out of ammunition, he crosses to Sudan and returns to CAR whenever he runs dry on food. [...] “I cannot say where Kony is but yesterday we repatriated a wife of Kony’s brother Major Olanya to Yambio. She said Kony is in South Darfur.” He said the LRA has been decimated by killings of their fighters, defections and capture by regional armies. He said there are about 250 fighters remaining ...

Omar Bashir renews support for Kony
30.04.2012 - New Vision

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Birgitt

[Kuno]

Nordsudan oder Suedsudan?

[Birgitt]

Kuno, mit Sudan ist heute (eigentlich bereits seit dem Referendum) immer Nordsudan gemeint.
Bei Südsudan spricht man von South Sudan.
Wenn du diesen Thread hier etwas verfolgst, dann wirst du feststellen, dass Südsudan sicherlich kein allzugroßes Interesse daran hat, Kony zu unterstützen. Dafür leidet Südsudan (insbesondere der Südwesten des Landes) zu sehr unter der LRA.

Ich habe mein vorangegangenes Posting um einen Presselink (New Vision) ergänzt, dann wird es klarer.

Gruß
Birgitt

[Birgitt]

Seit sechs Monaten suchen hundert US-Soldaten die Zentralafrikanische Republik nach dem Rebellenführer Joseph Kony ab. Bisher ohne Erfolg. Die Hindernisse für die Sondereinheiten sind zahlreich ...

Katz-und-Maus-Spiel im Herzen Afrikas
01.05.2012 - Tages-Anzeiger

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Birgitt

[st-reisen]

Sieht so aus, als kommt Uganda etwas voran....
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2012/5/1 ... -kony-ally
EINEN haben sie schon.

[Birgitt]

Und hier auch auf deutsch:

Caesar Acellam, Nummer vier der Rebellengruppe Lord´s Resistance Army (LRA), sei in der Zentralafrikanischen Republik gefangen worden, teilte Ugandas Armee am Sonntag mit. Ein AFP-Journalist konnte den Gefangenen im zentralafrikanischen Djema treffen, der dort seine Identität bestätigte. Acellam hat nach eigenen Angaben seit 1984 für die LRA gekämpft und trägt den Titel eines Generals der Gruppe ...

Uganda: General von Konys Rebellenarmee festgenommen
13.05.2012 - Focus

Gruß
Birgitt

[Kuno]

Sieht so aus, als kommt Uganda etwas voran....
EINEN haben sie schon.

Die Ugander haben erstmal gar keinen - der Mann wurde in der Zentralafrikanischen Repuplik gefasst.
Und jetzt?
Ausliefern nach Uganda?

[Birgitt]

Former Lord's Resistance Army commanders already out have asked government to pardon their fellow captured combatant, 'Maj. Gen.' CeasarAcellam for peace and harmony. Views from some of the ex-LRA commanders New Vision online spoke to on Monday in Gulu appealed to government to forgive and treat Acellam fairly the way they and many others have been treated. This, they said, will ensure that he becomes a human resource that might provide better and fresh military intelligence serviced to the UPDF [...] Acellam was the Chief LRA/M coordinator (called Ambassador) with the Northern Sudan by then. "He was the one who was linking the LRA command from Joseph Kony and the government of North Sudan under leadership of Gen. Omar El-Bashir. He [Acellam] is a very good, humble and bright or intelligent LRA commander who would listen to all views even from junior commanders and senior commanders and treated the commanders at par.” [...] "It is a very good development that the UPDF captured Acellam and brought him back to Uganda alive ...

Ex-LRA commanders ask govt to pardon Acellam
15.05.2012 - New Vision

Wie es aussieht ist Acellem bereits an Uganda ausgeliefert.

Gruß
Birgitt

[Kuno]

...wie es aussieht ist Acellem bereits an Uganda ausgeliefert.

So sieht es aus.
Und so wie es toent, hat man ihm Straffreiheit angeboten, wenn er gegen den Alten aussagt.

Aber ich kann mir nicht vorstellen, dass er auf so einen abstrusen Vorschlag eingehen wird

[Birgitt]

Aber ich kann mir nicht vorstellen, dass er auf so einen abstrusen Vorschlag eingehen wird

Wieso nicht?

Gruß
Birgitt

[Birgitt]

UGANDA: Amnesty or prosecution for war criminals?
17.05.2012 - IRIN

KAMPALA - The arrest of a senior Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) commander has reignited debate in Uganda about what to do with alleged war criminals: let them go, to encourage other rebels to surrender; or prosecute them in the name of accountability and justice.

LRA commander Caesar Acellam Otto, along with other senior LRA commanders, "is responsible for the most egregious violations committed against children in the central African region", according to a 14 May statement [ http://www.un.org/children/conflict/eng ... 14286.html ] by Radhika Coomaraswamy, special representative of the UN Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict. Acellam was captured by the Uganda army in the Central African Republic (CAR) on 12 May.

"I am encouraged by the capture of one of the worst perpetrators of child rights violations, and hope that the Ugandan authorities would not apply amnesty but instead bring him to justice," said Coomaraswamy.

Uganda's Amnesty Act of 2000 provides amnesty for any LRA rebel combatants who abandon the group and renounce involvement in the war. However, the Act does not apply to LRA leader Joseph Kony and four of his top commanders who were indicted in 2005 by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for war crimes and crimes against humanity.

About 13,000 LRA combatants have been granted amnesty since 2000, according to the Amnesty Commission's records.

Opinion on the way forward is divided: "It should not be a blanket amnesty to whoever is captured. His case as a person needs more thorough examination and [should be] judged on merit," Ruhakana Rugunda, Uganda's minister for information, communication and technology, said.

Rugunda headed the government team in peace talks with the LRA, which produced several detailed agreements but, because of Kony's repeated prevarications, no final comprehensive accord was ever signed.

Acellam told reporters in Nzara, South Sudan, on 13 May that he would apply for amnesty, Uganda's state-owned New Vision newspaper reported.

"The Ugandan government passed a bill in Parliament of blanket amnesty. So all rebels who left the bush before me were granted amnesty. Why not me? Why should I fear?" said Acellam, who was captured along with his wife, child and a 12-year-old CAR girl.

Acellam's fate will be decided by the Ministry of Justice at an appropriate time, according to Uganda's military spokesperson Col Felix Kulayigye. "We captured him. He is a prisoner of war," he said.

Stop-gap legislation?

According to Samuel Opio, a human rights lawyer in Kampala, the Amnesty Act is stop-gap legislation favouring only the combatants. "We need to have a comprehensive law that deals with victims issues," he said.

In northern Uganda's Acholi region, which was worst affected by the LRA insurgency, survivors and their families want Acellam tried at the High Court's International Crimes Division [ http://www.judicature.go.ug/index.php?o ... Itemid=154 ].

"These are criminals. He [Acellam ] knows that he committed crimes. He must pay for his crimes and atrocities," said Winfred Laker, a resident of Mucwini in the northern Ugandan district of Kitgum. Laker's sister was shot and killed in an LRA ambush, along the Gulu-Kitgum road in 2003.

"All people who were responsible for committing atrocities in northern Uganda must be tried and punished. There should be no room for impunity," she said.

Arthur Okot who lost a limb in a land mine explosion in Gulu in 2001, said: "This is a time for accountability. I don't support this issue of forgiving these LRA commanders. They have to face the court for the atrocities and crimes they committed in the region for the past two decades... [Acellam] must answer for all the people that they [the LRA] murdered. He was chief of military intelligence."

Court's jurisdiction constrained

The High Court's International Crimes Division was set up in 2008 in line with agreements reached on accountability and reconciliation during the LRA peace talks in Juba, Sudan, to try international law violations recognized by the ICC including genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, terrorism, human trafficking and piracy.

But the Division's jurisdiction is constrained by the Amnesty Act, which provides protection from prosecution or to "any Ugandan who has at any time since 26 January 1986, engaged in or is engaging in war or armed rebellion against the government of the Republic of Uganda" and who renounces and abandons war.

According to Norbert Mao, a Ugandan politician and lawyer, Acellam's case is no different from that of other rebels.

"[The] Ugandan government knows that [the] amnesty law is very clear. As long as one renounces rebellion, he is entitled to get [pardoned]. Acellam should get amnesty without any delay," said Mao. "He [Acellam] is already appealing to other rebels to surrender. That is a right move, he has abandoned the rebellion. The capture of Acellam weakens the LRA and sends a strong message for them to think twice. He is going to give a lot of information that will makethe LRA more vulnerable."

The LRA is still active in parts of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and in CAR where it carried out at least 53 attacks between January and March [ http://reliefweb.int/node/491412 ] displacing tens of thousands of people.

Some favour amnesty

An analyst who preferred anonymity said: "If Acellam renounces rebellion and applies for amnesty under section 3(2) of the Amnesty Act, then the State Director of Public Prosecution and the Amnesty Commission have an obligation to grant him amnesty upon such fair and equal terms and conditions as it did with other applicants."

According to Stephen Oola, a transitional justice and governance analyst at Makerere University's Refugee Law Project, the Acellam situation exemplifies the role military pressure can play while allowing for high-level defections.

"Let Acellam be given a chance to tell us his story of involvement and build confidence around the peace options to ending the LRA conflict," said Oola.

Meanwhile, religious leaders in Acholi have called for reconciliation and forgiveness. "As religious leaders, we believe in restorative justice not punitive. We believe in restoring broken relationships rather than punishing the offenders," Bishop John Baptist Odama, a member of the Acholi Religious Peace Initiative [ http://www.arlpi.org/ ] , told IRIN.

Odama, who called for the establishment of a Truth and Reconciliation Commission, added: "The LRA has destabilized and committed atrocities in the four countries. We need to rebuild the relationships of the affected countries. Dialogue, truth, reconciliation and forgiveness I believe are the best solutions."

The Kwoyelo case

Some analysts are calling for the Amnesty Act to be amended to stop major war crimes perpetrators evading justice.

"I believe a balance should be drawn to accommodate the calls from northern Uganda for reconciliation and forgiveness against the mandate of the state to ensure that crimes do not go unpunished," said an analyst who preferred anonymity.

"[The Amnesty Act] has undermined all efforts of accountability for war crimes and is [a] recipe for impunity among others. Accordingly, the Act, as it is, needs amendment so as to cover the gaps that have been exposed in the constitutional court ruling on Thomas Kwoyelo [ http://www.irinnews.org/Report/93377/UG ... s-analysts ] among others."

Kwoyelo in 2011 became the first LRA mid-level commander to face trial in a domestic court for crimes committed during the LRA insurgency. Captured in 2008 by Ugandan forces in the DRC's Garamba region, Kwoyelo was accused of commanding rebels who murdered civilians in various northern Uganda locations.

While in detention, Kwoyelo renounced rebellion and sought amnesty but his amnesty request has not been granted. In late January the constitutional court said Kwoyelo should be released, but he remains in Luzira prison.

Quelle: IRIN

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Birgitt