From: Leo Odera Omolo
PRESIDENT Yoweri Museveni has said the Lord’s Resistance Army victims in northern Uganda should be compensated without waiting for the trial of the perpetrators.
“I entirely agree with Prosecutor Ocampo. The LRA victims don’t need to wait for the trial to be assisted,” he said.
Museveni was speaking at the opening of the ICC review conference at the Speke Resort Munyonyo.
Museveni, ICC chief Sang Hyun, Tanzania’s Jakaya Kikwete and UN boss Ban Ki-moon at Munyonyo yesterday
The ICC prosecutor, Luis Moreno Ocampo, had earlier called for urgent assistance and compensation for the millions of LRA victims.
He had also called for the integration of development efforts with the work of the court.
Ocampo, however, added that the arrest of Joseph Kony and his fighters should remain the priority.
The ICC has a trust fund which provides victims with support like vocational training, counselling, reconciliation and reconstructive surgery for those maimed by the rebels. Over 40,000 victims from across the world are benefiting from the fund.
In his address, Museveni also called on the ICC member states to make a distinction between just and unjust wars in the Rome Statute.
The statute governs the ICC. “Our contribution to this meeting is to urge you to introduce words that I don’t hear anywhere in the Rome Statute. For us in Uganda, we make a distinction between just and unjust war. I don’t know whether the Rome Statute has this, a definition must be made,” he said.
The Kampala conference is the first opportunity for the State parties to review the statute since its enforcement on July 1, 2002.
The delegates will consider proposals of amendments, including a definition of the crime of aggression.
Museveni said in case a war is deemed to be just, there should also be means used to execute the just cause being pursued. “Do you use terrorist methods like indiscriminate targeting of non-combatants, women and children, and destroying means of sustenance like food? That is what makes a difference between a terrorist and a freedom fighter.”
The President cited the wars by the Africans and Asians against the colonialists as just, but added that hijacking planes carrying women and children would not be a justified means.
He said Uganda had such extra-judicial killings and terrorist methods, adding that over 800,000 people had been killed this way.
A genuine war targets barracks and infrastructure like railways and not hospitals, restaurants and other human settlements, Museveni said.
He chided the ICC for what he called its soft approach, describing their jails as five-star hotels. “In Uganda, we believe in the law of Moses, an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. What is good for the goose is also good for the gander. I hear that a five-star hotel is in waiting for Kony.”
“In the last 20 years, we have executed 22 soldiers and another 147 have been condemned to death. That is how we have built one of the most credible and disciplined armies,” he added.
Museveni also said provisional immunity should be considered by the Rome Statue as a way of encouraging peaceful resolutions.
He gave an example of Burundi, where provisional immunity was given to the parties involved in the war as long as they took part in the peace process.
Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete said for a long time, the world has gone through a dark chapter, noting that the ICC is one of the noble achievements.
He said the ICC, as the court of the last resort, should endeavour to end impunity and its actions should be a deterrent for the perpetual actors in wars. Kikwete noted that aggression as a crime would help eliminate the culture of impunity and guarantee accountability.
“We as African Union leaders have set a pace in fighting impunity. We reiterate our commitment to work hand in hand with the court to ensure it prevails,” he said.
Ends