Writes Leo Odera Omolo
ICC boss launches war victims office
By Cyprian Musoke
THE president of the International Criminal Court (ICC), Justice Sang-Hyun Song, has said the longer the arrest warrant for the Lord’s Resistance Army leader, Joseph Kony, remains unimplemented, the more frustrated the people in northern Uganda would become.
Song, who has just undertaken a fact-finding tour of northern Uganda, said many people are losing hope because no action is being taken against Kony.
He was speaking at the official opening of the ICC Kampala offices on Baskerville Avenue in Kololo on Tuesday.
The office, he noted, was opened to carry out ground work and give hope to the people of northern Uganda.
The office, the first of its kind to be established in this jurisdiction of the court, represents the public face of the ICC in the country, facilitates investigations, is responsible for security, defence, logistics, witness protection, victim participation and outreach activities, Song noted.
“The people of northern Uganda have suffered for a long time. That is why they see hope in ICC’s intervention,” he observed.
A victim of war, whose lips were chopped off by the Lord’s Resistance Army, participating in festivities to commemorate ‘War Victims Day’ at Mandela national stadium in Kampala on Sunday
The president of the ICC State Parties, ambassador Christian Wenaweser, said it is an amazing experience to be part of the journey towards a world free of conflict and war.
He said the Kampala office was established to contribute to people who lost their loved ones in northern Uganda.
“The court is about hope, lifting ourselves above conflict, war and the pursuit for justice,” he said.
The ICC deputy prosecutor, Fatou Bensouda, said since the old tools used to stop impunity did not work, there was need to establish a new set of tools to ensure accountability for crimes that concern the international community.
The officials are here to participate in the first ICC review conference at Speke Resort Munyonyo.
The conference, which opened on Monday, will review the Rome Statute of the ICC. It will end on June 11.
Ends