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Uganda: Third Country Asylum for Kony
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The Monitor (Kampala)
31 October 2007
Posted to the web 30 October 2007
Agnes Asiimwe
THIRD country asylum or exile will remove LRA leader Joseph Kony from the scene of the crimes against humanity and could be the ultimate way to completely end the conflict in northern Uganda, a new report by a US based non governmental organisation suggests.
The NGO, Enough, which works to abolish genocide and mass atrocities, says the fate of the war "hinges on one man: Joseph Kony"
The report released yesterday outlines three options from which Kony should be pressed to choose.
"Kony should be presented with three clear choices - accountability, asylum or arrest. "On accountability, Enough says if Kony wants to return to northern Uganda, he must face serious domestic justice mechanisms that meet international standards and local needs.
The body also puts arrest as an option. "A coordinated regional strategy to apprehend Kony should the peace talks collapse is necessary both as contingency planning and as negotiating leverage. Kony will only accept local accountability if the alternative is lifetime imprisonment by the ICC in The Hague."
Kony and his four commanders were indicted by the ICC for war crimes and crimes against humanity. The rebels insist that as long as the arrest warrants against them remain in place, the South Sudan mediated peace talks between the rebel group and Kampala may not yield much.
But the NGO says asylum is the ultimate solution to ending the conflict that has crossed three international borders, killed millions and displaced thousands of people in northern Uganda. "In the interest of peace and to allow northern Uganda to finally awake from the 20-year nightmare of LRA terror, relocating Kony to another country may be the best solution."
Also the fact that the LRA's safety in northern Uganda may be impossible to guarantee makes asylum the practical option. Enough says numerous surveys and reports have concluded that the capacity for forgiveness among the people of northern Uganda is romanticised and the desire for revenge underappreciated.
The NGO quotes Gulu District Chairman Nobert Mao saying that all of Kony's brothers who were living in his home village of Odek have been killed by the local population or the Ugandan Army. Most of the LRA commanders who have returned to northern Uganda live in army barracks and must travel with armed escorts.
The NGO calls on countries "with leverage" to become more directly engaged. "The U.S. should make clear that the LRA will be taken off the State Department's Terrorist List if Kony signs and implements a peace agreement. Furthermore, the U.S. and EU can provide useful intelligence and logistical support for attempts to arrest Kony if the peace process does not yield an agreement."
"Quickly devising a security and livelihoods package for the LRA leadership in a third country, leveraged by the option of the use of force to apprehend the leadership if they do not agree to a deal, will yield the best opportunity for a solution that the people of northern Uganda have seen in twenty years."
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The northern Uganda conflict was high on the agenda of yesterday's meeting between President Museveni and President George Bush at the White House in Washington.
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