Kampala — The newly-appointed International Criminal Court registrar Ms Silvana Arbia has said the reclusive leader of the rebel LRA Joseph Kony will be arrested at all costs.

Ms Silvana Arbia, speaking on her first visit to Uganda last week said; "...the execution of this (Kony) warrant of arrest is expected."

This is the latest high profile pronouncement on the status of the indictments against Kony and some of his commanders by the ICC.

Speaking to Daily Monitor at the ICC field office in Kololo, a Kampala suburb last week, Ms Silvana Arbia said the 'warrants of arrest were served to the concerned states for their enforcement' an obligation they must fulfill. She described her firm stance as "the very simple and unique position taken by the ICC."

The ICC made the same position to an LRA delegation that visited its headquarters in The Hague in May 2008.

"A warrant is an order of the chamber of the ICC. And this order has to be enforced, that is all," said Ms Arbia of what the ICC told the LRA delegation.

Asked if the ICC would reconsider its position if the government of Uganda gave it assurance of an alternative judicial system that would not allow for impunity of the LRA leaders, the registrar replied in the negative.

Ms Arbia also refused to take any blame from the argument that LRA's reluctance to sign the final pact of a comprehensive peace agreement last April was because of the pending ICC warrants of arrest.