Henry Mukasa
12 July 2009
Kampala — THE Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC), Luis Moreno-Ocampo, arrived in Kampala yesterday for a two-day visit.
He is expected to discuss with President Yoweri Museveni the ICC indictment against Sudanese President Omar el Bashir, and the arrest warrants against three LRA commanders issued four years ago.
Bashir is scheduled to visit Uganda on July 26 to take part in the Smart Partnership conference.
Last week, the African Union summit in Sirte, Libya, adopted a resolution instructing the countries which are ICC members not to cooperate in apprehending Bashir despite their legal obligations to do so.
Senior officials from Botswana said the decision was forced upon the AU members by Libyan leader Muammar Gadaffi, who is the current chairman.
Foreign affairs minister Sam Kutesa on Friday defended Uganda's support to the resolution, saying the AU will pronounce itself after its own probe, led by former South African President Thabo Mbeki, is done.
"Uganda supports the AU assembly decision of February 2009 requesting the UN Security Council to defer the ICC indictment for 12 months (to allow for the AU to carry out its own investigation)," a statement from his ministry said.
He argued that Uganda's support to the AU resolution does not contradict its obligations under the Rome Statute, which established the ICC, or jeopardise its bid to host the ICC summit next year.
"There is no question or second guess about our commitment to the ICC and there is no doubt about our commitment to the AU," he said, adding that the Rome statute provides for local remedies.
He also denied that Uganda was luring president Bashir to Uganda later this month to arrest him.
President Museveni during a visit to Germany last month called upon the international community to move swiftly to stop what he called Arab chauvinism against African sovereignty. On the ICC indictment, he told German MPs: "It was agreed at the AU neither to condemn Bashir nor to condone him before we get the report from the Mbeki."
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