World court seeks UN help to arrest Ugandan rebel Kony
23 Dec 2006 13:51:00 GMT Source: Reuters
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The leader of Uganda's Lord's Resistance Army rebels Joseph Kony addresses his first news conference in 20 years of rebellion in Nabanga, Sudan, August 1, 2006.
REUTERS/Adam Pletts
KAMPALA, Dec 23 (Reuters) - The International Criminal Court (ICC) has asked the United Nations to use peacekeepers to help arrest Ugandan rebel leader Joseph Kony who is hiding out in a forest in the Democratic Republic of Congo, officials said.
The ICC wants to try Kony for war crimes including massacring civilians, mutilating survivors and kidnapping thousands of children during a two-decade insurgency that has killed tens of thousands and displaced two million more.
In a document posted on the ICC Web site and seen by Reuters on Saturday, Chief Prosecutor Louis Moreno-Ocampo said he hoped to use the U.N. peacekeeping forces in Sudan and DRC to arrest Kony and four other indicted LRA commanders.
"The office of the prosecutor ... has raised the need to galvanise national, regional and international efforts in support of the arrest and surrender (of Kony)," the 13-page document said.
Kony and four of his top commanders, face 33 counts, which include 12 counts of crimes against humanity for rape and sexual enslavement.
The ICC request may complicate efforts to end one of Africa's longest wars.
The LRA leadership has repeatedly said its fighters would remain in the bush unless the court dropped indictments against them. But the ICC has refused to withdraw what is seen as a test case for the fledgling human rights court.
Kony would rather face justice at home than at the Hague-based court, government officials who met him said this week.
A truce between the Ugandan government and the LRA was renewed last week until the end of February. The deal offers LRA leaders amnesty if they gather at two agreed assembly points.
The ICC issued arrest warrants against Kony and his deputies last year but has no police force to hunt them down and must rely on Ugandan, Sudanese and former southern Sudanese rebel troops to bring them to justice.
The arrest warrants were expected to be discussed in talks between the Ugandan government and the LRA when they are due to resume next month in south Sudan's capital, Juba.
