Uganda Will Defy ICC: LRA Rebels Will Not Be Turned Over

Somehow, I knew it would come to this.



The Ugandan president, Yoweri Museveni, is headed for a confrontation with the international criminal court after saying he will not hand over to The Hague the leaders of his country’s rebel Lord’s Resistance Army indicted for war crimes.



Museveni said Joseph Kony, the LRA leader, and his commanders will instead be brought before “traditional” Ugandan courts – which emphasise apologies and compensation rather than punishment – as part of a deal to end a 21-year civil war marked by the abduction of children as combatants, mass rape of women and the mutilation and murder of civilians.



The ICC probably should have figured out a way to back down gracefully. If this decision by Uganda’s leader to essentially ignore the ICC arrest warrants sticks, this is a very big blow to the ICC’s handling of this case. I can’t imagine the Security Council will back them up here since Uganda has a pretty compelling pragmatic argument (if not a great legal one).