Jeune Afrique on one of the LRA leaders and ex-child soldier, Dominic Ongwen
The Ugandan Army
announced on Tuesday that Dominic Ongwen, one of the main leaders of the Lord’s
Resistance Army (LRA), who surrendered to US Special Forces in the Central
African Republic on 6 January, shall be handed to the International Criminal Court
for trial.
Read the article on Jeuneafrique.com: ICC | Uganda: The International Criminal Court will try Dominic Ongwen, one of the
leaders of the LRA | Jeuneafrique.com – The number one site for information and
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FacebookDominic Ongwen "sera acheminé à La Haye" (aux Pays-Bas, où se
trouve siège de la CPI) directement depuis la Centrafrique, selon Paddy
Ankunda, porte-parole de l'armée ougandaise.
The ex-rebel leader had early given up armed resistance and surrendered
himself to Central African ex-Seleka rebels who then handed him to the American
soldiers. Many LRA commanders, including its historic leader, Joseph Kony, are
subject to an arrest warrant issued by the ICC. According to the UN, the rebellion
has caused more than 100,000 deaths in Central Africa and kidnapped more than 60,000
children since it started.
The LRA: A burned out rebellion?
The handing over of Dominic Ongwen is a severe blow to the LRA, a
rebellion created in Northern Uganda in 1987. The movement, which has been
fought by the Ugandan Army since 2006, split up into small groups, scattered in
the equatorial rainforest in countries in this region, including the Central
African Republic.
Ongwen, a former child soldier aged around 35, is accused of have
ordered bloody campaigns by the militia in the north of Uganda in the early
2000s. Thousands were either killed or kidnapped to be made child soldiers and
sex slaves during these campaigns. He is equally accused of ordering attacks against civilians in the
Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
Pardon
A radio station in the Central African Republic, last January 12,
broadcasted a recording in which Dominic Ongwen called on his former comrades
in arms to surrender and begged for Yoweri Museveni’s pardon. “I have
realised that I was wasting my time in the bush. I am now free, despite the file
opened by the International Criminal Court (ICC) against me” he declared.
According to the Ugandan Army, Joseph Kony is the only LRA leader still
at large.
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