The ICC's Possible Deferral of the LRA Case to Uganda
![handle is hein.journals/jicj6 and id is 809 raw text is: The ICC's Possible Deferral of
the LRA Case to Uganda
Kasaija Phillip Apuuli*
Abstract
The signing of the Final Peace Agreement (FPA) between the leaders of the Lords'
Resistance Army (LRA) and the government of Uganda (GoU) has been delayed,
partly because the LRA leader Joseph Kony wants assurances concerning the
(non)execution of the International Criminal Court (ICC) arrest warrants against
him and other LRA senior officials. The GoU has assured him that once he signs
the agreement, it will ask the ICC to defer the LRA case to the jurisdiction of
Ugandan authorities. This note addresses the prospect of the ICC deferring the
prosecution of the LRA leaders to Uganda and the measures that Uganda
should undertake to make it possible.
1. Introduction
In early March 2008, a delegation of the Lords' Resistance Army (LRA) went to
The Hague allegedly to lobby the International Criminal Court (ICC) to drop its
arrest warrants, which were issued against the top leaders of the LRA in 2005.1 At
the same time, Uganda's President Yoweri Museveni announced the readiness of
Uganda to prosecute the indicted LRA leaders. He has been quoted as saying,
'because he (Kony) was not under our jurisdiction, we sought the assistance
of the ICC. If he (Kony) signs the peace agreement and returns to our jurisdiction,
it becomes our responsibility not any other party's, including the ICC'.2
* Department of Political Science and Public Administration, Makerere University, Kampala,
Uganda. Many thanks to the JICJ anonymous reviewers who made very useful comments on
the draft. [kasaijap@yahoo.com]
1 See iCC, 'ICC Registry Officials Meet with LRA Delegation', The Hague, 10 March 2008 available
online at http://www.icc-cpi.int/press/pressreleases/344.html (visited 15 March 2008); ICC, 'ICC
Officials Discuss the Role of the Registry in Proceedings before the Court with the LRA
Delegation', The Hague, 10 March 2008 available online at http://www.iccc-cpi.int/press/press
releases/346.html (visited 15 March 2008); Daily Monitor, 3 March 2008. 'Kony sends lawyer to
ICC court'; Daily Monitor, 10 March 2008, 'Kony lawyers at ICC today'
2 The New Vision, 12 March 2008. See story 'We can save Kony - President Museveni.
Journal of International Criminal justice 6 (2008), 801-813 doi:10.1093/jicj/mqnO46
o Oxford University Press, 2008, All rights reserved. For permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.journals/jicj6&div=69&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)
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The ICC's Possible Deferral of the LRA Case to Uganda
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