JURIST - Paper Chase: ICC investigating new Uganda attacks by Lord's Resistance Army

[JURIST] Luis Moreno-Ocampo [official profile; JURIST news archive] chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) [official website], told Reuters Sunday that the ICC was investigating possible new war crimes committed by the Ugandan rebel group the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) [BBC profile; JURIST news archive] in recent attacks on Uganda villages. The attacks follow the apparent collapse of a peace deal with the rebels last month. Reuters has more.

In March, Ocampo said that arrest warrants issued by the ICC for LRA leaders [JURIST report] remain in effect, despite requests from Uganda that they be withdrawn. The four ICC-issued warrants were executed in 2005 and include LRA leader Joseph Kony and LRA senior member Vincent Otti [BBC profiles]. In 2007, Otti was executed by rebels [BBC report], though official confirmation of his death was delayed until January amid fears that it would disrupt peace talks. Kony, who remains in hiding, is wanted for orchestrating the killing of thousands of civilians and the enslavement of thousands more children over two decades of conflict. The government has said that Kony is willing to face trial at home [JURIST report], but not at the ICC. A fifth arrest warrant was initially issued for Raska Lukwiya but was later withdrawn after a July 2007 ICC pre-trial chamber decision.

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