Uganda on Thursday welcomed news that the chief prosecutor of the new International Criminal Court (ICC) is to look into allegations of war crimes in Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), and urged that the perpetrators ”be brought to justice”.
”Uganda welcomes the effort. We always wanted these acts investigated and violators brought to book. If he has good reasons, we are ready to cooperate and help him in these investigations, whether the allegations are levelled against us or not,” Defence Minister Amama Mbabazi said.
Rights groups, including Human Rights Watch (HRW), have in the past accused the Ugandan military during their deployment in the DRC’s north-east Ituri region of committing atrocities there, including the murder of six International Committee of the Red Cross workers.
But Mbabazi dismissed the charges, saying HRW was ”not a serious group”, as it had not talked to the Ugandan government to get its side of the story.
”I don’t take that HRW seriously. If it was a responsible actor, it should have consulted us to help them write a balanced report, instead of making conclusions based on one-sided presentation,” he said.
Uganda was also earlier accused of profiting from the region’s natural resources, a charge the Kampala government has denied, although a judicial commission of inquiry later set up by Kampala pinned some senior military officials to the racket, resulting in the dismissal of some of them, notably former Army boss Major General James Kazini.
HRW earlier this month urged both Rwanda and Uganda to stop arming Ituri rebel groups, all of which used children in their ranks, and alleged that the combatants were armed and often directed by the governments of DRC, Rwanda and Uganda.
The HRW report charged that Ituri combatants tortured and summarily executed political opponents and raped women of rival ethnic groups, and engaged in such acts as mutilation and cannibalism.
The ICC court in The Hague, mandated to try genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity but only if the events occurred after July 1 2002, will handle atrocities in the DRC as its first case since it was set up a year ago.
So far over 90 states have ratified the ICC statute, with the notable exception being the United States. – Sapa-AFP