Captured Ugandan Lord’s Resistance Army rebel chief Dominic Ongwen will be sent to the International Criminal Court to face charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity, Uganda’s military and the United States said Tuesday.
Ongwen, who is in custody of US special forces after surrendering in the Central African Republic last week, has been sought by the ICC for almost a decade to face charges including murder, enslavement, inhumane acts and directing attacks against civilians.
“Finally it has been decided, Dominic Ongwen will be tried at the ICC in The Hague,” Ugandan army spokesman Paddy Ankunda said, ending speculation that Kampala might seek to put the ex-rebel on trial in its own court.
“Ongwen will be conveyed to The Hague by CAR authorities… in consultation with the relevant bodies,” Ankunda said, adding he would be transferred “hopefully very soon,” without giving further details.
In Washington, State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf confirmed Ongwen will be turned over to the African Union Regional Task Force, and then transferred to the ICC in the Hague.
“The United States understands that the governments of CAR and Uganda have consulted and are in agreement that Ongwen will then be transferred to ICC to face justice for his alleged crimes,” Harf said.
Earlier in the day the Pentagon said Ongwen was initially delivered to US forces after surrendering to “a third party” that claimed to be rebels from the Muslim Seleka movement, spokesman Colonel Steven Warren told reporters.
A former child soldier himself, Ongwen was a senior aide to LRA leader and warlord Joseph Kony.
Ongwen, who is in his mid-30s, is accused of directing bloody campaigns in northern Uganda in the early 2000s, where thousands of people were killed or abducted to be used as child soldiers or sex slaves. Other abductees were deployed to carry out attacks on civilians in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
ICC spokesman Fadi El Abdallah told AFP the court welcomed “all cooperation” that led to wanted suspects being brought to trial.
‘Punishment raids’
Known as the “White Ant”, Ongwen’s troops excelled in punishment raids, which involved slicing off the lips and ears of victims as grim calling cards.
The US State Department accused him of “murder, enslavement and cruel treatment of civilians,” and offered a $5 million bounty for information leading to his capture.
Long driven out of Uganda, small bands of LRA fighters now roam forest regions of CAR, DR Congo, Sudan and South Sudan.
Uganda is leading an African Union mission, backed by US special forces, to hunt down top LRA commanders.
On Monday, Uganda’s NTV television station broadcast an audio interview with a man they said was Ongwen, appealing to remaining fighters to surrender.
He said he fled because Kony had wanted to kill him, telling comrades he “only wants to be chief and for you to work for him like a slave”.
ICC arrest warrants were issued for five LRA commanders, but after Ongwen’s capture and the killing of other movement leaders, only Joseph Kony and Okot Odhiambo remain at large. Uganda has said Odhiambo may also have been killed.
AFP