ICC chief arrives today

International Criminal Court Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda will also meet government officials. PHOTO BY AGENCIES

What you need to know:

She will also hold talks with government officials, parliamentarians, judicial officials, lawyers, before addressing a press conference at Sheraton Hotel in Kampala.

KAMPALA- The Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC), Ms Fatou Bensouda, is expected to arrive in Kampala today for a five-day official visit.

Ms Bensouda will visit areas affected by the two-decade Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) insurgency in Gulu, Lira and Soroti districts.
She will also hold talks with government officials, parliamentarians, judicial officials, lawyers, before addressing a press conference at Sheraton Hotel in Kampala.

Gulu was the epicenter of the two-decade atrocious LRA rebellion. During the war that spanned from 1987 to 2006, crimes against humanity, which are a subject of litigation before the world court, were committed.
There were massacres, abductions, torching of huts, ransacking villages, maiming of residents, enslaving of girls and conscription of boys.

The UN OCHA estimates that 1.3 million people were displaced during the rebellion while hundreds were killed.
The ICC coordinator for Eastern and Central Africa, Ms Maria Kamara, confirmed the visit.

“The purpose of the visit of the Prosecutor is to provide updates on the activities of her office, in particular in relation to the case of Mr Dominic Ongwen, and discuss issues of mutual interests,” Ms Kamara said.

The Minister of International Relations, Mr Henry Okello Oryem, disclosed that Ms Bensouda’s visit is part of the agreement government made to fully cooperate with the ICC in the prosecution of the indicted LRA commanders.

“We agreed as Uganda that we shall cooperate with the ICC so that the prosecution is successful. Government is a witness in the case,” Mr Oryem said.

The minister said the ICC chief is here to acquaint herself with more background of the war that devastated the North, with its unique cases of victims turned aggressors.

“Ongwen’s is a unique case. He was an innocent child who was abducted (before he rose to the position of commander in the LRA where he was accused of committing crimes),” Mr Oryem said.

“She wants to understand these unique scenarios.”
Ms Bensouda will hold talks with President Museveni, Prime Minister Ruhakana Rugunda; the Attorney General Peter Nyombi; the Minister of Justice Gen Kahinda Otafiire and the Director of Public Prosecutions, Mr Mike Chibita.

The ICC Prosecutor will also meet a selected group of MPs Musa Ecweru, Reagan Okumu, Abdu Katuntu and Cecilia Ogwal. Mr Ecweru was one of the commanders of the Uganda People’s Army, which fought in an insurgency in Teso.

Background
In December 2003, President Museveni referred the LRA situation to the then ICC Prosecutor Luis Moreno Ocampo. In January 2004, the President and Mr Ocampo addressed a joint press conference at International Hotel, Hyde Park London on how Uganda would cooperate with the ICC to lead to the arrest the leadership of the LRA led by Joseph Kony.

Subsequently, in October 2005, the ICC issued arrest warrants for five senior LRA commanders Joseph Kony, Vincent Otti (deputy), Okot Odhiambo, Raska Lukwiya and Dominic Ongwen.

Ongwen surrenders
Of the five indictees, it’s only Kony who is believed to be still alive, marauding between the thick forests of the DRC and Central Africa Republic and desert of Sudan.

Ongwen surrendered early this year in Central Africa Republic to US Special Forces who handed him to the UPDF. He was later transferred to The Hague where charges for war crimes were read out to him last month.

He takes plea in October. Otti was reportedly killed by Kony while Okot Odhiambo is said to have died in the crossfire in the jungles. Lukwiya was confirmed dead in 2007.

Ms Bensouda is the third top official of the ICC to visit Uganda. In July 2009, her predecessor, Ocampo, visited Uganda and held closed talks with President Museveni. In January 2010, the President of the State Parties to the ICC, Christian Wenaweser also visited. She was here to discuss preparations for the review conference that was due in May that year.

Profile
Elected: The Assembly of State Parties on December 12, 2011 elected by consensus Ms Bensouda as ICC Prosecutor of the ICC. The Gambian had previously held the position of Deputy Prosecutor (Prosecutions) between August 2004 and May 2012.

Previous work: Prior to her work at the ICC, Ms Bensouda worked as legal advisor and Trial Attorney at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, in Arusha that was set up to try cases committed during the 1994 genocide in Rwanda.

While there she rose to the level of head of Legal Advisory Unit.

Between 1987 and 2000, she served as Senior State Counsel, Principal State Counsel, Director of Public Prosecutions, Solicitor General, Legal Secretary of the Republic, and Attorney General and Minister of Justice making her the Chief Legal Advisor to the President of the Republic of Gambia.

Besides serving ECOWAS, OAU, and being a delegate to the UN, Ms Bensouda was Gambia’s representative to the preparatory commission for the formation of the ICC.

She holds a Master’s degree in International Maritime law and law of the sea.