04 Jun 2008: ISS Seminar, Pretoria: The Political-Legal Dilemma and the ICC in the Northern Ugandan Conflict: What is the Way Out?

ISS Seminar: The Political-Legal Dilemma and the ICC in the Northern Ugandan Conflict: What is the Way Out?

Pretoria, 4 June 2008

 

Presented by the African Security Analysis Programme (ASAP)

 

Presenters: Ms Sandra Oder, Senior Researcher, Training for Peace Programme; Mr Issaka K. Souaré, Researcher, African Security Analysis Programme; Mr Godfrey Musila, Senior Researcher, International Crime in Africa Programme

 

For more than two decades, the rebel Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) has allegedly committed some of the most appalling human rights violations against the civilian populations in Northern Uganda. On its part, the Ugandan government has been unable to defeat the rebel movement and effectively protect the civilian populations from the atrocities. At the request of Kampala, the International Criminal Court (ICC) in 2005 issued arrest warrants for the top five leaders of the movement. A peace process started in the meantime. Now the involvement of the ICC is seen by many as the ‘the main stumbling block’ to the peace process in the country, as the LRA leadership are insisting on the annulment of their indictments by the court before they sign a definitive peace accord. Yet, innocent civilians are paying the price for the deadlock.

 

This seminar aims to look at the complexities of the issue, by putting it in its historical context, looking at the various causal arguments of the conflict, the peace process so far, and various legal and moral implications of the current state of affairs.

 

Venue: ISS Conference Room, Block C, Brooklyn Court, 361 Veale Street, New Muckleneuk
(Parking in Brooklyn Mall and ABSA court)

 

Time: 10h00 (tea and coffee);
10h30 (seminar starts);
12h30 (seminar ends)

 

RSVP: Ms Nonhlanhla Baloyi; Fax: (012) 460 0997; Tel: (012) 346 9500; Email: [email protected]