GET ME INTO THAT COURT ROOM! THIS WOULD BE THE EASIEST CASE I GET DISMISSED IN MY LIFE. Wapi - do not get carried away, I am not a lawyer. So many many people have suffered and died and we are making this a circus? Where are the monkeys? This is a very long article. I have only posted the first two pages of it. OH OH OH, please brace yourselves. ------------------------- A Number of politicians and former abductees in Northern Uganda are falling over themselves to travel to the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague to give evidence in the case of former Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) commander Dominic Ongwen who has been handled over to the ICC after handing himself over in the Central African Republic early this year. Addressing a press conference here in Kampala, the Chairperson of the Acholi Parliamentary group and Member of Parliament representing the Forum for Democratic Change in Aswa County, Gulu District, Mr Reagan Okumu confirmed that the people of Northern Uganda are now lining up witnesses to testify both for and against Gen Ongwen, himself a former abductee. The witnesses being lined up shall include, Titus Obari and his wife who is now a councillor and once LRA abductees, Ombakatira and Atima Ngom who was a formal wife to Ongwen. Okumu who was a member of the presidential team tasked with helping bring peace to Northern Uganda and was among the arbiters of the 19 year long rebellion in the Northern parts of the country, was involved in the negotiations between the LRA and government to put an end to the war in 2007 in the Juba peace deals whose results are up to date unknown. He revealed that a group of legal experts have been lined up to ensure that Ongwen gets justice. He pointed out that the surrendering of Ongwen is a blessing to the people of Acholi and Lango sub-regions as a lot of lies had been fade to Ugandans including the ICC. “Ongwen is now in the hands of the ICC. No doubt about that, no dispute at all. Now what we wait for is the future date to see when he is to appear before the ICC,” Okumu said. He reiterated that people have always wanted to know what happened to its people and want to know their future He said all this is now in the hands of the ICC. “Ongwen’s prosecution in this court is a blessing in disguise,” he added. He disclosed that his people have evidence that government committed atrocities in the war and pledged to produce a publication containing all evidence soon. “Data set to be published has names, dates, places and time, where and when the atrocities were committed .We have collected data right from Soroti up to the Acholi sub-region, the balance sheet of crimes at 50-50 between 1986 to 1993, when over 90 per cent of the deaths committed was done by government forces and between 1994 to 2006 when atrocities were committed as revenge when Betty Bigombe (a former state minister for Northern Uganda) organized over 12,000 arrow groups that led to mass killings,” he claimed. When asked why they continue pursuing the past and whether it will not deter the ongoing developments in the region, Okumu satirically assured the media that the future of Northern Uganda lies in the old debate. “The old debate is what shapes the future; it continues to be relevant as the government has not yet addressed the issue of northern Uganda. The ICC has been in the issue of Northern Uganda since 1997 but nothing in terms of facts is provided to the people in the North”. He further reminded the media that the ICC was invited by government therefore a serious investigation is needed, observing that it is in a dilemma as it was constituted after 1998 when it was set up. He wondered what would happen to the period before 1998 when more of the atrocities were committed. He added that according to available data, the balance sheet changed over 90 per cent during the period from 1994 to 2002, showing that people were killed by rebels reacting to the anti LRA attacks that led to people being ‘cut-throated’ (beheaded) and shot to death. “There are mass graves for government forces at Namukoora, Bucholwo, Padibe, Acholi Burr, Paweri; mass graves by the NRA (National Resistance Army which is now the Uganda Peoples defence Forces) where people were just throated, shot and killed and buried and you find mass graves at Lukudu, Atiyak, Balonyo, and Teso regions, the result of LRA killings,” he noted. The MP went on to say that this was now a critical moment for safeguarding speeches in case people’s wounds could be healed. “I have recordings of President Yoweri Museveni publically saying ‘we massacred them; they will no longer support the rebels; we taught them a lesson in, Kona Kilak and Awaki; they will never do it again they will never support them again,’” Okumu said. He recalled events of “Operation North” that was headed by the then Minister of State for Defense General David Tinyefunza in 1993, saying it was the worst anarchy for the people in Northern Uganda. “They had to cut off Northern Uganda from Karuma and many people were being killed, the Catholic Church that had its communication gadgets confiscated and the army was everything, Okumu claimed. He said that Tinyefunza had then become ‘semi-god, the judge and everything as he was so powerful. It was a disaster only stopped by the ICC because it was abusing the rules of engagement during war.” Please read more at thelondoneveningpost/ugandans-raring-to-give-evidence-for-and-against-lras-ongwen/2/
Posted on: Fri, 23 Jan 2015 22:11:27 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015