8.01.15 - ICC/UGANDA – UGANDAN REBEL DOMINIC ONGWEN SHOULD BE SENT TO ICC, SAYS AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL

Arusha, 8 January 2015 (FH) – Amnesty International has called for Ugandan LRA rebel commander Dominic Ongwen, currently held by US military in Africa, to be quickly handed over to the International Criminal Court (ICC).

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Ongwen is under an ICC arrest warrant issued in 2005 for crimes against humanity and war crimes committed in northern Uganda. 

“Following reports that Dominic Ongwen has surrendered to US forces, Amnesty International is calling for his immediate transfer to the International Criminal Court (ICC) to face trial,” the organization said in a statement Wednesday.

“The people of northern Uganda have waited almost 10 years for the warrants issued by the ICC against leaders of the Lord’s Resistance Army to be executed,” it said.

Also under ICC arrest warrants are LRA leader Joseph Kony and his other top commanders Vincent Otti and Okot Odhiambo.

Ongwen is said to have been taken by the LRA at age 10 as he was going to school. He later climbed rapidly up the ranks of the armed group.

According to reports that have not been confirmed by either Uganda or the ICC, Vincent Otti was killed in 2007 on Kony’s orders and Okot died at the end of 2013 in clashes between the LRA and the Ugandan army in the Central African Republic (CAR).

US forces have been supporting regional African forces since 2011 in their drive to capture Kony and transfer him to the ICC.

The LRA has also been active in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the CAR and South Sudan for several years. 

ER/JC