Arusha, November 21, 2013 (FH) \u2013 Authorities in the Central African Republic have been in contact with Lords Resistance Army leader Joseph Kony over a possible surrender, according to media reports. Kony is wanted by the International Criminal Court for crimes against humanity and war crimes.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
A CAR government spokesman told the BBC that Kony was in the country but wanted his security to be guaranteed before giving himself up, according to a BBC report Wednesday.<\/p>\n
The United Nations and the African Union confirmed the CAR has been in contact with Kony and his LRA fighters to urge them to surrender, Reuters reported, but Kony's whereabouts are still unknown.<\/p>\n
Reuters quoted the AU's special envoy on the LRA, Francisco Madeira, as telling the UN Security Council Kony was under heightened pressure from an AU and US taskforce that is tracking him, and might be just trying \u201chis time-tested tricks of buying time by duping the CAR authorities into negotiations\".<\/p>\n
Meanwhile Radio France Internationale reported that thousands of LRA fighters and their families are in the Haute Kotto prefecture of southeast CAR, not far from Bangassou. RFI said contacts between CAR authorities and Kony started in August, with Kony looking for amnesty and land for him and his men in the CAR. Various reports also say Kony is seriously ill.<\/p>\n
The CAR has been virtually lawless since a coup in March.<\/p>\n
Ugandan Kony has been wanted by the ICC since 2005, for twelve counts of crimes against humanity and 21 counts of war crimes committed in his native Uganda. Three of his commanders, Okot Odhiambo, Dominic Ongwen and Vincent Otti are also wanted by the ICC (although Otti has been reported dead).<\/p>\n
In recent years the LRA has been terrorizing civilians in parts of the Democratic Republic of Congo, South Sudan and the CAR.<\/p>\n
ER\/ JC<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Arusha, November 21, 2013 (FH) \u2013 Authorities in the Central African Republic have been in contact with Lords Resistance Army leader Joseph Kony over a possible surrender, according to media reports. Kony is wanted by the International Criminal Court for crimes against humanity and war crimes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":64,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[555],"tags":[],"ji_location":[],"class_list":["post-24812","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-hirondellenews"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n