Interpol issues red notice for Ugandan rebel leaders
June 3, 2006 (KAMPALA) — The International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol) issued “Red Notices” for the arrest of five Ugandan rebel commanders named in the International Criminal Court (ICC) arrest warrants, local media reported on Friday.
These notices are issued on behalf of the ICC, who delivered arrest warrants for the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) leader Joseph Kony and four of his senior commanders in 2005 for war crimes and crimes against humanity.
The LRA has been waging a war in northern Uganda for the last 20 years, which has left tens of thousands of people killed and over 1.4 million homeless.
A press statement quoted by New Vision daily on Friday from the ICC said the “Red Notices” include “a request to arrest and detain named individuals if found.” The notices will be transmitted to National Central Bureaus in 184 countries.
The Interpol Red Notice system is part of its global network of law enforcement agencies, created to assist in tracing and arresting internationally wanted fugitives.
The Red Notices were issued for the arrest of Kony, Vincent Otti, Okot Odhiambo, Raska Lukwiya and Dominic Ongwen, who were wanted for trial at the ICC for multiple counts of crimes against humanity and war crimes, including murder, abduction, sexual crimes and child conscription, according to the statement.
At a media briefing at the court’s headquarters in Hague, the Netherlands, on Wednesday, ICC Chief Prosecutor Luis Moreno said he hoped that the governments of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Sudan and Uganda would honor their commitments to help arrest Kony.
Kony, who has sent a message to Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni in May through Salva Kiir, Sudan’s vice president and president of Southern Sudan, said he wanted to resume peace talk with the Ugandan government.
Museveni in response gave an ultimatum of 60 days expiring on July 31 to Kony for him to end the rebellion peacefully.
Uganda’s parliament has passed a bill, which excluded Kony and his commanders from being eligible for amnesty in April, accusing them of persistently ignoring the government’s offer of peace talk.
(ST)