Ugandan army says troops kill wanted rebel
Aug 13, 2006 (NAIROBI) — Uganda’s military said on Sunday it had killed a senior northern rebel wanted for war crimes by the International Criminal Court in The Hague.
Raska Lukwiya was one of five commanders from the elusive Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) named by the new world court in its first arrest warrants in October.
“We got him yesterday in Kitgum district after he staged an ambush on Friday night. Lukwiya is dead,” a Ugandan army spokesman said by telephone. He said the body had been identified by former rebels.
Experts were cautious, saying the Ugandan military has often claimed to have killed top LRA fighters who are later found alive. In October, it said another court target, Dominic Ongwen, had been killed in northern Uganda.
Last month, the ICC said Ongwen was alive and trying to join LRA chief Joseph Kony in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.
The court has charged Lukwiya with four counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity including enslavement, attacking civilians and pillaging.
An Interpol “red notice” for his arrest issued in June includes a rare, grainy photograph of the middle-aged commander wearing a camouflage uniform and green beret.
The army said Lukwiya’s fighters launched at least three raids on Friday on camps for villagers displaced by the fighting in northern Uganda, aimed at looting food and other supplies.
“We have a duty to protect ourselves while also defending the civilian population,” the army spokesman said.
Peace talks between Ugandan negotiators and LRA representatives in neighbouring southern Sudan were adjourned at the weekend after the sides failed to agree ceasefire terms.
The LRA declared a unilateral cessation of hostilities last week, then refused to attend any more negotiations in south Sudan’s capital Juba unless Uganda’s government followed suit.
Kampala says it will only sign a ceasefire as part of a final peace deal, accusing the rebels — who are notorious for massacring civilians, abducting children and mutilating survivors — of using previous truces to regroup and rearm.
Southern Sudan’s regional government says it wants to broker an end to the LRA’s 20-year war, which has uprooted up to two million people in northern Uganda and destabilised south Sudan.
(Reuters)