US Administration imposes new sanctions on Uganda’s Kony

August 28, 2008 (WASHINGTON) — The US administration on Thursday imposed new sanctions against the leader of northern Uganda rebels in reaction to his rejection to sign a peace deal since last April.

The Lord’s Resistance Army was already considered a terrorist group by the U.S., but there had been no sanctions applied to Joseph Kony, the chief of the rebel group that fighting against Kampala since 21 years.

Treasury Department added LRA chief Joseph Kony to its list of “specially designated global terrorists,” which carries financial and other penalties. However it is not sure that Kony, lives in the jungles of eastern Congo, has any assets that might be affected by the order.

Kony refuses to ink a comprehensive peace deal brokered by the southern Sudan government with the Ugandan government asking for the suspension of an arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Curt against him.

Kony and two of his top deputies are wanted by the ICC for war crimes including rape, murder and the abduction of children during their two-decade insurgency. Fearing arrest, they have never attended the long-running talks in Juba, instead staying hidden in the lawless wilderness of Garamba Forest in the north-eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.

Kony’s 22-year rebellion killed tens of thousands of people, uprooted 2 million more in northern Uganda and also destabilised neighbouring parts of southern Sudan and eastern Congo.

(ST)