UN's Louise Arbour Calls Lord's Resistance Army a "Criminal Enterprise" With No Political Agenda

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at the UN

UNITED NATIONS, February 28 -- The Lord's Resistance Army is a "well-armed criminal enterprise" whose leaders should not escape trial on war crimes charges in the Hague, the UN's Louise Arbour said Wednesday. Responding to Inner City Press' request for her views on the LRA and their leaders' indictment by the International Criminal Court, Ms. Arbour expressed skepticism about peace negotiation with a group that she said does not have "any kind of political agenda."

            Ms. Arbour discouraged "romanticizing" the LRA as representing the political aspirations of Uganda's Acholi people, whom she said the LRA terrorized for the past 20 years. The ICC indictments of the LRA leadership, including Joseph Kony and Vincent Otti, should "take their course," and the negotiations should be about the terms of surrender to face trial. Video here, Minute 45:11 to end.

            Ms. Arbour said there "had been speculation" about if the ICC indictments were conducive or an impediment to peace. She noted that before the indictments, there had been no peace process to speak of. She dismissed the concept, advanced by some others in the UN system, of sequencing peace before justice. Justice without delay was her call.

Louise Arbour at the UN Wednesday

            Just before Ms. Arbour's press conference, the UN spokesperson referred to her a related question of impunity, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The spokesperson had announced that militia leader Peter Karim, who in mid-2006 killed two UN peacekeepers and held seven others hostage for a month, has now (again) agreed to disarm. The spokeswoman said Karim has turned in 170 fighters, of whom 42 were found by UNICEF to be children.

            Inner City Press asked if Mr. Karim had been paid to disarm, and more importantly, if his recruiting of child soldier was not a violation of international law. The spokesperson said, "You can ask Ms. Arbour." Video here, from Minute 13:08. From the transcript:

Inner City Press:  On the item you read on the Democratic Republic of Congo -- Peter Karim.  He had taken peacekeepers hostage last summer.  So I’m wondering, as a follow-up, about the arrangement for disarmament.  Number one, is it the UN’s understanding that he’s going to be put into the Congolese Army?  Was he given money to disarm and what’s going to happen on this child soldier issue?  If, as you said, he clearly recruited child soldiers, isn’t that a crime under international law?

Spokesperson:  Well, as you know, the judicial process is a separate process.  In terms of his status, I know that he has been integrated as an officer in the Congolese Army.  What will happen on the judicial front, you will be able to ask Ms. Arbour that when she comes.

Inner City Press:  There’s a story in today’s New York Times about reform that says, among other things, for those 12 mobility posts that were advertised in the UN system at large, there have been 1,200 applications for it.  I thought Mr. Nambiar had said 500 -- have more…?

Spokesperson:  More have come in.

Inner City Press:   Because I think there was a deadline.

Spokesperson:  But there were people applying from outside Headquarters also.

Inner City Press:   And of the three that are signing the declaration on Friday, do you know if any of them are going to make their financial disclosure public?

Spokesperson:  I don’t know.  I don’t know at this point.  As soon as they are public, I’ll let you know also.

            With Ms. Arbour, time allowed for only one question, which was devoted to the Lord's Resistance Army and the ICC indictments. A UN spokeswoman accompanying Ms. Arbour said to email her the additional question, for Ms. Arbour's comment.

            Inner City Press posed in writing this question:

"In light of today's announcement by the UN's mission in the DRC, that apparently decommissioning militia leader Peter Karim's 170 soldiers included 42 child soldiers, why is this not a violation of international law? Should the UN be participating in a 'DDR' process in which a now-confirmed recruiter and user of child soldiers is formally being offered a post in the Congolese army?"

            The spokeswoman who has accompanied Ms. Arbour replied that SRSG Ms. Coomaraswamy would "be the right UN official to direct this question to." Inner City Press sent the same question to Ms. Coomaraswamy's spokeswoman and awaits a response.  Meanwhile, Inner City Press is informed that the UN Department of Peacekeeping Affairs has expressed a concern, to Ms. Arbour, that some disarming child soldiers are in fact being integrated into the Congolese army. Developing...

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At the UN, Lords' Resistance Army Closer to Council Agenda, No Ban Comment on Mugabe

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at the UN: News Analysis

UNITED NATIONS, February 21 -- For months, the UN Security Council has gone silent about the conflict in Northern Uganda, between the Musevini government and the Lords' Resistance Army, known for kidnapping children and in some cases making them kill their parents and neighbors. This month's Council president, Slovakia's Peter Burian, on Wednesday indicated that he will be requesting a Council briefing on the LRA "in the near future."

            "You and I spoke yesterday on this," he told Inner City Press (click here for video of that exchange), "and thanks to Slovakia and other countries, attention in the Council to LRA has increased in past year." Diplomatic sources have told Inner City Press that there is resistance amid the Permanent Five members of the Security Council to address the Lords' Resistance Army issues. China and Russia have been named, on the same sovereignty logic that led the two to cast vetoes on the issues of Myanmar.

            Ambassador Burian noted that Jan "Egeland was most involved in the negotiations" with the LRA, but that "there has been a change in that position," as head of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Video here, from Minute 29:09. Inner City Press has asked the incoming head of OCHA, John Holmes, about the LRA issue, but his answer was deemed entirely off the record. Soon, March 1, he will take up the position, and answer questions publicly.

Egeland in Juba

            It is reported that the LRA leaders who have been indicted by the International Criminal Court, Joseph Kony and Vincent Otti among them, have now crossed into the Central African Republic. So the peace talks have broken down.

            The next step appears to be a briefing to the Council about the LRA by the UN Secretariat. Kofi Annan's appointed envoy, Joaquim Chisano, has not publicly been heard from. Will he providing a briefing in New York, in the five remaining working days of Slovakia's Council presidency? We'll see.

            At the Secretariat's noon briefing, Inner City Press asked for Ban Ki-moon's position on Zimbabwe, where the Robert Mugabe government has just announced a ban on public protests and gatherings for at least the next three months. The spokesperson described Africa as a "priority" for Mr. Ban, but not much more detail than that.  Another reporter followed up, "So he has no position on Zimbabwe?" We'll see.

Lord's Resistance Army in Sights of UN Security Council President, for Action on War Crimes

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at the UN

UNITED NATIONS, February 2 -- "Concrete action against the Lord's Resistance Army" in Uganda was called for Friday by the president of the UN Security Council for February. Slovakia's Ambassador Peter Burian told Inner City Press that he and other Council members were told to hold off on criticism when the UN's Jan Egeland met with LRA leaders in late 2006, "because the situation was fragile." Now Amb. Burian questions whether the LRA leadership's strategy is to make small concessions to continue to forestall a move to enforce the outstanding war crimes indictments issued by the International Criminal Court.

            Amb. Burian was on the Security Council trip to Southern Sudan when the talks between the LRA and Uganda's Museveni government began. "We were told, don't say much, it has only just started," said Amb. Burian. A reporter who accompanied the Council on that trip recalls waiting for an okay from the government of South Sudan to interview the LRA leaders, which permission never came. Since then, the LRA has conducted something of a public relations campaign. Amb. Burian expressed frustration Friday at the lack of fight-back or rebuttal.

            At a UN press conference Friday, Inner City Press asked Amb. Burian if he will add Uganda and the LRA on the Council's agenda this month. "It's a good point," he responded. "It has been a while since the Council has discussed it, probably we need to revisit recent developments. We may put the question in our national capacity... action against the LRA and on using child soldiers and disrupting the region's peace and security." Video here, from Minute 36:54.

Amb. Burrian

            The talks in Juba in Southern Sudan between the LRA and Uganda's Museveni government have broken down, with the LRA seeking to transfer negotiations to Kenya or South Africa. U.S. State Department spokesman Scott McCormack on Friday said that "We are concerned that demands to change the mediator and venue of the talks will only delay peace in the region and further the suffering of displaced northern Ugandans."

            Slovakia, a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council, is also concerned with northern Uganda, a staffer of Amb. Burian told Inner City Press. "Often the UK has been in the lead on this issue," he said. But the UK is seen as speaking for Ugandan president Yoweri Museveni, whose has been less than clear on whether the ICC warrants should be enforced. Slovakia, said the staffer, does not have this conflict of interest. "We can fight for the suffering people everywhere," he said. [Click here for  Inner City Press' coverage of violent disarmament in Uganda's Karamoja region.]

            Earlier in the week, Inner City Press asked Charles Rapp, who is prosecuting Liberia's Charles Taylor, for his views on the LRA. Mr. Rapp too said that justice should not be sold out for a peace that might well be illusory. Now with Jan Egeland rumored to be on the verge of obtaining another UN post, this balance between peace and justice should be spoken on and clearly.  Justice Richard Goldstone told Inner City Press last year that before the UN talks with the leaders of the LRA, the Security Council should formally put the ICC indictments on hold. There are now 27 days in which Amb. Burian has to act, and/or be asked these questions. We'll see.

Other Inner City Press reports are available in the ProQuest service and some are archived on www.InnerCityPress.com --

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Post-Tsunami Human Rights Abuses, including by UNDP in the Maldives

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Other Inner City Press reports are available in the ProQuest service and some are archived on www.InnerCityPress.com --

            Copyright 2006 Inner City Press, Inc. To request reprint or other permission, e-contact Editorial [at] innercitypress.com - phone: (718) 716-3540