The International Criminal Court and the Lord's Resistance Army Leaders: Prosecution or Amnesty?

Hindrances to Third-Party Interventions in Conflict Resolution: United Nations and Patterns of Constraints in Resolving the Lord’s Resistance Army Conflict Between 2008-2012

“…Both political and military fronts that have been engaged by the UN through the UNSC have proven to provide deterrent effects and decreased the scope of LRA's operations throughout the years 2008-2012 (Quinn, 2009). The political fronts that focus on integrating interests and engaging UNOAU and UNOCA, as well as the military fronts by extending existing mandates of UN peacekeepers, namely BINUCA, UNMISS, and MONUSCO (Ssenyonjo, 2007b), shows the consistency of conflict management and resolution initiated by a third-party stakeholder. However, a number of hindrances have been identified, and argued as critical in order to further maximize resources and interventions in war-torn areas such as Central Africa.…”

“…Besides studies aimed to understand the organizational profile and systemic human rights violations perpetrated by the LRA, another group of academics has focused on how to utilize International judicial systems to bring justice to the perpetrators. The bulk of studies on this topic have focused on the bringing justice to LRA members through the International Criminal Court (ICC), and discussions on possible challenges faced (Akhavan, 2005) (Apuuli, 2004) (Apuuli, 2006) (Ssenyonjo, 2007a). Despite so, there has not been a consensus among academics, as to whether bringing justice would bring eternal good for former members or not.…”

Achieving Justice Through the International Criminal Court in Northern Uganda

“…The LRA/M was created by Joseph Kony in 1988, with aims to overthrow the Museveni regime and take control of the country (Apuuli, 2011). However, instead of spreading democracy the LRA/M participated in gross human rights violations as children were abducted for the purpose of staffing the army (boys) and sexual slavery (girls; Ssenyonjo, 2007). Furthermore, the LRA/M has been accused of using abducted children for labor, as well as human shields during conflict (Apuuli, 2011), and has been designated as a terrorist organization by the United States and government of Uganda (Ssenyonjo, 2007).…”

“…On one hand, the warrants helped to bring the LRA/M leaders to the negotiating table in 2006. Uganda was encouraged by the government of Southern Sudan (GOSS)-who had provided training and weaponry to the LRA/M-to negotiate in Southern Sudan's capital city of Juba for a peaceful settlement to the conflict (Ssenyonjo, 2007).…”

“…The act was a collaborative effort between the Ugandan government and the Acholi Religious Leaders Peace Initiative (ARLPI), a civil society group that advocated peace and reconciliation in Northern Uganda (Apuuli, 2011). Because of the peace negotiations and promise of amnesty, the Ugandan government became unwilling to assist in the capture and arrest of Kony and other LRA/M leaders, especially considering they were being told by LRA/M leadership that the indictments were the only impediments to peace (Ssenyonjo, 2007).…”