War crimes: The EU is backing the International Criminal Court's pursuit of the leaders of Uganda's Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) to stand trial for war crimes.
At a meeting of EU foreign ministers, Finland, the holder of the rotating EU presidency, supported the court's indictment of Joseph Kony and four of his lieutenants.
"In principle it is clear that anyone who is indicted by the International Criminal Court should stand trial. That is a very important principle," said Finnish foreign minister Erkki Tuomioja, referring to warrants issued against the LRA leaders, who are accused of killing thousands of Ugandans and forcing millions to flee.
On Saturday Uganda said it would offer Joseph Kony an amnesty and called on the international court to drop its charges to help cement a peace deal to end a 19-year civil war.
"One thing we are offering for sure is no prosecution for Kony," Uganda's president Yoweri Museveni said on Saturday.
"That should be a big relief for him, because Kony should be hanged for what he has done." Kony has warned that without an amnesty the LRA could end a truce agreed last Tuesday with the government.
However, there is concern in the international community that if the court drops its pursuit of Kony and the four other LRA war crimes suspects, it would undermine the credibility of the court based in The Hague.
Foreign Minister Dermot Ahern warned that the credibility of the court to indict other war crimes suspects, possibly in Sudan, would be jeopardised if it agreed a deal with Uganda to help broker a final peace settlement.
"Ireland is a strong supporter of the ICC . . . We consider it important that the indictments issued by the court in October 2005 against the five named LRA leaders [ one of whom is thought to have been killed recently] should be acted on," he said.
Last week, Britain said the latest peace moves in northern Uganda held great promise, but that resolving the court indictments was a "real problem".
Uganda is one of Ireland's biggest recipients of development aid, receiving some €32 million last year. The African country has been ravaged by a brutal civil war waged by the LRA under Kony, whose stated aim is to run Uganda according to the Ten Commandments. It is estimated that more than 10,000 children have been abducted, the girls used as sexual slaves and the boys brainwashed and forced to become child soldiers. Thousands have been mutilated and more than a million have fled.
Despite EU support for the International Criminal Court to pursue Kony, the court has no police force to enforce warrants and must rely on national governments to arrest suspects. Peace talks between the Ugandan government and the LRA continued at the weekend with Kampala setting a September 12th deadline for a final peace deal.