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Ugandan victims request local justice

Ugandan President Yoweri Mu-seveni said rebels due to stand trial at the International Criminal Court (ICC) for rape, mutilation and murder will instead face justice in Uganda at the request of their victims.

Museveni said on Tuesday that his government had agreed that members of the Lord's Resistance Army will be dealt with under domestic law, but denied that the deal was key to ending the 20-year insurgency in northern Uganda.

Joseph Kony, and four other top Lord's Resistance Army leaders have been indicted by the ICC in The Hague, Netherlands, on atrocities charges.

The rebel army's fighters are notorious for cutting off the tongues and lips of civilians and abducting thousands of children, turning the girls into sex slaves and the boys into fighters.

In an interview in London, Museveni said communities that suffered at the hands of the Lord's Resistance Army had requested that they face prosecution in Uganda.

He said rebels will be prosecuted under a system of traditional justice.

Other Ugandan officials have said those charged with serious crimes would be dealt with by a special unit at Uganda's High Court, and that only those accused of lesser crimes would be judged according to northern Uganda's traditional justice system, known as Mato Put.

Mato Put, which is not part of Uganda's formal legal system, is a style of mediation that involves a public apology from the offender, who must also give a payment set by local elders -- often in cattle or sheep -- to the victims, or bereaved. In return, victims agree to forgive the accused.

Some human-rights groups condemn such punishment as too lenient.

Museveni said rebels who had previously hidden in the Democratic Republic of Congo, including Kony, will face traditional justice.

"That is what we have agreed at the request of the local community. They have been mainly tormenting people in one area and it is that community which asked us to use traditional justice," Museveni said.

"What we have agreed with our people is that they should face traditional justice, which is more compensatory than a retributive system," he said.

He rejected suggestions the international community would be concerned if the Lord's Resistance Army leaders are not handed over to the ICC, saying other nations should respect the wishes of local communities.

"If that's what the community wants, then why would we insist" on a trial in the Hague, Museveni asked. "We had quite a number of these people asking us to use this method, rather than the present judicial system, which is more retributive."

Museveni also said Uganda will not host any permanent US military base as part of the new US military command for Africa.

US President George W. Bush said the US is expected to eventually establish a new African base.

"It would be difficult for us to host a base for anybody," Museveni said. "The only thing you can do is short term cooperation ... in case they are engaged in helping Africans."
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