ICC headquarters in The Hague.©Olivier Nyirubugara.
THE HAGUE, 31 May 2006: The International Criminal Court (ICC) will hold the confirmation hearing in the case against Thomas Lubanga on 28 September 2006, three month later than the initial date due to combats currently opposing armed militiamen to government and UN peace keepers in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) district of Ituri, ICC chief prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo has said.
“I have requested this postponement because of violence resurgence in Ituri which poses the problem of the protection of witnesses”, Moreno-Ocampo said on Wednesday during a media briefing at the ICC headquarters in The Hague. He said that his office needed to ensure that witnesses would not expose themselves by giving their testimonies.
“Witnesses and victims are part of the trial; they have a role to play and that is why we have to protect them”, Moreno-Ocampo said, without disclosing how his office was intending to organise this protection.
Lubanga is the leader of the primarily ethnic Hema Union des Patriotes Congolais (UPC), and has been in the ICC jail in The Hague since March. He faces war crimes charges including enlisting and conscripting children under fifteen and actively using them in hostilities. The procedural phase was initially set to end with a confirmation hearing on 27 June.
The ongoing combats started on Sunday when the Congolese army, supported by UN peacekeepers (MONUC), launched Operation Ituri Element III in an attempt to disarm militia loyal to the Front des Nationalistes et Intégrationnistes (FNI), another ethnic Lendu rebel movement, rival to Lubanga’s UPC.
“We are investigating all the groups in Ituri but we are not yet ready for a second arrest warrant”, Moreno-Ocampo said.
Concerning Joseph Kony the leader of Uganda’s Lord Resistance Army (LRA) now based in north eastern DRC, Moreno-Ocampo said he was confident that the DRC, Uganda and Sudan would honour their commitment to contribute to his arrest and that of four of his aides. Kony, who faces an arrest warrant unsealed in October 2005, has been reported to have accepted to talk peace with Ugandan authorities. He said this in early May to a southern Sudanese senior official during a meeting. Refusing to further comment on this meeting, Moreno-Ocampo said this meeting could not be interpreted as a sign that Sudan will not cooperate in arresting Kony. In 2005, Sudan signed an agreement with Moreno-Ocampo’s office to implement the arrest warrants. LRA’s leaders are charged with crimes against humanity and war crimes.
“We are investigating all the groups in Ituri but we are not yet ready for a second arrest warrant”, Moreno-Ocampo said.
Concerning Joseph Kony the leader of Uganda’s Lord Resistance Army (LRA) now based in north eastern DRC, Moreno-Ocampo said he was confident that the DRC, Uganda and Sudan would honour their commitment to contribute to his arrest and that of four of his aides. Kony, who faces an arrest warrant unsealed in October 2005, has been reported to have accepted to talk peace with Ugandan authorities. He said this in early May to a southern Sudanese senior official during a meeting. Refusing to further comment on this meeting, Moreno-Ocampo said this meeting could not be interpreted as a sign that Sudan will not cooperate in arresting Kony. In 2005, Sudan signed an agreement with Moreno-Ocampo’s office to implement the arrest warrants. LRA’s leaders are charged with crimes against humanity and war crimes.
“I am happy that the arrest warrants are producing positive changes as violence in northern Uganda has drastically diminished”, Moreno-Ocampo said, expressing however his fear that Kony could reorganise his fighters at any time.
Discussing the situation in the war-devastated Darfur region in neighbouring Sudan, Moreno-Ocampo said a 32-man strong team including people from different background was investigating war crimes from the capital Khartoum and 14 other countries.
“At this moment no one can investigate in Darfur without exposing witnesses”, Moreno-Ocampo said. Reacting to the harsh criticism of Dutch international cooperation minister Agnes van Ardenne that the ICC’s work in Darfur was disappointing as the investigation phase was taking too long, Moreno-Ocampo said: “I understand that disappointment but as a prosecutor, I have to be patient and go on with collecting evidence”.
Addressing the application filed by the Central African Republic against its former president Ange Felix Patasse, DRC vice president and presidential candidate Jean Pierre Bemba, Ocampo-Moreno said he was still monitoring the situation.
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