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."
A museum in southern French city Marseille is inviting visitors to discover Europe’s relationship to the naturist lifestyle by wandering its halls in the nude. “It’s not every day you get to walk around a museum naked,” said Julie Guegnolle, 38, who was celebrating her birthday at the “Naturist Paradises” exhibition in the Museum of Civilizations of Europe and the Mediterranean (Mucem). Once a month, visitors to Mucem can explore the history of naturism in Europe in only their shoes — a precaution not for modesty’s sake but simply to “avoid getting splinters,” said Eric Stefanut, head of French naturist organization
SPIRITUAL COUPLE: Martha Louise has said she can talk with angels, while her husband, Durek Verrett, claims that he communicates with a broad range of spirits Social media influencers, reality stars and TV personalities were among the guests as the Norwegian king’s eldest child, Princess Martha Louise, married a self-professed US shaman on Saturday in a wedding ceremony following three days of festivities. The 52-year-old Martha Louise and Durek Verrett, who claims to be a sixth-generation shaman from California, tied the knot in the picturesque small town of Geiranger, one of Norway’s major tourist attractions located on a fjord with stunning views. Following festivities that started on Thursday, the actual wedding ceremony took place in a large white tent set up on a lush lawn. Guests
Four days after last scanning in for work, a 60-year-old office worker in Arizona was found dead in a cubicle at her workplace, having never left the building during that time, authorities said. Denise Prudhomme, who worked at a Wells Fargo corporate office, was found dead in a third-floor cubicle on Aug. 20, Tempe police said. She had last scanned into the building on Aug. 16 at 7am, police said. There was no indication she scanned out of the building after that. Prudhomme worked in an underpopulated area of the building. Her cause of death had not been determined, but police said the preliminary
‘DISCONNECTED’: Politics is one factor driving news avoidance, a professor said, adding that people who do not trust the government are more likely to tune it out Hannah Wong cried when the Hong Kong government effectively forced the territory’s Apple Daily and Stand News out of business three years ago. Among the last news firms in the territory willing to criticize the government openly, many saw their end as a sign that the old Hong Kong was gone for good. Today, the 35-year-old makeup artist says she has gone from reading the news every day to reducing her intake drastically to protect herself from despair. Four years into a crackdown on dissent that has swept up democracy-leaning journalists, rights advocates and politicians in the territory, a lot of people