Mick Hartley

The top five leaders of Uganda’s Lord’s Resistance Army have been indicted as war criminals by the International Criminal Court.

The LRA is accused of widespread murder and torture during nearly 20 years of fighting against the army. They have kidnapped thousands of children.

Human Rights Watch welcomed the move as an “historic development”.

“It stamps the accused… as indicted war criminals by an international court. That has not happened before,” International Justice Programme director Richard Dicker said.

Not everybody’s pleased:

The Roman Catholic Church in Uganda has warned that the warrants jeopardise efforts to mediate an end the rebel insurgency.

Many northern Ugandans had hoped negotiations would solve the conflict, in which thousands have been killed and 1.5 million people forced from their homes.

But, sadly, these aren’t reasonable people:

The LRA are known for abducting young children, to become fighters or sex slaves.

Human rights groups also accuse them of murder, mutilation, torture and rape.

As I wrote a few weeks back, how do you negotiate with a group of crazed millenarian cultists?