The Chairman of the Uganda Episcopal Conference has described the surrender of former LRA rebel commander Dominic Ongwen as a blessing to bring an end to Uganda’s longest insurgency but warned that it could as well turn into a curse should the case be mishandled at the International Criminal Court where he has been indicted. “Will the government of Uganda admit that it was its responsibility to protect Ongwen, and will the LRA admit that they trained Ongwen to kill?” the bishop asked. John Baptist Odama, also the Archbishop of Gulu said Ongwen’s case can be compared to that of Thomas Lubanga for the crimes he committed in the Democratic Republic of Congo whose conviction at the ICC has not yielded any peace in country. Archbishop Odama who was flanked by bishops; Joseph Franzelli of Lira, Sabino Ocan Odoki of Arua and Santos Linos Wanok of Nebbi dioceses was on Friday 16th January while addressing a press conference at the close of a five-day Week of Peace and Prayers at Lango College in Lira, said it is his personal opinion that Dominic Ongwen’s surrender can be a blessing if he is made a peace ambassador to send signals to those still in the bush to return home peacefully.
Posted on: Fri, 16 Jan 2015 16:09:16 +0000