GENEVA, Switzerland, May 11 (UPI) -- Even militant groups should adhere to international rules during Uganda peace talks, U.N. officials say.
A top U.N. official said the notoriously brutal Lord's Resistance Army as well as the Ugandan government should respect standards of international law
during peace talks.
"For a peace agreement to be durable it must be based on the
principles of justice, accountability and the rule of law," Louise Arbour, the U.N. high commissioner for human rights, said in Geneva Friday. "There can be no amnesty for war crimes, crimes against humanity, genocide and gross violations of human rights."
Peace negotiations between the Ugandan Government and the LRA, aimed at ending two decades of civil war, are set to resume Saturday in Juba, southern Sudan. The civil war has caused the displacement of 1.28 million people, said the World Food Program.
The high commissioner encouraged the two sides to commit to a national "victim-centered consultative process" to implement accountability and reconciliation mechanisms.
"The peace agreement should set a time frame for the national dialogue and identify an independent institution to coordinate the process, so that past abuses and violations, as well as deep-seated social and economic inequalities, may be addressed comprehensively," Arbour said.
In October 2005, the International Criminal Court issued arrest
warrants for the leader of the LRA and four LRA commanders on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Since the LRA rebellion began in 1986, the group abducted children and used them as soldiers or porters and allocated girls to senior officers for institutional rape, said UNICEF.
Arbour asked the negotiations address terms and circumstances for the LRA leaders to surrender to the ICC. The high commissioner also said the Juba talks provided a unique
opportunity for the restoration of the rule of law and the rebuilding of a democratic society.
