Ugandan rebel commander to be tried for war crimes

THE HAGUE, Netherlands, Jan. 20 (UPI) -- Ugandan rebel commander Dominic Ongwen is to arrive at The Hague, Netherlands, to stand trial for war crimes and crimes against humanity at the International Criminal Court.

Ongwen is deputy to Lord's Resistance Army's commander-in-chief Joseph Kony, who is still at large and faces 33 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Ongwen surrendered in early January and was taken into U.S. custody in the Central African Republic.

The case against Ongwen, "The Prosecutor v. Joseph Kony, Vincent Otti, Okot Odhiambo and Dominic Ongwen," will follow after a medical examination and an initial hearing.

The ICC issued an arrest warrant for Ongwen, Kony and other LRA members in 2005 and offered a $5 million reward for information that led to Ongwen's arrest.

Ongwen is charged with four war crimes: murder, cruel treatment of civilians, intentionally directing an attack against a civilian population and pillaging.

He was also charged with three crimes against humanity: murder, enslavement, inhumane acts of inflicting serious bodily injury and suffering.

The Lord's Resistance Army is a rebel militia known for brutality that was created in 1988 in Uganda from the remnants of previous, failed rebel movements. LRA's early goal was to overthrow the Ugandan government and establish a country based on Kony's interpretation of the biblical 10 commandments, but the group is weakened and fragmented, operating in the jungles of the region.