Unconventional Judicial Avenues:The LRA’s Ongoing Trial at the ICC

The Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) is a rebel group that committed atrocities in Uganda. Uganda referred the LRA case to the International Criminal Court (ICC) in hope of finding a lasting solution to a war that had ravaged northern Uganda for decades. However the ICC arrest warrants delayed and failed the peace talks prompting Uganda to request a deferral of the case to Uganda. In Uganda’s opinion other avenues can be pursued to deliver justice and peace all at once. Both ICC and Uganda continue to pursue justice for the affected communities in Uganda amidst procedural disagreements between both parties. The research question is, does incriminating the LRA abroad at the ICC offer justice to the people of northern Uganda? This paper questions the rationale and wisdom of such a proposition that the ICC provides a panacea for the physical, emotional, psychological atrocities of war among the Acholi people and is juxtaposed with the repeated government rhetoric to withdraw from the ICC and apply homeland justice to the people of Uganda.