US hands over top rebel leader to CAR and Uganda

The UPDF has said it has positively identified the man who surrendered to Seleka rebels as Maj Gen Dominic Ongwen, one of the notorious commanders of the LRA.


Major Gen Dominic Ongwen was operating in the CAR.

Gen Ongwen, who had been in the hands of the US Special Forces since Tuesday has been handed over to UPDF troops in Central African Republic (CAR).

"He [Gen Ongwen] is with us now and consultations between the government of Uganda, the African Union, United Nations and the International Criminal Court are ongoing for the way forward on his future," Lt Col Paddy Ankunda, the UPDF spokesperson said yesterday. "His surrender puts the LRA in the most vulnerable position," he added.


Gen Ongwen, is one of the five LRA commanders, who were in 2005 indicted by the ICC for war crimes and crimes against humanity. In the same year, the American government put a $5m (about Shs13 billion) bounty on his head for anyone who may have information leading to his arrest or transfer or conviction.
The UPDF had reported Gen Ongwen dead in October 2005 but The Hague-based ICC reported in 2006 the genetic fingerprinting confirmed was not him. On Saturday, he surrendered to Seleka rebels at Kafia Kingi at the CAR - South Sudan border before he was airlifted by the American forces to the tactical base in Obo.
At the time of defection he was second in command in LRA ranks. He is infamously known to have commanded the notorious Sinia Brigade which reportedly committed several atrocities in northern Uganda. The LRA led by the reclusive Joseph Kony waged an atrocious war in the north before its fighters fled into the jungles of DRC and CAR.