This essay is part of a weekly feature on my blog that presents interesting stories from elsewhere in the world, particularly Africa, that are little reported in the American media. It's part of my campaign to get people to realize there is a lot going on in the world outside the US, Israel and Iraq
In a development praised as "historic" by Human Rights Watch, the new International Criminal Court has issued its first arrest warrants. While some feared (despite many safeguards to the contrary) the ICC would become an instrument of anti-American hatred, the Court's first warrants were issued against five top figures in the so-called Lord's Resistance Army.
The LRA's nominal political objective is to overthrow the Ugandan regime and replace it with a government based on the Ten Commandments. But no one familiar with their unimaginable savagery can take these purported claims the least bit seriously, since they seem intent on VIOLATING all of the Commandments. The LRA's real target is the civilians of northern Uganda.
The LRA's fanatical leader, the self-styled prophet Joseph Kony, is wanted for many alleged atrocities, including torture and mutilation, abduction, sexual violence, forced recruitment and the killing of people the LRA considers are supporters of Yoweri Museveni, Uganda's leader.
A full catalogue of the LRA's violence against children has been compiled by Human Rights Watch. Though the organization additionally recommends that the ICC also investigate alleged abuses by the Ugandan army as well.
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