State Department: Capture of Ugandan Rebel Commander Is ‘Major Step Forward’

Pawel Gaul/iStock/Thinkstock(WASHINGTON) — The surrender last week of a senior leader in the Lord’s Resistance Army was “a major step forward toward securing the future of the LRA-affected areas of Central and Eastern Africa,” U.S. State Department spokesperson Marie Harf said Tuesday.

Harf said that the individual, identified as Dominic Ongwen, will be transferred to the custody of the African Union’s Regional Counter-LRA Task Force. Specifically, he’ll be in the custody of the Ugandan People’s Defense Force contingent of the AURTF, and then to the International Criminal Court.

Harf said the transfer would occur “soon,” but said she did not have more specific information regarding when the transfer would take place.

Pentagon spokesman Col. Steve Warren said Tuesday that work was still being done to confirm the identity of Ongwen, but that the U.S. has “high confidence” that the individual is Ongwen. “He is a senior leader in the Lord’s Resistance Army in the custody of U.S. forces who are deployed to the Central African Republic, in support of the African Union’s Counter-LRA Task Force,” Warren explained.

The State Department had previously issued a reward of up to $5 million for information leading to the arrest, transfer or conviction of Ongwen. Harf said that the State Department was “aware of reports that several individuals who’ve identified themselves as part of a Seleka [rebel] group may have been involved in this sequence of events.” She deferred to the Department of Defense, however, on their involvement.

“For reasons of security and of confidentiality, we do not publicly disclose whether war crimes rewards program payments have or have not been made,” Harf explained.

Warren on Tuesday referred questions regarding the reward to the Department of State.

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