200810072151 | Ugandan rebel commander Joseph Kony must be arrested. - ICC

Ugandan rebel commander Joseph Kony must be arrested. - ICC

The Hague - The prosecutor of the International Criminal Court called on Monday for renewed efforts to arrest a notorious Ugandan rebel leader following reports of a new wave of attacks. Luis Moreno-Ocampo said Lords Resistance Army leader Joseph Kony must be arrested following attacks and abductions by his forces in villages in Congo last month.

The world's first permanent war crimes court issued arrest warrants for Kony and other leaders of his group in 2005 for crimes including murder, rape, enslavement and using child soldiers.

A year later Interpol issued so-called Red Notices, putting all countries on alert to arrest the suspects.

Moreno-Ocampo said in a statement on Monday that the rebels reportedly killed civilians, including local chiefs, and abducted children from schools in attacks on September 17 near northern Congo's border with Sudan.

Kony's shadowy group has been involved in a brutal 21-year insurgency in northern Uganda. The rebels are notorious for cutting off the lips of their victims and for recruiting child soldiers.

Fear arrest

UN officials estimate the LRA has kidnapped 20 000 children in the past two decades, turning the boys into soldiers and the girls into sex slaves.

The LRA and the Ugandan government have been engaged in two years of halting peace talks, but the negotiations have suffered numerous breakdowns. Kony, fearing arrest, has been in hiding since 2006. He refused to appear at an April ceremony at which a peace deal was to have been signed.

As part of that deal, the Ugandan government was to have asked the International Criminal Court to withdraw indictments against Kony and his colleagues. But the rebels say they want more assurances of their safety before signing the deal.

International prosecutors believe Kony is exploiting lulls in fighting with government forces during the peace talks to rearm and launch fresh attacks.

"The price paid today by civilians is high," Moreno-Ocampo said in a statement. "The criminals remain at large and continue to commit crimes and they are threatening the entire region. Arrest is long overdue."