Uganda to probe ICRC deaths in Ituri

The government of Uganda has said it would reopen investigations into the murder of six employees of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) that took place in April 2001 in Ituri District of northeastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), the government-owned daily newspaper, The New Vision, reported on Saturday. The daily quoted the Ugandan state minister for international relations, Tom Butime, as saying that although he was satisfied with earlier investigations conducted by Col Noble Mayombo's team in which the Uganda People's Defence Forces (UPDF) was exonerated, he had no problem having the probe repeated in the interest of the ICRC. At the time of the murders, Ituri was under the control of the Ugandan army. "We even asked the ICRC to include their people on the probe team and they declined," Butime said. "It is, therefore, unfortunate for them to insist that the investigations were not conclusive." However, the ICRC deputy head of delegation, Bruce Mokaya, told IRIN on Monday that it was not ICRC's place to be involved in such investigations, although it welcomed Butime's announcement. "We support the initiative of Ugandan authorities and we reaffirm our commitment to providing any support necessary," Mokaya said. He added that previous investigations were "not conclusive", and that ICRC operations in Ituri and in Uganda had remained suspended since the incident. He said that the decision to restart investigations followed recent meetings between the ICRC and Ugandan government officials. The six ICRC workers - four Congolese, one Colombian and one Swiss national - were killed on 26 April 2001 on the road between Djugu and Fataki, about 64 km north of Bunia. They had been travelling, in two vehicles marked with the Red Cross emblem, on their way to deliver medicines to a health centre in the area.