Kampala says Judge Julia Sebutinde does not represent Uganda’s views on Palestine.

• A Ugandan judge on the International Court of Justice panel voted against every provisional measure ordered.
• Kampala says the judge does not represent Uganda’s views on Palestine.
• Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni supports the two-state solution.

The Ugandan government has distanced itself from the voting
by Ugandan judge Julia Sebutinde on the preliminary measures in South
Africa’s case against Israel.

Sebutinde voted against all measures ordered by the court, including
that Israel should report within a month on its efforts to prevent genocide,
and that Israel must make sure the people of Gaza have basic services.

The overwhelming majority of the bench approved emergency measures.

The panel was led by American Joan Donoghue,
the ICJ president, and her
Russian vice president, Kirill Gevorgian.

They had a diverse bench of justices from 13 different nations,
including Slovakia, France, Morocco, Somalia, China, Uganda, India, Jamaica,
Lebanon, Japan, Germany, Australia, and Brazil.

In a post on X
(formerly Twitter), Adonia Ayebare, who is the Ambassador and Permanent
Representative of Uganda to the United Nations, said, “Justice Sebutinde’s
ruling at the International Court of Justice does not represent the Government
of Uganda’s position on the situation in Palestine.”

Ayebare also gave an example of when Sebutinde went against Uganda.

“She has previously voted against Uganda’s case on the Democratic
Republic of Congo (DRC),” he said.

In 2022, the ICJ found the Uganda People’s Defence Forces (UPDF) guilty
of working with rebels in the 1998–2003 DRC war.

As such, Uganda was instructed to pay reparations of
over R6 billion, but Uganda claimed that the DRC conflict was an
“international war” with more than eight armies from different
countries.

Therefore, the judgment was “unfair and wrong”, just like the
2005 judgment where the ICJ placed liability for war crimes on Uganda.

READ | SA vs Israel: Nations call for compliance with ICJ order, focus shifts to Security Council

Ayebare said Kampala’s position “has been expressed through
Uganda’s voting pattern at the United Nations.”

In October last year, President Yoweri Museveni said the Gaza conflict
was “regrettable” and
suggested a two-state solution.

Ugandan judge

A British-trained Ugandan judge, Sebutinde is the first African woman to
serve on the International Court of Justice. 

She is in her second term after being re-elected in 2021 and has been a
member of the court since 2012.

She also served as a Judge of the Special Court for Sierra Leone from
2005 to 2011, where she presided over several high-profile war crimes and
corruption prosecutions.

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