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UGANDA: In Search of Peace and Justice

Joshua Kyalimpa

KAMPALA, Feb 27 2009 (IPS) - Alice Anywar lives in the Pagak resettlement camp in Gulu and at 39 is a multiple victim of the over 20 year-old Lords Resistance Army (LRA) insurgency in northern Uganda. The rebels first attacked her home in Kilak village in 1987 killing both her parents and abducting her 12-year old brother. In 2002 they murdered her husband whom she had met in a refugee camp.

The rebels have retreated into the jungle in neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) but Anywar, like many other residents fear they could re-enter Uganda.

“I never went to school because of this war, what I want is peace so I can till the land and look after my children.”

The elusive peace was dealt a near deathblow, many argue, in 2004 when Yoweri Museveni?s government requested the International Criminal Court (ICC) at The Hague to indict and prosecute the rebels. The body has since become a source of further tension between the warring parties. The LRA has accused the ICC of bias for not charging their adversaries in the Ugandan army.

“I am not opposed to the [ICC] indictments per se but I am concerned about the impact they are having on the peace process,” explained Gulu Archbishop, John Baptist Odama, who led a peace effort at a time when the government was hell bent on militarily putting down the insurgency.

A flicker of hope emerged in July 2006 when the government and the rebels converged in Juba, the capital of Southern Sudan to negotiate a comprehensive peace agreement. The talks failed. But a framework, referred to as the Juba peace protocols, laid the basis for traditional forms of justice and national courts to handle cases against the rebels.

The ICC indictments were again catapulted into prominence by recent reports that the LRA second-in-command wanted to surrender after sustaining injuries during skirmishes in the DRC. Okot Odhiambo allegedly contacted the International Organisation for Migration two months ago seeking safe passage into Uganda and assurances that he would not be prosecuted.

“Ours is to facilitate the return of the rebels but not to prescribe what should be done to them,” army spokesperson, major Felix Kulaigye told IPS.

At a press conference on 9 Feb President Museveni, prompted by questions about Odhiambo’s imminent surrender, confirmed that the LRA would face national courts and traditional justice.

Just how close local initiatives by traditional leaders of the Acholi tribe came to bringing peace to northern Uganda, is documented in research by the Beyond Juba Project at the Makerere University in Kampala. In 2005 the elders traveled to The Hague and implored the ICC to drop indictments against LRA commanders. They ventured into the jungles of the DRC and Sudan and pressed the LRA to abandon their rebellion. The chiefs and religious leaders asked that the “Mato Oput” traditional justice system be given a chance to resolve the conflict.

The Mato Oput ritual is initiated by one side of a conflict sending an emissary to the elders seeking their help in reconciliation. The guilty party has to crush a raw egg “Nyono Togweno” to symbolise a new beginning and step over a bamboo stick or “opobo” to represent a move from the past.

The offending party provides a goat that is shared equally with the other party as a sign of unity. The guilty party has to drink a bitter juice extracted from Oput leaves as a promise that they never wish to taste such bitterness again. More serious offences require offenders to compensate victims.

According to Leandra Komaketch of the Refugee Law Project the ritual has inbuilt mechanisms to prevent a recurrence of violence.

“A person who goes through the ritual would be banished by the community if they committed the sin again and to the Acholi being banished is worse than even life imprisonment.”

What the people of northern Uganda desire is justice that allows for healing, Acholi paramount chief, Rwot David Onen Acana, told IPS.

“Some people have argued that Mato Oput will breed impunity, what the people want now is peace and not revenge.”

But not everyone has been won over. Justice should not be sacrificed for peace, retorts Livingstone Sewanyana of the Foundation for Human Rights based in Kampala. “The solution lies in catering for peace and justice.”

The ICC office in Kampala also maintains that Mato Oput has its weaknesses: it will not give redress to victims and war crimes were committed outside Acholi territory where the ritual is widely accepted.

Traditional justice is applied across northern Uganda and southern Sudan to resolve conflicts at a community level. There foundation is all the same; they are built on the principle of victims and the community forgiving and integrating.