Amnesty for the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA)?
Amnesty for Joseph Kony - His commanders?
Traditional Acholi Justice -Where does it fit into bringing and sustaining Peace in Northern Uganda?
How Ugandans feel about Amnesty for those who persecuted, robbed, maimed, abducted, killed them...Is the Traditional Mato Oput Justice as practiced by the Acholi People the answer?
How do you go home after years in the bush with the LRA? After years of killing, torturing, raping, stealing from one’s own people, how do you return back to your village in Northern Uganda?
In a report released by the Uganda Amnesty Commission in December of 2008, 24,000 ex-LRA members, 17,000 combatants have been granted amnesty under Ugandan Amnesty law that was initially established in the year 2000. According to the Uganda amnesty, commission 35,000 children were abducted, so you can do the math and see that 11,000 abducted children have not returned home.
That leads to the question. “How does an LRA fighter return home?” How does his village receive him? How does the community receive those that at one time terrorized them?
It is not an easy road to home in Northern Uganda
for former LRA child soldiers now young men. It 
is
not an easy way home for former enslaved, so-called wives of LRA
commanders.
The people of the North of Uganda want peace, not peace at any price, but many desire a path to peace according to their culture and tradition. They do not want retribution, they for the most part do not want revenge or punitive justice. They want to have a meaningful, productive life after years of exile from their homes and villages.
I had an Acholi quote me biblical verse of when the Jews were in exile and wanted to return to their land, the quote is taken from Jeremiah 29:11 “For I know the plans for you, plans for your welfare and not for calamity, to give you a future and a hope.”
Ugandans want peace, the people of the north want peace after 20 years of war. They do not want a continuance of what has been, war.
The International Criminal Court was asked by President Museveni to issue arrest warrants for Joseph Kony and his top leaders, which they eventually did. Westerners applaud the entrance of the ICC into the picture, but many Africans, especially the Acholi people of the north of Uganda feel quite different. Many see it as a meddling with the sovereignty of the nation of Uganda and a meddling in the ways of the Acholi people.
They point to the failed peace talks that had an agreement on the table, but in the end, Joseph Kony did not show up for the signing due to indictment from the International Criminal Court.
The reality is most northerners know little about the ICC, but they do know about reconciliation and the making of peace between offended parties. Each ethnic group, the Acholis, the Langis and the Teso people have their own rites, rites that have worked for centuries and have been incorporated by the amnesty commission into the healing and restoration process of Uganda’s northern region.
Can traditional African ways bring peace and reconciliation to a region ravaged by over 20 years of terror and war? Westerners may scoff at such ways, preferring western methods of justice.
Ugandan lawyers initially scoffed at the idea of using traditional ways, but now more and more have come aboard believing that the traditional ways can bring healing to Uganda’s north.
In Rwanda, the traditional Gagaca courts have handled ten of thousands that were participants in the genocide of 1994. Many of those responsible for killing their neighbors, have confessed their crimes, made some restitution, it is a form of African restorative justice. There are critics of such methods, but one could ask, “Where were those Western Critics and their respective countries when the carnage of 100 days took place?” Africans, the RPF stopped the genocide under the leadership of Paul Kagame.
Northern Uganda feels similarly. It is only in
recent times that there has been a concern for Northern Uganda in the
west, but for years there was nothing.
Today there are those who want to
impose their system of punitive justice on those who were members of the
LRA while the ethnic community would like the amnesty program to
continue combined with the traditional ways of restorative justice
practiced by the Acholi people.
How you ask? There is the traditional rite of Mato Oput. After a child soldier or enslaved woman turn themselves over to the Ugandan Amnesty Commission and go through a reception center where they are debriefed and made ready for integration into their villages and homes. They are given a blanket, machete, a basin and about $130 dollars and some pots and pans. (when funding is available)
The Uganda Amnesty commission and Acholi leaders propose that the Mato Oput rite would assist both the community and the ex-LRA child soldiers with the reintegration into their community.
What is Mato Oput? Mato Oput is a cleansing ceremony performed in the Acholi community when a relationship has been broken through an offense.
The justice system of Uganda courts and of the ICC and Western courts deals with justice through retribution, punishment and in some cases the death penalty.
The ceremony of Mato Oput deals with reconciliation, restoration and healing of the community. For the former child soldier, the enslaved women who in some cases also committed atrocities, themselves victims, this is seen as the path of healing for the Acholi People. Whereas for such as one as Joseph Kony, the traditional system of punishment is seen as the right path, though some want amnesty for him also. The amazing thing is that LRA leaders who have turned themselves over to the Amnesty Commission have received the same treatment as those who were abducted. Giving credence to some in the West who say that Mato Oput gives impunity to the guilty and lets them off free.
The families of the parties come together, the ones that committed the crime, the offense, the murder, and the representatives of the family that the crime was committed against.
The person who incurred the loss of a person or possession brings a male or female goat depending on the gender of the person who incurred the loss. The party that committed the offense brings a male lamb.
The families are gathered around, as the animals are cut into halves and laid on the ground facing into the opposite direction. Pieces from the animals are shared with the families that have gathered. This is the paying of the blood feud, and a symbol of the breaking of that very feud, in a sense a sacrifice, signifying that no more blood will be shed amongst the families, the cycle of violence has ended. It is called culuko in the Acholi Culture. It reminds me of blood covenants of old.
This all precedes the cleansing ceremony of Mato Oput. The Rwot, Acholi Cultural Chief mediates between the two families as part of the healing and the also pronounces the restitution that needs to be made.
The time arrives when the bitter drink is brought, made from the leaves and roots of the Oput tree, truly a bitter drink, mixed with the blood of the lamb from the family that was offended. There is confession of the deed, a time of truth telling. There is the sharing of the feelings of the family that incurred the loss.
The cutting of the lamb and goat signified at end to the blood shedding, the bitter drink is indicative of what the past was like and not to return the time of bitterness of heart and spirit. The sharing of the meat between families that good times have returned…afterwards there is the celebration of friendship and forgiveness.
Can Mato Oput work as a solution of traditional justice? The answer is that it has already. Will it always work? The answer knowing human nature is probably no, not always. The Western form of justice rarely brings about healing of the parties concerned. The Acholi people see it as their right to work with the laws of the land that allow them to put into practice what they have known for centuries, Mato Oput, the ceremony of the bitter drink of reconciliation.
Going back home is hard enough for those who have escaped the LRA, there is resentment in the village, there is distrust, there are words exchanged. Mato Oput is being practiced now in northern Uganda. The Langi and Teso people have their own ways of dealing with reconciliation.
My own personal opinion is, I am all for amnesty for the former abducted children, I have a problem with those who turned these children into killers, rapist, caused them to cut off limbs and lips, burn villages and so much more. Leaders who took the childhood of children and turned them into terrorists that commit inhuman acts.
There are talks of breaking off the amnesty offer from here on out, but presently it is still on the books…Mato Oput is a different kind of justice that is merciful and redemptive. Like all other justice systems, it is imperfect, but it is a tool to bring healing for portions of Northern Uganda, and it has worked and is working….from Kampala…jon
Uganda Lord Resistance Army - History - Background-Leaders-Joseph Kony-Child Soldiers-Rebuilding Northern Uganda-Reintegration, Peace in Northern Uganda
Alice Auma Lakwena: The warrior priestess who led thousands of Acholi warriors into battle with sticks and stones. Joseph Kony was her cousin but the two were very different, Alice Lakwena before her death repeatedly asked Joseph Kony to give up his destructive ways.
Who
is Joseph Kony? Profile and Background of Joseph Kony
and the Child Soldiers of the Lord's Resistance Army. Joseph
Kony has enslaved thousands into becoming child soldiers, made girls
into concubines, displacing millions from their homes in Uganda.
Uganda's
Child Soldiers (Joseph Kony's Lord's Resistance Army): For
20 some years the war raged in Northern Uganda. This is what it
was like. Originally written in 2005, it gives you insight what
life was like in the north of Uganda as the LRA and Joseph Kony.
Catherine Ajok: 13 years in captivity with the LRA, recently set free. A forced wife of Joseph Kony, read her story of being kidnapped one night from her secondary school, her captivity and eventual freedom from being enslaved by Joseph Kony and the LRA.
Richard
Akena: Former Lord's Resistance Army Child Soldier
who escaped and now helps the victim of the LRA conflict in Uganda.
Even though the conflict has ended in Northern Uganda, the wounds of war
both external and internal remain, Richard has invested himself in the
lives of the victims.
The War in Northern Uganda:
The war has deeply affected Uganda's North. Thousands were
killed by the LRA, thousands of children abducted by Kony's Army, many
disfigured and maimed, Two million people displaced from their homes.
Villages burned, Displacement Camps attacked, parents left without their
children, a way to make a living. Now in 2009 Northern Uganda is
rebuilding, but the scars of war remain, mostly within the people of
Northern Uganda.
Where are the children of the LRA?
Over 30,000 children were abducted and enslaved by the LRA in
northern and then eastern Uganda. The question on the mind of
Ugandans and South Sudanese is this -Where are the Children that were
enslaved by the LRA?
Northern
Uganda - Peace - Give it a Chance It has been a long night
for northern Uganda. The return to the villages and towns is an
adjustment from the Internally displaced camps. It is slowly
happening, there are struggles, but the fruits of the peace brought
about a cessation of hostilities can be seen.
The Night Commuters of Northern Uganda Every evening they would walk for miles to stay safe from the attacks and abductions of Joseph Kony' Army. Sleeping in the streets, bus parks, schools, hospitals and simply under the awning of store-fronts, doing their homework by the light of gas stations.
Child Soldiers - Victims or Assailants: A look at child soldiers in history, where child soldiers are found with lessons learned from the LRA and Joseph Kony. From Colombia to the Congo, from Afghanistan to Darfur, Child soldiers are a reality.
Background information to the LRA and child soldiers.
Uganda 2009 and Joseph Kony LRA: Where is Joseph Kony? The present situation regarding the war with
the LRA in northern Uganda. What is going on with Joseph Kony and his
LRA? How large is the LRA at this time?
Joseph Kony, is fortunately alive and well inside of the DRC, continuing his rampage of killing and destruction and abduction on the population of the DRC around Garamba National Park.
Joseph Kony LRA News
Updates: Latest updates regarding the LRA, Joseph Kony
and activities of the LRA now in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Joseph Kony is no longer just a menace to Uganda's north, that was bad
enough, now he is terrorizing a region of North Eastern Democratic
Republic of Congo and continuing his path of destruction and death.
It is still not Christmas in Northern Uganda:
Written - Christmas
2006, Peace talks were under way, there was a glimmer of hope.
The people of the north were weary of the future. The cessation of
hostilities agreement had been signed, but it was not known what it
meant and if it would hold. Over the years there had been many
promises, but little fulfillment of them.
It does not feel like Christmas-Joseph Kony-Christmas 2008:
Operation Lightning Thunder began against the LRA on December 14, 2008.
The peace talks have failed, Joseph Kony refusing to sign the treaty due
to his fears regarding the indictments against him by the International
Criminal Court and his impending arrest. He also wants more
clarification on the Amnesty program inside of Uganda and how and if it
would apply to him.
Uganda is more than Idi Amin, Joseph Kony and the LRA:
The images that westerners have of Uganda is amazing. Rarely do
those images reflect the reality of Uganda. People see Uganda as a
dangerous place, they do not see as a country that is thriving in many
areas, as a country that is rebuilding the North of Uganda with the help
of many. They do not see the pearl of Africa, but filter it all
through the lenses of Joseph Kony, Idi Amin, LRA.
Living in a Warzone - Uganda:
Recently I received an email from a woman, that just happened to be from my hometown in the USA, Bellingham, WA. She challenged me to
prove that Uganda had been enjoying peace and that the north was slowly
rebuilding. Her email is indicative of what people in the west,
especially in the USA think is going on. When you search the
internet, you rarely find that Uganda has enjoyed a fragile peace for
over two years.
LRA’s Kwoyelo charged with kidnap Thursday, 4th June, 2009 (New Vision article)
By Chris Ocowun
FORMER LRA commander Thomas Kwoyelo was charged at Gulu magistrate’s
court with 12 counts of kidnap with intent to murder. Kwoyelo, 37, who
was driven from Kampala to Gulu under tight UPDF security, appeared
before Gulu chief magistrate Joseph Omodo Onyanga at about 4:00pm.
A fully-packed court room was waiting for him.
The state attorney, Sam Oola, told the court that on March 4, 1996,
Kwoyelo, together with other rebels still at large, kidnapped with
intent to murder Rodento Ochola, Marcimo Oboma and Maurensio Okoya in
Obia-ngic in Pabbo sub-county.
The other people Kwoyelo is accused of having kidnapped are Anthony Okot,
Doctor Ocii, Sabino Oola, Samuel Oyet, Quilino Oryem and Johnson Ocheng,
all from Pabbo and Atiak sub-counties in Amuru district.
In addition, on July 21, 1994, Kwoyelo is alleged to have kidnapped two
people, Simon Ogena and one Odong, in the areas of Abera village in
Pabbo sub-county.
“Inquiries are still going on and I ask for adjournment,” Oola said.
The chief magistrate said his court had no jurisdiction to take
Kwoyelo’s plea, noting that the charges involved capital offences that
are heard by the High Court.
He also noted that the court had not jurisdiction to grant him bail.
Kwoyelo was remanded to Gulu Central Prison until June 18, when he will
again appear for mention of his case in the magistrate’s court.
‘Colonel’ Thomas Kwoyelo, the former commander of the LRA’s Sinia
Brigade, was injured and captured on February 3 by the joint forces of
Uganda, the DR Congo and Southern Sudan during Operation Lightning
Thunder.
Born in Acut-Omer village in Amuru district, Kwoyelo was abducted in
1987, at the age of 15, and spent over half of his life in the LRA, the
last one and a half years under detention by LRA leader Joseph Kony.
Asked about the atrocities committed by the LRA, Kwoyelo in an exclusive
interview with Sunday Vision recently said: “My situation in the
bush was like that of a dog and his master. When you tell a dog to do
something, it will act as instructed. All orders came from Kony.”
Kwoyelo is the first LRA commander to be charged before a Ugandan court.
Other commanders who came out earlier were given amnesty under the 1999
Amnesty Act.
The International Criminal Court in 2005 indicted five LRA commanders,
two of whom have since died. Kwoyelo is not one of them. (It
shows that amnesty does not always apply as in this case. Even
though he was abducted he has been held accountable for his actions.)
Traditional courts can handle crime against humanity Monday, 6th July, 2009 Article printed in the New Vision
By Michael Baingana
I write in response to an article that appeared in the The New Vision of
July 1 titled “Traditional Justice and War Suspects”.
Daniel Nsereko, a Ugandan judge on the Internal Criminal Court (ICC), is
reported to have said: “Crimes against humanity, genocide and war are
internationally condemned and cannot be tried by traditional courts
(like Mat oput, gacaca)”.
Nsereko says: “You cannot expect someone who caused the death of 100
people to be tried in traditional courts ...” And my question is why
not? He claims; “Africa needs the ICC if it is to put an end to mass
violence …” This is another ground on which I do not agree with the
judge.
I refer Nsereko to a comprehensive research report entitled,
“Restorative Systems of Justice and International Humanitarian Law”
which was published in 2008 by D.W. Nabudere et al of the Marcus Garvey
Pan Afrikan Institute, Mbale.
In summary, this report speculates that mass violence and human rights
abuse that continue unabated in Africa are directly linked to the
illegitimacy and failure of the post-colonial state.
Crimes against humanity in Africa are usually committed in the context
of conflicts over ethnicity and cultural identity which arise out of the
denial to ethnic communities of their right to self-determination by the
colonial state system.
The underlying problem, therefore, is a constitutional one and the real
solution is a bottom-up re-constitution of African states and re-conceptualisation
of African sovereignties based on self-determination for ethnic and
cultural communities.
The ICC, as Nsereko confirms, is concerned with “retributive justice” —
the narrow aspect of impunity. It seeks only to punish the perpetrators
of the crimes. Nabudere in his book says: “Retributive justice is a
theory of justice that considers that proportionate sentence is a
morally acceptable response to crime, regardless of whether the
punishment causes any tangible benefits.” Of what benefit is it to the
victims of violence and abuse in Acholi, Rwanda, Kenya or D.R. Congo,
when the perpetrators are dragged to the Hague and punished, if the
conditions that led to the crimes are not addressed?
On the other hand, traditional justice is “restorative justice”.
According to the Nabudere report: “This (traditional justice) approach
is based on the principle that crime is primarily an offence against
human relationships and that the objective (of justice) should be to
make things as right as possible.”
Traditional justice addresses broken relationships and seeks to heal,
restore, compensate, restitute, reconcile and rehabilitate, with an aim
of preventing re-occurrence. It is a much broader, holistic,
participatory, and above all, a local solution. The fact that these
crimes against humanity are “internationally condemned” — as Nsereko
states — does not take away the fact that they are committed in local
situations, and that their resolution must be local.
The ICC is like any other institution geared towards perpetrating
European domination in Africa.
The ICC is of no value to wronged African communities, and its main
effect on local communities is merely to raise tension and further
complicate already complex situations.
The imposition of the ICC upon us by Europe must be seen as an attempt
to further alienate our right to self-determination and undermine our
sovereignty.
Traditional justice systems are an attempt by local communities to
reclaim their right to self-determination from the failed states which
is the only insurance against re-occurrence of these crimes. The ICC’s
jurisdiction in Africa must be resisted in favour of traditional justice
systems.
The writer is a politician
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Amnesty for the Lord's Resistance Army LRA?
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