On April 21, JRP and ICTJ held a one-day consultative meeting organized by the International Center for Transitional Justice (ICTJ) and the Justice and Reconciliation Project (JRP) on outreach for the first war crimes cases before Uganda’s War Crimes Division (WCD).
The objectives of the meeting were to:
Assess civil society’s expectations and realistic understanding for potential outcomes of the work of the WCD;
Increase civil society’s engagement in all stages of legal proceedings before the WCD;
Provide input for the draft outreach strategy and briefing information on TJ by JLOS.
Community members during the Mucwini community dialogue
It is mid-morning on a beautiful, sunny Sunday, June 6, 2010. Residents of Mucwini, mostly men, are chatting away, seated in small groups at the trading centre. Meanwhile others, mainly women and children, are returning from church, most likely heading to their homes to prepare meals for the family. It is the season for mangoes, and children seem to be more interested in the seasonal fruits than going straight home to eat the meal prepared by their mothers.
Under the famous mango tree shade in the compound of one of the elders in the area, located just about 20 metres from the sub-county headquarters, two large public address system speakers, mounted by the JRP and Mega FM team, are playing loud local music by Acholi artists and attracting curious passer-by. This mango tree shade is a favourite spot in the area for hosting community events. Today’s gathering is part of a series of community dialogues organised by JRP in collaboration with Mega FM, a popular radio station in Northern Uganda. Later the opinions recorded here will be fittingly aired on Mega FM’s ‘Te-yat’ programme, meaning “under the tree,” a reference to Acholi traditions of discussing important issues collectively under the shade of a tree.
The discussions put a lot of emphasis on the need for all stakeholders to build on the Acholi traditional justice principles that involve compensation, truth-telling and symbolic ceremonies for the dead. Community members also urged each other to find ways to forgive one another and go back to start living as one people so that they can set good precedence for their children.
A community member during the Mucwini massacre memorial service, 2010
In the early morning hours of 24 July 2002, our villages awoke to the bloodied corpses of 56 innocentmen, women and children. The massacre was a deliberate and ruthless act of retaliation by the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) after they claimed that one of our own members who had been abducted escaped with their gun. In cold blood, the rebels rounded up our community and randomly selected some of our friends and family members to be murdered by axes, hand hoes, machetes and logs. Some women among us were painfully forced to participate in clubbing to death their own children.
Eight years later, the person or persons responsible for the Mucwini massacre remains controversial, unresolved and unacknowledged. The massacre divided us and further fuelled longstanding conflict between the Pubec and Pajong over a piece of land where both parties claim ownership. As a result, the relatives of the alleged perpetuator still live in the camp, as they have been denied access to the said land. While the mediation team headed by the Rtd. Bishop McLeord Baker Ochola has tried to forge some kind of reconciliation among the alleged parties to this tension, most of us feel left out in the process as few families are being included. The families of the 56 people who died still live with immense trauma; psychosocial and physical difficulties; biting poverty; the burden of meeting the educational and basic needs of numerous orphans; and a generation of elderly who have no one to care for them, yet some have the responsibility to take care of orphans.
To celebrate JRP becoming an independent NGO and to officially launch the new organisation, we hosted a ceremony and reception on July 23 at our offices in Gulu’s Senior Quarters. The event — which was attended by the Ambassador of Norway, H.E. Bjørg S. Leite, Hon. Norbert Mao, members of the community, civil society and government representatives, cultural leaders, and many more– was lively and eventful. Bwola dancers from Ker Kwaro Acholi kicked off the event by performing Acholi traditional dances.
This document contains remarks by the following persons:
Remarks by Programme Coordinator, Mr. Ojok Boniface
Remarks by Board of Directors, Mr. Michael Otim, Chairman, JRP
Remarks by Guest of Honor, H.E. Bjørg S. Leite, Ambassador of Norway
Remarks by Liu Institute for Global Issues, Dr. Erin Baines
Remarks Ms. Delis Palacios from the organization Adom in Choco, Colombia
Remarks by Mr. Leyner Palacios from the organization Cocomacia in Choco, Colombia
Remarks by Resident Judge, High Court of Gulu, Hon. Justice Remmy Kasule
Remarks by Guest of Honor, Norbert Mao, LC V Chairman, Gulu District
Young women perform traditional dances during an event in Gulu district, 2010
Initiatives to end violence often focus on ‘silencing the gun’ and bringing home largely male combatants. As a result, girls and women who were captured, raped, and forced into marriage and childbearing by armed groups remain largely unacknowledged and ignored. In this statement, we focus on the unique justice and reconciliation issues facing young mothers and their children in northern Uganda who have returned from captivity. We offer specific recommendations to ensure their holistic well-being and successful reintegration into society.
A girl participates in the Gulu district Day of the African Child celebrations, 2010
This year, as we join Africa in celebration of the Day of the African Child (DAC), JRP wishes to emphasis the need to reflect on the unique peace, justice and reconciliation issues hindering the well-being of children affected by conflict. In line with this year’s theme, we offer specific recommendations for planning and budgeting for the well-being of children affected by conflict, with critical reflections on the situation of children in northern Uganda and lessons for other contexts.
Between the 20-30 August 2007 CSOs working on peace, justice and reconciliation activities in Northern Uganda held four consultative meetings in the regions of Acholi, Lango, Teso, and West Nile to reach a common position on the ongoing consultations on accountability and reconciliation.
A draft committee consisting of three representatives from each sub-region met in Gulu from the 6-7 September 2007 to come up with a common position for CSOs in Northern Uganda.
It is from the proceedings of this meeting and based on regional consultations that we derive the contents of this memorandum, which we hereby declare as a common position for CSOs in Northern Uganda.
This declaration was signed by cultural and religious leaders in the sub-regions of West Nile (Madi), Teso, Lango and Acholi after the first anniversary of the Juba Peace Talks.
The declaration made several recommendations in the areas of truth, reparations, reconciliation and complementarity. Noteworthy is the call for traditional justice mechanisms to be used for justice and reconciliation.
From April 16-18, Michael Otim attended a meeting in Oslo, Norway, titled, “Transitional Justice and Peace Negotiations.” The meeting was hosted by the Norwegian Minister of Foreign Affairs and the International Center for Transitional Justice.
Michael presented this paper during the meeting to update participants on the current transitional justice debates taking place in northern Uganda.
This concept note was prepared for presentation in a training workshop on information, counseling and referral services for reporters (formerly abducted persons) organized by the Amnesty Commission for its technical staff.
