All posts by Lino Owor Ogora

Why the government must expedite reparations for victims and survivors of the northern Uganda conflict

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On 17th June 2014, I was confronted with news of the untimely death of a man called Buti, a victim and survivor of a Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) ambush. Earlier in 2013 I had received news of the death of a woman called Celina, from the village of Obalanga in Amuria district. Celina was a survivor of a helicopter gunship bombing perpetrated by the UPDF in 2003. I came to know both in the course of my work as a researcher in northern Uganda.

Buti was the victim of an LRA ambush on 13th May 1994, along the Karuma-Pakwach highway. He was on his way back to Koboko from Kampala. In an attempt to jump out of the bus and escape, Buti broke his spinal cord. He spent four years in hospital, he was crippled for life, he lost his job, and his wife and mother to two of their children deserted him. Once productive and respected, Buti was reduced to a beggar.

Celina was the victim of a helicopter bombing incident by the UPDF on 9th July 2003. The LRA incursion had just spread into Teso sub-region and all civilians in Obalanga had fled into IDP camps. Celina was part of a group of people who had remained behind to nurse a sick brother, Ejabu Michael, when a UPDF helicopter gunship flying overhead mistook them for LRA rebels, and opened fire.  The civilians scampered for safety as bombs exploded to their left and right. The hut in which Michael lay ill was set ablaze by one of the mortar shells, and he died instantly. By the time the gunship left, nine people were dead. Selina lost five relatives in the incident including both her mother and father in law, her brother (Ejabu Michael) and her two nephews (Okello Silver and Edyegu Daniel).

Both Buti and Celina’s lives were shattered by their experiences, and they were hoping for compensation and reparations from the Government.

On behalf of other victims in West Nile, Buti had formed an association called the West Nile Kony Rebel War Victims’ Association (WNKRWVA) and had begun lobbying for help from the Government. He succumbed to kidney failure as a result of his 2003 accident before his efforts could bear fruit.

Celina lived a quieter life in Amuria but unfortunately became embroiled in a land dispute, and one morning she was found hanging by the neck in a suspected case of suicide. It is difficult to tell if she took her own life, or if her death was framed to appear so.

The UN basic principles and guidelines on the right to a remedy and reparations calls upon states to make available adequate, effective, prompt and appropriate remedies including reparations for victims of gross violations of international human rights law and serious violations of international humanitarian law.

The Government of Uganda, through the Justice Law and Order Sector (JLOS) is currently in the process of drafting a national transitional justice policy, which is supposed to provide a framework for the implementation of reparations. On 26th January 2014, President Yoweri Museveni acknowledged that war crimes and human rights violations had been committed in northern Uganda, and that victims were entitled to reparations.

The only question that remains is when the Government’s efforts will bear fruit. In meantime we can only pray that victims live long enough to receive reparations for their suffering.

Welcoming President Museveni’s acknowledgment of NRA crimes in northern Uganda

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The Justice and Reconciliation Project (JRP) would like to applaud President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni’s acknowledgement of crimes committed by the National Resistance Army (NRA) in northern Uganda.

Official acknowledgement of atrocities committed during war is one of the most important factors in the aftermath of armed conflict. It is not only necessary for the healing of painful memories of victims who suffered war crimes at the hands of perpetrators, but it is also an important pre-requisite for implementing reparative programs for war affected communities and survivors. An official acknowledgement is made even more significant if it comes from a high ranking government official such as the head of state.

On 26th January 2014, during the NRM anniversary celebrations in Mayuge district, President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni publicly acknowledged that NRA soldiers had committed crimes in northern Uganda during the late 1980s and early 1990s in their attempt to pacify the region of rebel activity following the NRA’s capture of power in 1986. The story was carried in the news headlines of all Uganda’s local newspapers on Monday 27th January 2014.

This acknowledgement has been long overdue given that northern Uganda has been peaceful for close to six years now, following the permanent relocation of the LRA to Central African Republic (CAR) in 2008. In this period, civil society organizations, religious leaders, political leaders, and the general public in northern Uganda have consistently called upon the government to acknowledge its role in the commission of war crimes in northern Uganda to no avail.

While the government implemented some programs for war victims and survivors, this official acknowledgement and apology was always not forthcoming. In fact some high ranking government officials had fallen into the habit of blatantly and unashamedly stating that the NRA did not commit war crimes in northern Uganda.

War crimes in northern Uganda have generally been wholly attributed to the LRA. When the International Criminal Court (ICC) launched investigations into the Ugandan situation in 2004, for instance, it ended up issuing indictments for only LRA commanders for war crimes and crimes against humanity, and let the government perpetrators off the hook. This was despite that it was a known fact that NRA soldiers committed numerous atrocities in northern Uganda during the late 1980s and early 1990s.

So President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni’s public acknowledgment of such crimes is welcome and must be applauded. Not many leaders have the courage to stand up and admit past wrongs. Throughout the course of history, public acknowledgement of crimes by state leaders has always been difficult. A case in point can be taken from Australia where it took the Australian Government close to 100 years to apologize to indigenous Aborigines for crimes committed against them in what has been termed the “Stolen Generation” or “Stolen Children”. In this case, the Australian Government from as far back as 1909 had made it a practice to forcefully take children from indigenous Aboriginal families presumably in a move to educate them. Many of these children ended up being permanently separated from the families.On 13 February 2008 the Government, through then Prime Minister Kevin Rudd MP, moved a motion of Apology to Australia’s Indigenous Peoples in Australia’s Parliament. The government also made reparations in form of scholarships and funds for various community activities to the Aboriginal community.

In his acknowledgement, the President admitted to crimes such as the suffocation of 69 civilians in a railway wagon in Mukura village in 1989, and the suffocation and rape of civilians in Burcoro village in April 1991. All these crimes have been documented by the Justice and Reconciliation Project (JRP) and are publicly accessible on our website.

President Museveni also admitted that new crimes such as the massacre of civilians in Kanyum village, and the raiding of cattle in Nwoya district were coming to light. The president blamed the ‘wanainchi’ (local people) for not reporting such crimes.

While President Museveni must be applauded for this public announcement, he stands to be criticized in two areas.

First, the above crimes are not the only crimes that were committed in northern Uganda. Many other examples of acts committed by the NRA have been brought to the attention of the government through various channels such as research reports.

In Palabek Sub-County for example, the 32nd Battalion of the NRA is reported to have led killings of several civilians under the command of a one Captain Abiriga. The 32nd battalion carried out numerous horrific incidences including: the killing of six men in Ayuu Alali village school on 1 February 1991, and the execution of seven suspected rebel collaborators in Ayuu Anaka village on 12 April 1992.

On 19 August 1986, in Namokora Sub-County, the 35th Battalion of NRA is also said to have led killings of 71 men and women. These men and women were accused of being rebel collaborators or having plans to oust the new NRA government that had just come to power through a guerrilla coup.

Numerous other incidents have been documented in places such as Odek, Pabbo, Mucwini and other places in northern Uganda.

Secondly, it is grossly misleading, disingenuous and deceptive for President Museveni to say that the reason he did not know about such crimes was because they were never reported. These incidents have been mentioned time and again by civil society activists, religious leaders, political leaders and other opinion leaders in northern Uganda but the government has turned a deaf ear to all these pleas. Many have been documented by CSOs such as JRP.

Nevertheless the acknowledgement by President Yoweri Museveni still remains significant, and must be considered a starting point on the long road to reconciling northern Uganda. A number of things need to be undertaken in moving forward.

First, there is need for full disclosure and acknowledgement about atrocities that happened in northern Uganda under the NRM regime. There is need for full public investigation of crimes committed by NRA soldiers, and disclosure of responsible officials to pave way for their punishment. It is appalling and disgraceful that despite the numerous atrocities known to have been committed by NRA soldiers in northern Uganda, only 23 NRA officers have, according to the president, ever been brought to book for acts he described as “indiscipline” and “misbehavior”

More needs to be done to promote accountability for what are not mere acts of indiscipline, but internationally recognised war crimes . Otherwise the full scale of NRA killings will never be known, and will continue to be revealed through half-truths and revelations such as those made by President Yoweri Museveni.

Secondly, acknowledgment of atrocities in northern Uganda must not only be limited to physical killings of civilians by NRA soldiers. It is also important to acknowledge other forms of human sufferings and dehumanizing acts committed by NRA soldiers.

NRA soldiers are known to have committed horrendous and abominable acts such as defecating in water pots and food containers of people in northern Uganda, and defecating in the mouths of their cattle simply to dehumanize and humiliate the people.

Another horrendous act was the practice of ‘tek-gungu’ or male rape that was perpetrated by ethnic Banyankole soldiers against Acholi men as an act of humiliation. Women and girls were also raped in places such as Burcoro and deliberately infected with the HIV/AIDs virus. It is no wonder that northern Uganda today has one of the highest prevalence of HIV/AIDs.

Arbitrary arrests were also common and took place on a massive scale with people being rounded up in large numbers for screening and spending hours in inhumane conditions at the screening centers.

The encampment and confinement of people in internally displaced persons camps is also a crime that needs to be acknowledged. The years that the Acholi people spent in the IDP camps as the NRM government failed to defeat the LRA were painful years that have taken a severe toll upon the Acholi people. As a result of this confinement we have a generation of youth that has grown up with little regard for Acholi cultural values such as hard work and morality. It is the reason behind increased acts such as prostitution and theft.

All these atrocities can only be brought to light if the government institutes an inquiry into the conflict in northern Uganda with the deliberate aim of establishing and understanding the full range of atrocities that occurred.

Thirdly, acknowledgement of crimes in northern Uganda must be accompanied by official apologies, conducted in a dignified manner, at official ceremonies deliberately organized and attended by victims’ representatives. President Museveni’s acknowledgement on 26th January 2014 took place in Mayuge District as the NRM celebrated 28 years in power. The location and occasion were both not conducive and relevant to people in northern Uganda. We in northern Uganda continue to hope for the day when President Museveni will organize a function in northern Uganda specifically for the purpose of issuing an apology to the victims and survivors of the conflict, and handing this apology in written form to key leaders of the people. This will be a milestone in the history of northern Uganda.

Finally, acknowledgements and apologies need to be accompanied by reparative action. In Acholi culture reconciliation is not deemed to be complete unless the perpetrator has paid symbolic compensation to the victim. President Museveni expressed willingness to engage in acts of Mato Oput (reconciliation) with victims and survivors, and compensate them for the losses suffered. The President’s olive branch of reconciliation is welcome and must be applauded. It remains to be seen whether it will be fulfilled.

Congratulating Bishop Odama

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Archbishop John Baptist Odama greeting an LRA soldier in Garamba forest during the Juba Peace Talks.

Archbishop John Baptist Odama is the metropolitan Archbishop of Gulu Archdiocese in northern Uganda, a region which is emerging from over two decades of conflict waged between the Government of Uganda and the rebels of the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA). The civil war, which started in 1986, has had disastrous impacts upon the population. Among other impacts of the conflict, between 28,000 and 38,000 children were abducted by the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) to serve as child soldiers, sex slaves and porters, and over 1.8 million people were displaced and forced to live in squalid conditions of the IDP camps. It is amidst this setting that Archbishop Odam has worked for several years to restore peace in northern Uganda. When he was first posted to northern Uganda in the early 1990s, he readily accepted to go and work in the region despite the threat of insecurity paused by the LRA. The suffering of the people in northern Uganda, and in particular the children immediately influenced his determination to work for the return of peace in the region. He has been an outspoken advocate for peaceful means, having witnessed first-hand the impacts of war against civilians. He is known to have continuously remarked that “As long as there is an opportunity for peace talks, I shall pursue it”. He is soft-spoken and a good listener. When addressing people he is fond of referring to them as ‘gentle people’ instead of the traditional ‘ladies and gentlemen’. He also has a high sense of humor and patience with each and everyone who approaches him.

From the moment of his ordination as Archbishop on 10th April 1999, Archbishop Odama dedicated his efforts to advocating and working for the return of peace in northern Uganda to create a safe environment for children and other civilians. During the inaugural speech at his ordination ceremony as Archbishop of Gulu, he called one of the children to him, lifted up the child, and asked the child if he wanted to grow into an adult amidst settings of violence and insecurity. The child shook his head. The Archbishop then declared that his main priority would be to advocate for the restoration of peace in northern Uganda for the sake of the children.

On many occasions, he has knelt down in public before children who were rescued from the LRA, and asked them to forgive him for not protecting them with the words,

He fondly refers to children as ‘ngini-ngini’, the Acholi word for small black harmless insects that are very hard working and often co-exist in large numbers. He has demonstrated his love and concern for the welfare of children in various ways. For example on several occasions when he was leading mass and the church was packed to capacity he would call the children to sit around him on the altar. At the height of the conflict, the LRA used to abduct children they came across and carry them off to serve in their army as soldiers and rebel wives. To avoid abduction, many children in northern Uganda used to seek refuge at night in town centres such as Gulu town, where they would sleep on verandas of shops and any other public spaces. It was during this period that Archbishop Odama showed solidarity with the night commuting children, an incident which many people in northern Uganda still recall. On one of the evenings Archbishop Odama, together with other religious leaders, left the comfort of his residence in Gulu Cathedral and walked with these children for almost four kilometers to Gulu town, where he spent a cold night with them on the veranda of a shop. He opted not to carry a blanket with him, but instead wrapped his legs in a nylon sack just like most of the children would do in order to keep warm for the night.

He is a strong advocate of peaceful and non-violent methods including amnesty and dialogue. In 2002 he was instrumental in organizing a series of meetings between the government and LRA. For his first meeting with the rebels, on 14th July 2002, at a great risk to his own life, he went to meet a group of LRA rebels at a place called Otici in Kilak Hills in northern Uganda. This location was deep in the bush, and to find it they had to cut through thick bushes until they reached the rendezvous. From then on, he attended a series of meetings with the rebels and presented their demands to the government until his initiative collapsed as a result of resumption of hostilities between the government and the LRA. During the Juba Peace talks, Archbishop Odama played a key role. He was among the people who were used to build confidence among the LRA. He was always willing to leave his residence in Gulu at short notice and head off to Juba or Garamba forest in the Democratic Republic of Congo to attend the peace negotiations. The input of religious and cultural leaders during the Juba Peace Talks did a lot in influencing the talks beyond the signing of the final peace agreement. Religious leaders were a constant pillar of strength, encouragement and confidence. There were occasions when the LRA leaders insisted that religious leaders be present as a condition for meeting with the government peace delegation. On several occasions when the peace talks were showing signs of breaking down the religious leaders would intervene to encourage the delegates to go back to the negotiating table. Although the final peace agreement was not signed in 2008, the six agenda items, particularly agenda item number three on accountability and reconciliation have been critical in paving the way for the implementation of post-conflict reconstruction programs.

One of the most remarkable impacts arising from the work of Archbishop Odama was the passing of the Amnesty Act of 2000. Through the Acholi Religious Leader’s Peace Initiative (ARLPI) he advocated for the passing of a blanket amnesty in order to promote forgiveness of ex-combatants and to encourage many of them to abandon rebellion. Through advocacy from Archbishop Odama and other religious leaders, coupled with pressure from prominent Acholi leaders in northern Uganda, the Amnesty Act of 2000 was passed, and has been influential in facilitating the return of over 10,000 ex-combatants. Archbishop Odama advocated for a blanket Amnesty, as opposed to conditional amnesty that would exclude some members of the LRA leadership from receiving pardon.

In addition, he has also been instrumental in setting up organizations and associations that have contributed tremendously in working for peace in northern Uganda. One of the most famous organizations that the Archbishop contributed to setting up is the Acholi Religious Leaders Peace Initiative (ARLPI). ARLPI is an interfaith peace building and conflict transformation organization formed in 1997 as a proactive response to the conflict in Northern Uganda. ARLPI brings together leaders of six different religious sects/denominations (Anglican, Catholic, Muslim, Orthodox, Pentecostal, & Seventh Day Adventist) and their respective constituencies to participate effectively in transforming conflicts in Northern Uganda and the surrounding region. With northern Uganda currently experiencing relative peace, ALRLP continues to work for the reconstruction and recovery of northern Uganda in various areas including interfaith relations, research & documentation women empowerment, peace building & reconciliation and advocacy & lobbying. In 2004, ARLPI became the first African institution to receive the Niwano Peace Award for her contributions towards promoting unity and her commitment to finding peaceful ways to end the northern Uganda conflict. Upon receiving the prize, ARLPI used this award to create an ‘Interfaith Centre for Peace’ in Gulu.

Congratulatory Message for Archbishop Odama’s Peace Award (PDF Format)

Source: Interview with Archbishop Odama in 2010. Compiled and written by Lino Owor Ogora (0772835076, ogoralino@gmail.com), nominator of Archbishop John Baptist Odama for the 2012 World Vision International Peace Prize. Photographs: courtesy of Rev. Fr. Thaeddaeus Opio and Mr. Michael Otim.