All posts by Oryem Nyeko

Who cares about Dominic Ongwen’s trial?

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People watch Dominic Ongwen's trial at the International Criminal Court in Gulu, 16 January 2017. Credit: Oryem Nyeko.
People watch Dominic Ongwen’s trial at the International Criminal Court in Gulu, 16 January 2017. Credit: Oryem Nyeko.

Given that it is the first public trial for crimes committed in the two-decade war between the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) and Ugandan army, the case against Dominic Ongwen at the International Criminal Court (ICC) should, theoretically, be at the forefront of most Ugandans’ minds.

But what should be an opportunity for a national conversation on justice and accountability appears to be limited to a select group of people. Even in much of the north, the region from which thousands of people were killed and hundreds of thousands displaced in the conflict, few Ugandans seem to be following proceedings.

This is partly because of the practical realities of holding the trial thousands of miles away in The Hague rather than in Uganda. But it is also a result of the well-intended, but flawed, approach to outreach by the ICC.

“Affected communities”

The ICC’s outreach strategy for this case has been clear: to engage with the communities tied to the case as much as possible. Accordingly, screenings of the proceedings have been held in the four locations in northern Uganda that Ongwen is alleged to have led attacks as a senior LRA commander in 2004: Pajule; Odek; Lukodi, in the Acholi region; and Abok, where most identify as Langi.

The focus on these four areas is deliberate. These are the communities that would appear to have the most vested interests in the case, being home to the victims of the mass murders, abductions and looting for which Ongwen is accused of being responsible.

Additionally, because of the possibility of compensation for victims at the conclusion of the trial, the court has worked extra hard in these areas to calm expectations about the ICC’s reparations programme.

However, Ongwen and the LRA’s infamy are not limited to attacks on four camps in 2004. Nor were victims of the violence exclusive to the Acholi speaking regions of Uganda. It therefore comes as a surprise that the ICC’s focus has been largely limited to these places, and that it has seemingly been geared to accommodate only Acholi speakers; Acholi is the sole Ugandan language into which the official live streams of the proceedings are being translated.

Should an outreach strategy only focus on the “affected communities”, especially where the scope and impact of the alleged crimes are far more wide reaching than those geographical areas?

If the interests of the communities are to be a deciding factor at least, then the answer is no. In research with these groups in 2015, we found that many people were concerned with the “othering” that comes with being labelled a victim community in a case such as this. This is particularly true where reparations – something the bulk of victims of both state-led and LRA atrocities have not received – are a distinct possibility for that population.

People in Lukodi, for example, were eager to emphasise the need for dialogue with Ongwen’s own community to facilitate a level of understanding. This would, in their view, negate the status that comes with being an “affected community”.

Another notable aspect of the ICC’s approach in northern Uganda is its use of local NGOs as conduits to the communities it wants to reach. It is not unusual for the staff of local NGOs to facilitate ICC-funded events and act as a friendly face for the court. Partnership is, of course, an important part of civil society work and a useful tool that the court can use to gain the trust and familiarity of people in the area.

But the result here is that – unlike in Kenya where civil society was noted for its vibrant role in the investigation and prosecution of perpetrators of the 2007-08 election violence – northern Uganda’s civil society suffers from having to balance providing critical input with effectively being an extension of the same court.

Legacy of the war

It should be noted that, previously, official screenings of the trial have also been held in the town of Gulu in the north and in Ongwen’s village of Coorom. The screenings in Gulu, however, proved to be a challenge given the very inconsistent internet and electricity. Understandably then, the ICC only held screenings here in the trial’s early stages, leaving those interested in following the rest of it to watch it online or simply not at all, since the hearings were not broadcast on radio or television.

It’s not surprising, therefore, that when speaking to boda boda riders – the local repositories of current affairs in Gulu – about what is happening with Ongwen at the ICC, many have more questions than answers.

It has been around a decade since the war ended and, since then, northern Uganda, once defined by conflict, has had its identity change. Even so, the legacy of the war remains a major part of the region and very few of its residents are young enough not to remember it or its impact.

It is of course possible that the Ongwen trial would never have been at the forefront of everyone’s minds, but its inaccessibility to most people, and the choices the court has made in reaching out to them, has certainly had a bearing on how relevant it is.

Oryem Nyeko is the Communications and Advocacy Team Leader with JRP. 

This article was originally published on African Arguments.

Looking beyond Dominic Ongwen’s trial at the ICC

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People watch a live screening of Dominic Ongwen's trial at the ICC in Gulu. Oryem Nyeko/JRP.
People watch a live screening of Dominic Ongwen’s trial at the ICC in Gulu. Oryem Nyeko/JRP.

The ongoing trial of Dominic Ongwen at the International Criminal Court is an important step in the accountability process for the war in northern Uganda. It is also important to remember that this is not the end of the conversation around justice and reconciliation in Uganda.

The violence has not ended

For many in northern Uganda, the violence did not end with the war. Survivors of war-time rape, defilement, sexual exploitation, as well as early and forced marriage are still a marginalised and vulnerable group. In a 2014 study with women conflict-SGBV survivors in northern Uganda we found that 93% say that they still face the same threats as they did in the past. While many have worked to break the silence about these experiences, redress is still lacking.

Redress here can mean providing economic empowerment through skills training and adult literacy programmes which will enable survivors to be self-reliant and in control of their daily lives. It also means structural and institutional reform allowing for free and accessible medical, psychosocial, social and legal support for survivors. All of this would go a long way in addressing and preventing the stigma, exploitation and revictimisation that comes with the vulnerability of being a war-time SGBV survivor.

There should be accountability for both past and current violations. The ICC’s prosecutor has included conflict-SGBV charges in her case against Dominic Ongwen, but there still remain thousands of female and male survivors in and outside of northern Uganda who suffered outside the scope of those charges during the war. Many have received neither accountability nor acknowledgment for the crimes that were committed against them.

Children born of war

There are also very many whose rights and experiences, while important, are often unjustifiably ignored and overlooked. These include children born of war – children born in captivity or from war-related rape or defilement – who face stigma in their communities and schools and are unable to access or own land and other resources because of the complex and gendered nature of property inheritance in the region. We have worked with war-affected women and cultural leaders to support their reintegration in northern Uganda through family reunions, but this is an area that needs the support of actors across all sectors to make a contribution.

Dealing with the past and the future

3 February 2017 will mark nine years since the signing of the Juba peace talk’s Agreement on Accountability and Reconciliation, the agreement that gave birth to what would develop into a draft national policy on transitional justice for Uganda. For some time, there seemed to be progress on this. Unfortunately, however, the momentum for this process has stalled. Several years later, however, the last and final draft of the TJ policy is still reportedly lagging in cabinet.

This policy was meant to provide guidance to the government to “address justice, accountability and reconciliation needs of post conflict Uganda” and to both deal with the country’s past and prevent conflict in the future. However, because of its ambiguous status, the possibility of a national truth-telling process or a reparations programme for victims of war remain distant despite how important many Ugandans have said how important these processes are.

Accountability for state-led crimes

We have documented the experiences of survivors of crimes committed by state forces during the war in northern Uganda and have found a running theme among survivors: a call for acknowledgment of these crimes by the Ugandan government and for measures, such as reparations, to be put in place. Some of these crimes have in the past been acknowledged by the government, most notably by President Museveni in 2014. Unfortunately, there has been little public accountability for what took place. Reports suggest that government perpetrators, soldiers, have been subjected to punishment for crimes committed during Uganda’s wars in northern Uganda, but concrete details about these are not readily available to the public. This leaves survivors, their families and their communities with the feeling that their experiences have gone unnoticed.

The war in northern Uganda is an example of the complexity of conflict, where the lines of perpetrator are blurred between state, rebel and civilian, the abductors and the abductees. It is this complexity which tells us that it is not one process that will provide solutions to the years of conflict. If Uganda is ever going to move past its history of conflict, we need to address the many concerns of survivors in northern Uganda and the rest of the country that still remain.

Oryem Nyeko is the Communications and Advocacy Team Leader at the Justice and Reconciliation Project.

Making peacebuilding evaluation accessible

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“What does peace look like around the world?”

 

That’s a simple question that can be answered in a couple of ways.

And it was one of many questions we asked in Cape Town this past December during a workshop on breaking barriers to inclusion and participation in peacebuilding evaluation. As an implementing partner of the Everyday Peace Indicators project, JRP was given the opportunity to talk about our work creating a bottom-up approach to evaluating peacebuilding work.

For the past three years, JRP facilitated focus group discussions and community meetings in Kanyagoga, Odek and Atiak to identify indicators to identify those community’s own measures of peace. We followed this up with conducting mobile phone surveys in each location to measure change over time on those indicators.

Possibilities for the future

As the discussion went on, Katherine Haugh an evaluator and graphic designer, created visuals like the one above on the everyday peace indicators, highlighting the questions we were tackling: what does a bottom-up approach to asking how people measure peace in their everyday lives in places like northern Uganda, Zimbabwe and South Africa look like? And what are the possibilities for adopting an approach that focuses on the perspective of the communities in which an intervention is being made, rather than that of an NGO or its donor?

Everyone could walk up and see

As people spoke, Katherine used bright colours to draw and write on boards displayed on the walls of the conference room. At first it was difficult to tell what she was doing and why, but as the process continued it became clear that it was creating an alternative that made what would seem like a complex question (what does peace look around the world?) accessible to all kinds of people. What was great about it was that everyone could walk up and see what she had created during and after the discussions, which made it even more interactive and fun.

Brainstorming new ideas

This different approach was especially important because the whole point of the workshop was to bring actors from across the world to brainstorm and come up with new ideas, be innovative and creative, and share experiences to make sure the communities we partner with are involved in both the work and the evaluation of the work we do. It’s true that not everyone responds to visuals and bright colours – some people are admittedly more aural and like to hear concepts spoken before they can internalise them. But if you’re going to focus on increasing participation and inclusion, this was an incredible way to get the ball rolling.

Read more…

 

Contribute to ‘Voices’ on children born of war

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Voices, Issue, 10 November 2015 Voices Issue 08 Cover Voices Issue 07 cover_sm Voices Issue 5, September 2013 - Victim participation in transitional justice

Voices is looking for contributors to its next issue. This issue is centred on children born of war whose needs, while important, are often ignored and overlooked.

In this issue we hope to explore opportunities and challenges for children of born of war by providing a space for previously unheard voices.

We welcome a variety of content for this issue including standard articles and essays, photographs and photo essays, poetry, drawings, paintings and any other creative contributions.

To contribute

If you want to contribute to this issue, please get in touch with the Voices editorial team via email at voices@justiceandreconciliation.com to share your ideas.

Please bear in mind that we use a three-stage process for accepting, reviewing and editing submissions:

  1. Submission of story ideas to the editorial team based on the given theme an issue is based on. This may be in the form of a brief (150-200 word) title and abstract, or simply in the form of a proposed title.
  2. Submission of a first draft after a story idea is approved by the editorial team.
  3. Liaising with editors and submission of final draft.

Full submission guidelines can be found here.

Voices Issue 02 Cover

About Voices

Voices is a publication of the Justice and Reconciliation Project (JRP) which provides a space for victim-centred views on transitional justice. It aims to be a regular, open platform for victims and key stakeholders to dialogue on local and national transitional justice developments. Past issues have dealt with thematic areas such as amnesty, reparations, truth-telling, accountability and sexual- and gender-based violence. We welcome the submission of articles from conflict-affected community members, academics, civil society and government representatives on each issues’ given theme.

Living in unity and seeking justice – Lukodi massacre survivors to hold memorial prayers

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Lukodi massacre memorial 2015-05-19 (38) 2

On 19 May 2016 survivors of the Lukodi massacre with the chiefdom of Patiko, Ker Kal Kwaro Patiko, members of the community and well wishers will host their annual prayers to commemorate the 2004 LRA massacre.

The theme of this years event is “living in unity and seeking justice” and it will take place at Lukodi P7 School in Bungatira sub-county just outside of Gulu.

 

TJ Monitor: Thomas Kwoyelo trial postponed to July

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Thomas Kwoyelo Timeline

 

The trial of alleged Lord’s Resistance Army commander Thomas Kwoyelo, which was supposed to start today in Gulu, 2 May 2016, has been postponed to 18 July. Four weeks ago, the Registrar in charge of Special Projects and the ICD, Harriet Ssali Lule, alluded to the possibility that the trial may be postponed because planned outreach with victims had not been conducted by the prosecution team. According to reports, Kwoyelo has already been transferred from prison in Kampala to Gulu and will attend a “formal postponement of the trial”.

Monuments in Odek and Burcoro bring communities full circle

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When the Justice and Reconciliation Project’s Documentation team began working with the community of Odek in Gulu district in 2014, the sense was that the community wanted acknowledgment for the many violations they experienced during the war. As the ancestral home of LRA commander Joseph Kony, the area suffered the stigma of that association, and many there said that their experiences had been ignored over the years.

A similar feeling was held in Burcoro, a village in Awach sub-county, for survivors of an NRA operation where civilians, accused of being rebel supporters, were tortured, sexually violated, abducted and killed over the course of four days in April 1991.

So when this past week, the JRP’s Community Mobilisation department worked with those two communities to launch monuments to commemorate those experiences, it felt like the communities calls had come full circle.

In Odek, at the sub-county headquarters, on a white-tiled block the names of 44 people that died during an attack by the LRA on an internally-displaced persons’ camp there on 29 April 2004 are listed on a plaque (the LRA’s massacre, and other experiences are documented in JRP’s 2014 field note, “Forgotten Victims: Recounting Atrocities Committed in Odek sub-county by the LRA and NRA”). Clan chief Rwot Ocan Jimmy Luwala of Puranga and Gulu District Council Speaker, Okello Douglas Peter Okao, joined the community, survivors and relatives of the victims to officially launch this monument on 2 December 2015.

A week later, on 8 December, Burcoro Primary School – the scene of the NRA’s 1991 operation – also hosted community members, survivors and relatives to launch a monument in the shape of a tree for their experiences. The tree symbolizes the community’s experiences, in particular the place where a man called Kapere Alfoncio, who was accused of being a rebel, was shot and killed by fire squad on the final days of the operation. The launch of the monument was also used to share JRP’s field note “The Beasts at Burcoro”, which recounts events that took place, with the community.

Following a blessing of the monument by religious leaders in Burcoro, Resident District Commissioner (RDC) for Gulu, Okot Lapolo, received a memorandum from the Burcoro 1991 Military Operation Survivors Association addressed to Ugandan president, Yoweri Museveni, and calling for support. The RDC promised to deliver it to the president and to remind him about pledges he made in 2011 to provide compensation.

Survivors, relatives of victims, invited guests and the JRP team pose infront of the monument for the atrocities committed in Burcoro by the NRA in April 1991.

Now that both communities have their experiences documented and have monuments in place, they plan to host memorial prayers at their respective monument sites in the future to commemorate the events.

“Many people were thinking that their plight was not known but now they feel relieved,” a survivor of the Burcoro incident told me, “What was disturbing was the [fear that because the Burcoro incident was state-led] that if you exposed yourself as a victim, you may be in trouble.”

See pictures of both launches on JRP’s Facebook page.

Oryem Nyeko is the Communications and Advocacy Team Leader at JRP.

The AU’s Panel of the Wise reflects on on silencing the guns in Africa

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Two weeks ago, I attended and presented at the third retreat of the African Union’s Panel of the Wise in Addis Ababa. The Panel of the Wise is a body established by the AU’s Peace and Security Council protocol. It is constituted by five “highly respected African personalities who have made outstanding contribution to the cause of peace, security and development on the continent” and their job is to support the Peace and Security Council, the AU’s body responsible for “the maintenance of continental peace and security”, by carrying out mediation, brokering peace agreements and playing an advisory role to the Council.

This year, the Panel held its third annual retreat, which is a meeting that brings peacebuilding, conflict-prevention, mediation and transformation actors from across Africa to discuss and develop “traditional, homegrown approaches” to ensure lasting peace in Africa with each other and the Panel. This year, the meeting was guided by the theme “Silencing the Guns by 2020”.

Even though the theme of the meeting was forward looking, a lot of attention was paid to ongoing conflicts since, for many, these hit close to home. Burundian presenter, Dr. Marie-Louise Baricako, spoke about what is happening in her country and said that where peace is concerned, the signing of peace agreements is simply not enough. “There must be a process of reconstruction after an agreement is signed,” she said.

At the start of the meeting, a moment of silence was proposed for the victims and families of the recent attacks in Paris. In response, it was suggested as well in addition to Paris, we would stand in solidarity with the peoples of Burundi, Nigeria and other places for whom active conflict is raging.

Bishop Dinis Salomao Sengulane of Mozambique wears a cross made from the remains of weapons used during war.
Bishop Dinis Salomao Sengulane of Mozambique wears a cross made from the remains of weapons used during war.

I was asked to speak during a session dedicated to “the role of local actors in conflict prevention, mediation, dialogue and peacebuilding”. I saw my task as simple – to draw attention to the opportunities for the mediation of conflict in the African context that involves and uses lessons learned from witnessing the resilience and strength of the communities and individuals in northern Uganda whose daily lives are affected by war. So, I stressed how important it is to involve affected-communities and individuals in mediation, dialogue and peacebuilding because they often already have the capacity, skills and desire to mediate, dialogue, and prevent conflict. The role of other actors – civil society, government and so on – is to provide the platforms to do this, which is the essence of a bottom-up approach.

Fortunately, this sentiment was shared by most of the presentations made at the retreat – so even though the meeting was simultaneously conducted in four different languages, I didn’t feel like I was speaking a foreign tongue. Many of the presentations spoke about the value and importance of involving people of different sectors – youth, women, and civil society and so on – and how it has been consistently shown how important these are for ensuring lasting and effective resolution of conflict. During her opening remarks at the beginning of the meeting, Panel of the Wise member Dr Speciosa Wandira reflected this when she remarked that this was a “time to redeposit power for the people”.

A highlight during the retreat was a presentation by Bishop Dinis Salomao Sengulane of Mozambique who listed ten key ways by through peace can be maintained. One which struck me was the importance of not leaving peacemaking in the hands of the few. “Violent people,” he said, “are not in the majority.” It is also important, he said, to disarm the minds and hands of people in “creative ways”. This could be done through using symbols of violence – such as bullets or guns – and turning their meaning around so that they represent hope and a positive images. In Mozambique, materials used from surrendered weapons from the civil war have been turned into art pieces, including the “Tree of Life”, a sculpture displayed in the British Museum. Bishop Sengulane himself wears a cross sculpted from the remains of weapons used to perpetrate violence, leaving me with the inspiration to know that peace can really be achieved.

 

JRP looks at 10 years of justice and reconciliation

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Voices, Issue, 10 November 2015
Voices, Issue, 10 November 2015

A decade after the publication of “Roco Wat I Acoli”, JRP’s flagship report on traditional approaches to reintegration and justice, we’ve published a special issue of our magazine Voices to look back on the past ten years and look forward to the future.

The November issue of Voices, which happens to be the tenth issue of the magazine, is tied into JRP’s celebration of the ten years of work it has done with war-affected communities in northern Uganda.

This issue features articles by Vincent Oyet, a member of the Lukodi Massacre Memorial Association, as well as by members of the Mukura Memorial Development Initiative, which JRP has worked closely with over the years. Other highlights include articles by Sylvia Opinia on the contributions of the Women’s Advocacy Network to transitional justice discourse, Philipp Shulz on the importance of victim-centric research, as well as a special interview with co-founder Erin Baines.

To read and download a pdf version this issue click here. Selected articles are also featured on Voices’ website: voices.justiceandreconciliation.com

Creating spaces for memory #TransitionalJusticeFellowship

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The sign from Freedom Park, South Africa.
The sign from Freedom Park, South Africa.

In the past two weeks I have been participating in the Institute for Justice and Reconciliation (IJR)’s Transitional Justice in Africa Fellowship. The programme brings practitioners, scholars and researchers from across Africa to South Africa for three weeks to engage, share and learn from the different transitional justice journeys taking place on the continent. This years’ programme features seven people from Uganda, Burundi, DRC, South Sudan and Zimbabwe.

The first week was memorable because we focused on memory!

The fellowship began with four days in Gauteng with visits to memorial sites such as the Voortrekker monument (built in the late 1930s to remember the first Afrikaaners that traveled inwards from the southern coast of Africa during what is known as ‘The Great Trek’). The Voortrekker monument is a large mausoleum-like stone structure that broods over the city of Pretoria and, interestingly, another memorialisation site known as Freedom Park. More about that later.

On the inside walls of the monument is a 360 degree marble mural sculpture depicting the experiences of the Voorktrekkers as they made their travels. In the center of one wall is the depiction of Voortrekker leader Piet Retief being betrayed and murdered by Zulu leader, Dingane, after signing a peace agreement. The events are theatrically portrayed and speak to the monument’s martyrdom and sacrifice narrative. 90 degrees right to this Dingane’s death at the hands of ‘the Swazis’ is also displayed in cool white marble.

Juxtaposed with the Voortrekker monument and only a short drive away is Freedom Park. Freedom Park was commissioned by the South African government in 2000 and is characterised by two main areas – the first we visited, the Garden of Remembrance, is a sprawling 2.5 hectare composition of indoor and outdoor spaces that we were told are meant to foster contemplative thought and meditation. The second area is a museum dedicated to the history of Africa, called //hapo (‘dream’ in the Khoi language), from 3.6 million years ago. The total space of Freedom Park is 52 hectares!

“This must be a contested space where we can dialogue about where we are going.” –Freedom Park tour guide Bhadresh Kadra
“This must be a contested space where we can dialogue about where we are going.” –Freedom Park tour guide Bhadresh Kadra

In the Garden of Remembrance, indigenous African spiritualities are carefully incorporated to craft elaborate spaces where symbolism meets memorialisation. While inclusivity is a big deal at the Garden of Remembrance – the names of the areas are in different South African languages – the space is not without controversy. The ‘Wall of Names’ (an almost 700 metre wall of inscribed names of people that played a role in South Africa’s various conflicts) has apparently been met with criticism. The complex rules surrounding whose name goes on the wall means that Nelson Mandela’s name has not been approved just yet.

My favorite part of the fellowship so far has been a visit to the Hector Pieterson Memorial in Soweto. An actual museum is surrounded by a beautiful and simple public open area dedicated to remembering the 13 year old and other students killed during the student uprising against apartheid in the late 1970s. A  quote by the mother of the young man that carried Hector Pieterson after he had been shot is inscribed into a stone bench.

“Mbuyisa is or was my son. But he is not a hero. In my culture, picking up Hector is not an act of heroism. It was his job as a brother. If he left him on the ground and somebody saw him jumping over Hector. He would never be able to live here.” – Ma’Makhubu, Mbuyisa’s Mother
“Mbuyisa is or was my son. But he is not a hero. In my culture, picking up Hector is not an act of heroism. It was his job as a brother. If he left him on the ground and somebody saw him jumping over Hector. He would never be able to live here.” – Ma’Makhubu, Mbuyisa’s Mother

What is most powerful about the Hector Pieterson Memorial is that is placed in such a way and in an area that is very accessible to ordinary people. When visiting you are able to see schoolchildren, whose lives have been undoubtedly impacted by the sacrifices the students who are remembered here, walk by in their school uniforms as they make their way home. As I witnessed this it struck me that there is a void of public spaces for reflection and commemoration of Uganda’s conflict history. Spaces that are dedicated to memorialisation are usually made on the initiative of survivors and relatives of mass atrocities. Actual public spaces, such as the Independence Monument in Kampala, are simply closed off to the public. Similarly, in Burcoro political leaders prevent communities from memorialising their experiences while in Barlonyo and Atiak, data about those that were killed during their respective massacres is distorted by public officials.

The result is that discussions about Uganda’s conflict history are often remote and inaccessible to people that did not directly experience it. One wonders how future generations will access information about what happened in the past and thereby prevent it from happening again. A lesson I have learned during this process is that a public area, in say, central Kampala or Gulu, that acknowledges the experiences of Ugandans and provides for open discussion and contemplation, whether contested or not, would be a step forward in Uganda’s transitional journey.

Follow me on twitter for more updates @oryembley!

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