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“Northern Uganda asks tough questions,” Daily Monitor, 29 November 2010

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“Northern Uganda asks tough questions,” Daily Monitor, 29 November 2010

http://www.monitor.co.ug/SpecialReports/Elections/-/859108/1061936/-/jm0k70/-/index.html

By Lino Owor Ogora

 

The time has come round again when the entire country is caught up in the election frenzy; campaign convoys paint the streets in all the colours of the rainbow depending on what party one belongs to; when accusations are traded left and right and all candidates believe they are the best for the job and make all sorts of promises.

Most candidates are promising the usual things that appeal to the ears of the common man; economic revitalisation and an end to poverty; modernisation of agriculture and loans to the rural poor; infrastructural development and good roads; support to the health sector; free education for all and creation of jobs for the youth.

The sad fact with most of the election manifestos that have been unveiled thus far is that they offer a ‘one size fits all’ solution for all regions in Uganda regardless of the current context on the ground.

Northern Uganda, for example, is just emerging from conflict after over 22 years of civil war, which started in 1986, and has had disastrous impacts on the population. Between 28,000 and 38,000 children are believed to have been abducted by the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) to serve as child soldiers, sex slaves and porters. It is estimated that over 1.8 million people were displaced and forced to live in squalid conditions of the IDP camps.

With the launch of Operation Lightning Thunder in November 2008 by the UPDF, however, the LRA were forced to relocate to the Central African Republic and Southern Sudan. Many people were therefore able to leave the IDP camps, many of which have been officially declared closed.

On June 22, local government officials in Gulu held a ceremony to close Cwero IDP Camp, which was one of the last remaining camps in the district. People finally have access to their farmlands after several years of conflict. Children are able to go to school. The infrastructure, much of which was destroyed, is slowly being refurbished. Economic activity has also picked up again, with northern Uganda acting as the gateway to the booming trade between Uganda and Southern Sudan.

The above is an indicator that Northern Uganda has entered that crucial stage of post conflict recovery. A lot remains to be done before the region can fully recover, with the timing being right for the implementation of post conflict transitional justice interventions. Election candidates need to be mindful of this fact.

The guns may be silent, but a lot remains to be done to ensure that there is a steady level of post conflict recovery in the coming years. The post conflict period calls for the implementation of a variety of programmes aimed at mitigating the negative impacts of the conflict. And yet few, if not none, of the election manifestos that have been unveiled thus far are showing any promise of holistically attaining this.

There is need to consolidate security. The LRA are still a potential threat and are currently reported to be continuing with atrocities in Southern Sudan and the Central Africa Republic. For example one article published on the BBC website reported that “not a week goes by without reports of the LRA, notorious for its brutality, attacking a village and that more than 25,000 people have been forced from their homes in South Sudan by the LRA since January.”

The LRA is also reported to have kidnapped almost 700 people, a third of them children, during attacks in the DR Congo and the CAR since February 2009, according to a report published in mid-August by the New York-based Human Rights Watch.

Consolidation of state security is a must if lasting peace is to prevail in northern Uganda. Otherwise many people will run back to the IDP camps at the first sign of news that the LRA has re-entered Ugandan territory.

This will jeopardise plans for rehabilitation of the region which are already underway. The revitalisation of the economy in northern Uganda is also another factor that requires attention.

To the outsider who visits Gulu for example, the situation may look good on the surface. Judging by the many banks that have opened shop here recently, and the large number of trucks laden with merchandise on their way to Southern Sudan, it looks deceptively good. However, after several years of encampment with many relying on food handouts from humanitarian agencies, the situation for many war survivors is far from desirable.

While programmes like the Northern Uganda Social Action Fund have been launched by the government to help, they have done little to solve the micro-economic needs of the people, and have been riddled with massive corruption scandals.

Others such as NUREP and the PRDP have focused on infrastructural development such as roads, health centres and schools, and done little to address individual needs of survivors of the conflict.

And yet there are several categories of people with special needs that require urgent and special remedies due to the unique experiences they underwent. Take the case of formerly abducted children and children born in captivity. While several initiatives have been put in place to provide them with psycho-social support and income generating activities, many have simply been unable to cope with life after captivity.

Many girls who were abducted are currently shouldering the burden of not only having to single-handedly take care of their children, but are also being re-victimised by their communities. Many are not able to sustain marriages because of their abduction experiences. Many formerly abducted youth cannot be engaged in formal employment because they missed out on education.

And as many of the people leave the IDP camps for good, it is not uncommon to find the elderly stranded in IDP camps because they lack the means to build themselves new homes. All these categories of people need to be helped to resume life in the post-conflict phase. This cannot be attained within the existing government programmes.

The social services sector requires massive investment, especially in education and health. In 2009, it was not surprising that northern Uganda performed worst in the primary leaving examinations held that year. Northern Uganda also currently has the highest prevalence of HIV/Aids prevalence and is home to a host of other diseases and health conditions. Incidence of mental illness here is highest in the country.

While most election manifestos are promising better education and health services, they are not considerate of the fact that northern Uganda has lagged behind. They need to go the extra mile in addressing this gap in education and health.

Meanwhile, many people in northern Uganda are looking forward to post-conflict peace building, reconciliation and accountability mechanisms. This will be the ultimate determinant to whether northern Uganda experiences lasting peace or not.

In terms of reparations, people still hope for the implementation of both collective and individual reparations. Many people have not forgotten the losses they suffered during the conflict, especially in f cattle and other valuable property. As a manifestation of this, many victims groups in northern Uganda are engaged in struggles to receive compensation from the government.

In West Nile, a group called the West Nile Kony Rebel War Victims’ Association, composed exclusively of survivors of the Karuma-Pakwach ambush by the LRA on March 8, 1996, is engaged in seeking compensation amounting to Shs60 billion.

In Teso there is the Mukura Massacre Survivors’ Association which advocated for compensation for several years, and only succeeded recently when President Museveni delivered Shs200 million in cash on October 12, 2010.

In Gulu there is the War Debts Claimants Association and other groups seeking compensation for lost cattle.

Other reparations mechanisms need to be pursued with the aim of achieving accountability and reconciliation. Several massacres were committed in places such as Atiak, Barlonyo, Mucwini, Lukodi, Omot, Bucoro, and Dziapi. People in northern Uganda therefore want perpetrators of war crimes and human rights violations to be brought to book.

There is also need for the construction of proper memorials and monuments in areas where massacres occurred, to honour memories of people who died. At the moment, most of the memorials which exist are either dilapidated or vague concrete and wood structures that do not resonate with the magnitude of crimes committed in those areas. In many places where massacres occurred, memorials simply do not exist.

Furthermore, many people still want to understand the root causes of the conflict, and they believe that one of the best ways in which this can be attained is by establishing a national truth seeking process. Truth seeking among the war affected populations would also help in fostering reconciliation between victims and perpetrators.

Presently, many children who were abducted and forced to commit atrocities within the LRA ranks have returned and are living in the very communities in which they committed atrocities. This situation cannot be allowed to remain as it is.

In moving forward, national development programmes need to be specific in addressing regional imbalances and other specific needs created as a result of conflict. If we are talking about economic revitalisation and poverty eradication for example, would we address it in northern Uganda the same way we would address it in central Uganda? Would we pursue implementation of education programmes in Karamoja in the same way we would do it in Kampala? Would we make equal budgetary allocations for the construction of roads and other infrastructure for all the regions?

After several decades of conflict and instability, the different regions are at different levels of development and therefore require different remedies using different strategies. What do the different political parties intend to do in this regard if elected?

Mr Ogora is a research, advocacy and documentation Officer, Justice and Reconciliation Project, Gulu.
ogoralino@gmail.com

“Arua- Enhancing grassroots involvement in transitional justice debates,” JRP, 23 November 2010

Press Releases, , , , ,

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

November 23, 2010

Enhancing grassroots involvement in transitional justice debates

GULU / ARUA / SOROTI— Today the Justice and Reconciliation Project (JRP), in partnership with the South Africa-based Institute for Justice and Reconciliation (IJR), commences a series of grassroots consultations in northern Uganda to explore local perspectives on transitional justice.

The first consultation, to be held November 24-25 at Slumberland Hotel in Arua Town, will engage local-level, grassroots persons directly affected by conflict to ensure that their opinions are not left out of the wider discussions. Thirty participants, comprising primarily of victims and victims’ groups and religious and cultural leaders from across the sub-region, will convene to share views on truth-seeking, traditional justice, community reparations and gender justice.

Subsequent consultations will be held in Gulu/Lango from December 1-2 and Teso sub-region from December 8-9. The findings will be presented at a regional meeting early next year and will work to influence policy recommendations for the implementation of key transitional justice mechanisms in the region.

These consultations are part of a larger JRP/IJR project, titled “Enhancing Grassroots Participation in Transitional Justice Debates,” which aims to intensify local advocacy and consultation of victims in northern Uganda around issues of transitional justice ahead of the 2011 presidential and parliamentary elections. Over the next three months, JRP/IJR will hold extensive consultations with a broad range of stakeholders, including grassroots communities, JLOS (Justice, Law and Order Sector), CSOs and local government leaders to gain a clearer sense of how justice needs can be met.

Media are invited to attend the opening and closing sessions of each of the regional consultations. For more information, email info@justiceandreconciliation.com or call Lindsay McClain, JRP Communications Officer, at +256 (0)471433008 or +256 (0)783300103. Or, visit us on the web at www.justiceandreconciliation.com or www.ijr.org.za.

 

About JRP

The Justice and Reconciliation Project (JRP) promotes locally sensitive and sustainable peace in Africa’s Great Lakes region by focusing on the active involvement of grassroots communities in local-level transitional justice. They are based in Gulu, northern Uganda.

About IJR

The Institute for Justice and Reconciliation (IJR) promotes for reconciliation and socio-economic justice in Africa through strategic partnerships and carefully constructed interventions. They are based in Cape Town, South Africa.

To download this press release, click here.

“Casting election ballots to address victimhood,” JRP, 16 November 2010

Press Releases, , ,

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

November 16, 2010

Casting election ballots to address victimhood

 

GULU— The 2011 Ugandan elections need candidates and parties who commit themselves to sustainable peace in Uganda. This requires not only forward-looking planning and development, but also stakeholders who address past abuses and feelings of injustice. Today, the Justice and Reconciliation Project (JRP) officially launches an advocacy campaign titled, “Casting the Ballot to Address Victimhood: A Call to Put Transitional Justice on the Election Agenda,” to engage war-affected communities and candidates into bringing transitional justice (TJ) issues to the forefront of the elections.

As Uganda enters election season, we see an immense opportunity for war-affected communities to influence the direction that the justice and reconciliation debate takes in this country, whilst informing aspiring politicians of the political and social value of prioritizing transitional justice. Internationally, transitional justice, or TJ, is increasingly recognized as an important tool in resolving post-conflict instability. However, in many circles, especially among politicians and policy-makers, TJ still remains underestimated and largely misunderstood. In a country like Uganda, with a history of violence, citizens and leaders informed of the merits of TJ mechanisms are vital to healing the wounds of war and ensuring the sustainability of peace—locally, regionally, and nationally.

In order to ensure that victim’s voices and interests are at the forefront of contestants’ minds in the upcoming elections, transitional justice must be prioritized on the election agenda. War-affected communities can prioritize TJ by using their votes wisely and voting only for candidates and parties who address and acknowledge their concerns.

According to the communities in which we work, votes this election should be in favour of contestants and parties who commit to:

  1. Accountability for past abuses: That they support a fair, transparent and balanced national transitional justice system that includes judicial investigations and prosecutions and traditional justice mechanisms, so those responsible for human rights violations are held accountable.
  2. National reconciliation through truth-telling: That they support provisions for truth-telling both at the national and community-levels, so that forgiveness, healing and reconciliation can take place in Uganda.
  3. Reparations for war victims: That they support a national reparations policy to fairly administer reparations to war victims in Uganda. There is need for coordination of all compensation efforts to ensure that reparations schemes across the country are consistent and that victims are consulted throughout the process.
  4. Memorialization: That they commit to undertake symbolic measures to promote remembrance, healing and closure nationally and among their constituencies.
  5. Gender justice: That they support efforts that challenge impunity for sexual and gender-based violence and ensure women and children’s equal access to redress of human rights violations.
  6. Structural reforms: That they support efforts that transform state institutions from instruments of repression and corruption to instruments of public service delivery and integrity, with a transparent and independent military, police and judiciary.

This strategy to encourage voters to hold candidates accountable matches our general approach to community involvement: the most successful activities will engage and empower communities to act for themselves. By reminding voters to ask their candidates where TJ is in their manifestos and then offering six general action points to guide their advocacy, we frame these communities’ arguments into a unifying demand that provides strength in numbers.

Throughout the region, and unfortunately much of the world, there is still a profound lack of understanding of how transitional justice can be effectively implemented. But by mobilizing war-affected communities to demand their grievances be addressed and acknowledged, we are providing communities and the country at large a space for reflection, debate, and analysis of the issues.

Knowledge on effective (and ineffective) TJ measures in these complex environments can greatly combat prevailing cycles of violence and contribute to lasting, sustainable peace in northern Uganda and elsewhere. Putting TJ on the election agenda is crucial to prioritizing the issues, meeting victims’ and survivors’ needs, and constructively ending impunity for past abuses and moving forward as a peaceful Uganda.

For more information on this campaign, email info@justiceandreconciliation.com or call Lindsay McClain, Communications Officer, at +256 (0)471433008. Or, visit us on the web at www.justiceandreconciliation.com.

 

ABOUT JRP

The Justice and Reconciliation Project promotes locally sensitive and sustainable peace in Africa’s Great Lakes region by focusing on the active involvement of grassroots communities in local-level transitional justice. Formerly a partnership of the Gulu District NGO Forum and the Liu Institute for Global Issues, University of British Columbia, Canada, JRP has played a key role in transitional justice in Uganda since 2005, through seeking to understand and explain the interests, needs, concerns and views of the communities affected by war between the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) and Government of Uganda (GOU). JRP became an independent NGO in 2010 with support from the Royal Norwegian Embassy, Kampala.

To download this press release, click here

“Letter to presidential candidates,” Daily Monitor, 8 November 2010

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“Letter to presidential candidates,” Daily Monitor, 8 November 2010

http://www.monitor.co.ug/OpEd/Letters/-/806314/1048938/-/yqhoey/-/index.html

By Lino Owor Ogora

 

The time has come when the country is caught up in the election frenzy; when election campaign convoys paint the streets in all the colours of the rainbow depending on what party one belongs to; when accusations are traded left and right and all candidates believe they are the best for the job; when candidates make all sorts of promises.

Most candidates are promising the usual things that appeal to the ears of the common man: economic revitalisation and an end to poverty; modernisation of agriculture and loans to the rural poor; infrastructure development and good roads; support to the health sector; free education for all and creation of jobs for the youth. The humour in all these election promises is that most of them are hardly kept and are forgotten the moment the election passes. Even political parties that will lose the elections will focus more on demonising the incumbent regime than in pressurising it to implement its election manifesto.

The sad fact with most of the election manifestos that have been unveiled thus far is that they offer a ‘one size fits all’ solution for all regions in Uganda regardless of the current context on the ground.

Northern Uganda for example is just emerging from conflict after over 22 years of civil war, which has had disastrous impacts upon the population. Between 28,000 and 38,000 children are believed to have been abducted by the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) to serve as child soldiers, sex slaves and porters; it is estimated that over 1.8 million people were displaced and forced to live in squalid conditions of the IDP camps.

I am yet to see a manifesto that seeks to holistically deal with the problems of northern Uganda. In the wake of conflicts, there is always an overwhelming need to pursue a wide variety of post-conflict mechanisms aimed ushering in lasting peace, stability and reconciliation. Perpetrators of war crimes and human rights violations need to be brought to book. There is need for acknowledgement and apology to victims, including a guarantee of non-occurrence. There is need for individual and collective reparations to victims, including compensation for property. There is need for reconciliation. We need proper memorials and monuments constructed in areas where massacres occurred to honour memories of people who lost their lives.

In addition, national development programmes need to be specific in addressing regional imbalances created as a result of the conflict. If we are talking about economic revitalisation and poverty eradication for example, would we address it in northern Uganda the same way we would address it in central Uganda? Would we pursue implementation of education programmes in Karamoja in the same way we would do it in Kampala? Would we make equal budgetary allocations for all regions?

We need to be mindful that after several decades of conflict and instability, the different regions are at different levels of development and therefore require different remedies using different strategies. What do the different political parties intend to do in this regard if elected?

Lino Owor Ogora,
ogoralino@gmail.com

“There are more than 13 who fought for peace in the north,” New Vision, 27 October 2010

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“There are more than 13 who fought for peace in the north,” New Vision, 27 October 2010

http://www.newvision.co.ug/D/8/459/736281/there%20are%20more%20than%2013%20who%20fought%20for%20peace

By Lino Owor Ogora

 

IN September, the New Vision ran a story about 13 people who had been honoured for their contribution to bringing peace in northern Uganda.

These people are: Dr. Ruhakana Rugunda, Steven Kagoda, Betty Bigombe, Gen. Katumba Wamala, Maj. Gen. Kale Kayihura, Archbishop John Baptist Odama, Bishop Zack Niringiye, Omukama of Bunyoro Solomon Iguru, Angella Katatumba, Richard Ocici, Edward Kigongo, Moses Bamuze and Francisca Akello.

We are not aware of the criteria that was used to select these people, but I would like to say, there were some people who deserved recognition, but were left out.

These include; Bishop Macleod Baker Ochola, the retired Bishop of Kitgum; Sheikh Musa Khelil and Bishop Nelson Onono Onweng.

They also include the founders of the Acholi Religious Leaders’ Peace Initiative. This was one of the first organisations to advocate blanket amnesty in northern Uganda.

Others are cultural leaders like Rwot David Onen Achana, the Emorimor of Teso, the King of the Alur and the Won Nyaci of Lango.

More so, why were the peace negotiators on the LRA side not recognised?

Could Dr. Rugunda have negotiated without the other side?

Where are the other prominent politicians, such as Gulu chairman Nobert Mao, Reagan Okumu and Col. Walter Ochora, who were involved in the peace negotiations.

I, therefore, call upon the national platform for peace building to think more broadly beyond the 13 people, who were recognised.

They also need to make public with the criteria they used to select these ‘achievers’.

It would also be good for the public to be told why such people are being recognised, and what their contribution was.

Finally, there is need for more consultation with the victims of the war in northern Uganda to ensure that the peace ‘achievers’ who get awarded, are also known, and appreciated by the survivors of the war.

The writer is the team leader for research, advocacy and documentation at the Justice and Reconciliation Project in Gulu

“New Hope for Northern Ugandans Seeking Reparations from Government” Ugandansabroad, 13 October 2010

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“New Hope for Northern Ugandans Seeking Reparations from Government” Ugandansabroad, 13 October 2010

http://ugandansabroad.org/2010/10/13/new-hope-for-northern-ugandans-seeking-reparations-from-the-government/

 By Samuel Ouga

 

KAMPALA, Uganda–

A team of researchers and lawyers will offer free legal services to thousands of survivors and victims of war conflicts in northern Uganda that are seeking reparations from the government.

The team, part of the network of the Northern Uganda Transitional Justice Working Group, hopes to help the victims demand compensation without any fear.

One of these lawyers is Charles Toolit Atiya, the coordinator of the group and a human rights lawyer.

“It’s obvious that after the wars, the structures, pillars and elements of justice got eroded like any other sector,” he told Ugandans Abroad. “Police work was objurgated to the military.”

The group is a large network of 120 organizations in Teso, Lango, Acholi, and West Nile regions.

Collectively, they hope to promote post-conflict justice mechanisms among survivors.    Many hope the government will compensate them for the destruction of their communities, the loss of their relatives’ lives, and disabilities they acquired during the war.

The survivors include those from massacres in Atyak, Mucwini, Mukura, and in West Nile. During the Atyak massacre alone, more than estimated 250 people were killed. Many want the government to also compensate them for when the UPDF occupied their land during the insurgencies.

The group recently set up a survivors’ membership desk, which helps them register their concerns for redress, as well as document their experiences from the conflict.  Atiya would like Ugandans in the diaspora to know that as much as government stepped in to re-establish the pillars of justice in the war-ravaged regions, a lot has to be done in settling offences and damages from recent conflicts.

One major problem is that survivors who are rewarded damages by the Uganda Human Rights Commission die before getting their benefits from the government, and face serious delays in the reparation process.

“We shall work days and nights to ensure that this process is expedited and made shoryer to serve the interests of the victims,” Atiya said.

Lino Owor Ogora, the research and advocacy team leader for the Justice and Reconciliation Project,  which is part of the larger network, told Ugandans Abroad that although guns have gone silent, war is not over for the victims.

“There are overwhelming demands for reparations by survivors and victims of the conflicts,” he said.   According to Ogora, the survivors of the 1989 massacre, have not been compensated by the government.

“In the West Nile, [the] Kony massacre survivors’ association also want compensation from the government,” he said. Many victims of the wars want to know how their friends and family died. Traditional justice can also help in settling some of the conflicts in the villages, which the organizations in the network can help facilitate.

Unfortunately, many of the survivors lack the financial resources and media coverage to pursue justice, since they are primarily impoverished relatives of those who were massacred, or victims trying to live with bullet wounds and amputated limbs.

Free legal services can be an important step in the right direction, since successfully seeking reparations is an expensive and time-consuming undertaking. Victims need support.

“These are not just straightforward cases,” said Toolit. “They are complicated and need a lot of research. And one of our fears is that of intimidation of the victims.”

The network is also pushing for a special reparation program to be created in northern Uganda to address the post-conflict needs of the region, and hope it can be coordinated with those seeking justice for war survivors in other parts of the country.

Samuel Ouga is a Ugandans Abroad reporter based in Kampala, Uganda.

“Families of Mucwini victims want reparation,” Daily Monitor, 20 August 2010

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“Families of Mucwini victims want reparation,” Daily Monitor, 20 August 2010

http://www.monitor.co.ug/News/National/-/688334/980774/-/x3sbey/-/index.html

 By James Eriku

 Families who lost their dear ones in Mucwini massacre in Kitgum District at the peak of the Lord’s Resistance Army rebellion in 2002 have asked the government to consider compensating them for the loss.

 The bereaved relatives said it is through compensation that they would feel government’s commitment in redressing the plight of children and women orphaned and widowed by the raid.

 “We ask the government to join hands with the cultural institution to compensate the families of those who died, to foster reconciliation and healing,” a statement read by the victims during a memorial prayer at the weekend, reads in part.

 In the early morning of July 24, 2002, the village witnessed one of the bloodiest attacks by the LRA on civilians when 56 people were massacred.

The women and children were massacred as a deliberate act of retaliation by the rebel outfit.

This is after they claimed that one of the sons of the village who had been abducted escaped and returned to the area with their gun.

The rebels allegedly rounded up the community and randomly selected some of the friends and family members to be murdered by axes, hand hoes, machetes and logs.

 Unfair act
They said although they appreciate government’s efforts to compensate lives of people killed by the July 11, 2010 twin bomb blasts in Kampala and those killed in Mukura massacre in 1989, they are not happy that there is no attention directed to survivors of the massacre in Mucwini.

 The most affected parishes in Mucwini by the LRA raids were; Pajong, Yepa, Pubec, Pudo, Ogwapoke, Agwoko, Akara and Bura.