Tag Archives: Odek

Let’s Talk, Uganda heads to Odek

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A woman speaks during a dialogue in Lukodi village, Bungatira sub-county.
A woman speaks during a dialogue in Lukodi village, Bungatira sub-county.

 

PRESS RELEASE THURSDAY, JULY 28, 2016

GULU – Today Let’s Talk, Uganda will hold its second community dialogue in Odek, a sub-county in Omoro district, combining the innovative use of social media with offline discussion.

The dialogue aims to give space for the community of Odek to engage in a discussion and hear different viewpoints on transitional justice, peace, truth-telling and reconciliation. The opinions expressed in Odek and online will be shared through dedicated social media pages on Facebook and Twitter to facilitate conversation. A special WhatsApp number has also been created to allow people from across Uganda to take part.

This is the second Let’s Talk, Uganda dialogue, following one in the village of Lukodi in Gulu on 2 June. Like in Lukodi, the people of Odek have welcomed the initiative and expressed their commitment to support it.

Odek sub-county chief Ojok Michael said: “We embrace this new approach to disseminating information about what happened and the experiences of communities after war through the emphasis of the youth and the internet. The word is now a global village.”

The chair of Kica Ber, a survivors group in Odek, Lakwo Nyero Partick Sila, also said: “[The dialogue] will help people outside to know of Odek and the LRA war. Awareness will be created and the minds of people will be changed.”

“It will give time to people to express their opinion. People have no platforms and avenues to express their opinions,” he said.

The dialogue in Odek itself will centre around four topics chosen by people from Odek:

  • Is there peace in the community?
  • How can the voices of the community be heard?
  • Can truth telling bring change?
  • How can we challenge the negative perceptions of Odek?

To join the conversation at Odek, interested participants are asked to follow the Let’s Talk, Uganda Facebook page at fb.me/letstalkuganda, twitter: @talk_ug or send comments or questions to the WhatsApp number at +256 782 112 002.

About Let’s Talk, Uganda

Let’s talk Uganda is a project run jointly by the Justice and Reconciliation Project (JRP) and RNW Media with the aim of engaging people in northern Uganda and Kampala in a dialogue, with a focus on the youth and issues faced by post-conflict societies. The aim is to promote understanding, reconciliation and the transitional justice process in Uganda.

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.

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Communities in Lango and Acholi work to memorialise their experiences

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A capacity building workshop is held in Parabongo earlier this year.
A capacity building workshop is held in Parabongo earlier this year.

With funding support from USAID-SAFE Program, the Community Mobilization department at JRP conducted a series of trainings on themes of memory and reconciliation with 39 members of Community Reconciliation (CORE) teams in seven communities across Lango and Acholi sub-regions. Held in May, 2015, these trainings covered a range of topics including conflict mitigation, peace building, forgiveness and reconciliation, gender mainstreaming in peace building and reconciliation programs, trauma healing and counseling skills, and memory and memorialization. This helped the members of the CORE teams to understand the importance of memorialization and to envision an ideal memory and reconciliation project for their communities.

During the training, the participants examined the following questions in order to come up with an ideal memory project for each of the seven communities:

  • What are the conflict events that occurred in your areas?
  • What conflict event do you want to remember?
  • How would you like to remember it?
  • What memory projects would promote healing, advocacy and reconciliation for your communities?
  • What ideal memory project can you implement in your community?

These guiding questions helped the CORE team members to come up with ideas for memory projects in consultation with their respective victims’ communities, which could be implemented within five months in their communities. The seven communities came up with the following innovative ideas for community memory projects which are now nearing successful completion.

Lukodi: The community of Lukodi chose to write a book which documents life before the war, and also emphasizes how culture has been eroded by war and makes suggestions on how it can be rejuvenated. They also chose to legally register the acquired piece of land which serves as the memorial site for the Lukodi massacre of 2004. This would enable the community to transfer a monument for the massacre which is in another area to this land and to develop the site.

Parabongo: The community of Parabongo, with guidance of the CORE team, chose to construct a new memorial stone to replace an older barely visible monument. They envisage having a more visible monument in memory of the people killed by LRA in Parabongo in 2006.

Atiak: Together with the CORE team, the victims’ community in Atiak chose to develop a list of conflict memorabilia to be preserved to document their memory of the war. They also decided to develop a profile of those who were killed in the 1995 massacre, and after verifying the list of names, they will engrave and place it onto a memorial monument. The community also pledged to facilitate a process of community-led documentation through the use of arts to preserve memories of events that became a turning point in the lives of the people of Atiak at the peak of the war.

Burcoro: The community of Burcoro chose to construct a monument in memory of the people killed during the military operation led by NRA in Burcoro in 1991. They wished to preserve memories of state-led atrocities that were never acknowledged.

Odek: The people of Odek also felt they were never publicly acknowledged to have suffered during the LRA war. To them, putting up a memorial monument would communicate what they went through in order for them to also be considered for post-conflict reconstruction services. They, therefore, chose to construct a memory stone in memory of the mass killing by LRA in Odek.

Barlonyo: The community of Barlonyo decided to beautify their memorial site in order to celebrate the lives of their loved ones who perished in the 2002 massacre. They chose to fence and beautify the memorial site with a variety of beautiful flowers blooming in gardens adjacent to well-paved walkways.

Abia: In Abia, the community chose to erect a monument in the form of a statue of a helpless woman which depicts their plight in the aftermath of the massacre of 2004. They also decided to make a painting on the wall of memorial school in memory of their war experiences.

JRP pledged to support the seven communities in the implementation of their respective community memory projects, which have been shaping well over the last five months. As the projects near completion, JRP is proud to reaffirm its support to showcase community-relevant approaches to justice, healing and reconciliation.

Statement regarding OTP Notice of Intended charges

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On 24 September 2015, a redacted version of a “Notice of intended charges against Dominic Ongwen” by the Office of the Prosecutor (OTP) at the International Criminal Court (ICC) was made public. This notice outlines the charges the OTP intends to bring against alleged Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) commander Dominic Ongwen and includes several additions to the seven charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity previously brought against him.

Following this development, the Justice and Reconciliation Project (JRP) issues the following statement:

JRP especially welcomes the announcement by the OTP of intended charges related to sexual and gender-based crimes. Accountability for sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) has often been difficult to secure in criminal proceedings in cases at both the ICC and the International Crimes Division of the High Court of Uganda (ICD). With the support of JRP, the members of the Women’s Advocacy Network (WAN), have advocated since 2011 for justice, acknowledgment and accountability for gender-based violations inflicted upon them during the conflict. These intended charges provide recognition of the work of the WAN as well as an opportunity for renewed discussion on accountability for SGBV during conflict.

JRP also welcomes the clarification of the nature of the charges to be levelled against Dominic Ongwen, particularly in relation to his alleged role in contributing to the implementation of the Lukodi massacre of 2004. Prior to this notice, the nature of the allegation of Dominic Ongwen’s involvement in the Lukodi massacre was subject only to speculation among the affected community in northern Uganda. Clear information about proceedings at the ICC is vital in creating a sense of ownership and involvement towards this case and the Court for northern Ugandans.

JRP sees the extension of the intended charges against Dominic Ongwen to atrocities committed in Pajule, Odek and Abok as an opportunity for more communities to be involved in discussions on accountability. Victims in many places across northern Uganda, such as Odek, have often expressed feelings of dismay at not being involved in transitional justice processes. Incorporating these communities in processes such as these is key in providing acknowledgment of these communities’ conflict-experiences.

Finally, JRP welcomes the focus that these intended charges bring to questions of accountability for atrocities, and in particular towards SGBV crimes, committed by both LRA and government forces during the conflict in northern Uganda. This is an opportunity to draw  attention to avenues for and the continued need for redress for victims and survivors of conflict in northern Uganda.

How the people of Odek are remembering the past and honoring their loved ones

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A sign for Odek Primary School in Gulu District.
A sign for Odek Primary School in Gulu District.

Memory refers to the processes that are used to acquire, store, retain and later retrieve information. It is also the process of creating meaning over the past events. In lay man’s term I can say that ‘making the past becoming part of me i.e. looking at the past conflict events positively’. Memorialisation is honoring the lives of people or events by preserving memories which is one of the key parts of transitional justice that is vital for promoting recognition and acknowledgement of past violations of human rights and also bringing healing, reconciliation to those whose rights were violated.

Odek is a sub-county located in the eastern direction of Gulu District in northern Uganda near to the border between Lango and Acholi that was also severely affected by the two decade war. It is also the birth place of the LRA leader Joseph Kony the LRA leader. This is one area that also experienced two remarkable massacres that were perpetrated by both government soldiers and the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA). Last year, JRP documented the experiences of the community in its field note, “Forgotten Victims”.

For long, the people of Odek have spoken about wanting to honor their loved ones who were massacred during the conflict. This year, with support from USAID-SAFE, the Justice and Reconciliation Project (JRP) is working with Odek as one of seven northern Ugandan communities that will be supported to implement a memory project.

To do this a Community Reconciliation (CORE) team, a team of five people that were selected to represent Odek community from the Kica Ber (forgiveness is good) group, were trained on various topics and among which was Memory and Memorialization. During the training, the team went through a process to come out with what their ideal memory project would be, which they chose as the construction of a monument.

During our recent monitoring and support visit, the chairman Local Counselor (LC) III of Odek said: ‘For long the community of Odek has desired to have a monument constructed here and at last we are going to have one. I am very grateful to JRP for their interventions here in Odek. The first one was the documentation of the Odek massacres that created awareness to other groups like the ICC [which] has now visited Odek to seek our opinion on Dominic Ongwen’s case.’

JRP will continue to work with Odek as part of the project ‘Across Ethnic Boundaries: Promoting Regional Reconciliation in Acholi and Lango Sub-Regions’ which aims to promote conflict memory and promote reconciliation at community and regional level through community and public dialogues as well as training on transitional justice. Other communities JRP is working with are Lukodi, Burcoro, Atiak, Parabongo, Abia and Barlonyo.

Forgotten Victims: Recounting Atrocities Committed in Odek Sub-County by the LRA and NRA

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Forgotten Victims - Recounting Atrocities Committed in OdekSub-County by the LRA and NRA_SM
Forgotten Victims: Recounting Atrocities Committed in Odek Sub-County by the LRA and NRA, JRP Field Note 21, November 2014

In its efforts to document the voices of the victims of the conflict in northern Uganda, based on the belief that through facilitating communities to tell their stories in their own terms and words not only helps to bring some relief to the victims but also contributes to better inform transitional justice processes, the Justice and Reconciliation Project launches this field note as a first step to acknowledge what happened in Odek sub-county. The purpose of this report is twofold. First, it seeks to make visible the atrocities committed by the NRA and the LRA in Odek and how it affected the lives of individuals and the community as a whole. Second, it aims to show how Odek is silently fighting another war; the war that comes with stigmatisation and exclusion. This report shows how the impact of the war continues to affect the daily lives of the people of Odek, and undermines its prospects of achieving lasting peace and reconciliation.
Read this entire report here: Forgotten Victims (pdf)

 

JRP documents the conflict experiences of Joseph Kony’s birthplace – Odek

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Watch out for JRP’s upcoming report on the experiences of the community of Odek, the birthplace of LRA leader Joseph Kony. ‘The Forgotten Victims’ chronicles the collective memories of violence, massacres, torture, abduction and displacement as told by community members, many of whom feel that their story has been mis-told by outsiders and obscured by the shadow of Kony.

By telling their story in this report, the community is eager to change its image which has been consistently marred as being the home of perpetrators of conflict. They also hope to actively involve themselves in transitional justice processes which they feel they have been previously side-lined from.

The Forgotten Victims, JRP’s 21st Field Note will be out November 2014.

Read more JRP documentation here.