Submissions on the prospects for sustainable peace in Uganda
Conciliation Resources' submission to the UK Parliament’s International Development Committee inquiry on the prospects for sustainable peace in Uganda, July 2007.
Evidence session on the prospects for sustainable peace in Uganda
Memorandum submitted by CAFOD, Christian Aid, Conciliation Resources, Quakers and World Vision, as members of the Northern Uganda Advocacy Partnership for Peace (NUAPP)
1. What has been the impact of the ICC arrest warrants on the prospects for peace?
1.1 The immediate priority for those affected by the armed conflict in Northern Uganda is peace [1], defined as the "absence of violence, war, and/or conflict [2]. The Refuge Law Project survey demonstrated a strong consensus that, "war had to end first and only then, can decisions be made as to what mechanisms of justice should be implemented" [3].
1.2 The issuing of arrest warrants by the International Criminal Court (ICC) has been credited, although the evidence for this is unclear, with allegedly jump-starting the Juba peace process. However, substantial evidence does exist to support the fact that the ICC arrest warrants serve as an obstacle to peace. This evidence includes, local radio broadcasts on Mega FM, in which senior Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) commanders have participated and have stated that the LRA will not accept a negotiated settlement committing them to trial at The Hague [4]. In the last round of peace talks it seems the parties, with the support of GoSS mediation and African Union observers, have accepted that the legal challenges are serious and have begun to negotiate a process that does not resolve the issue of surrendering the four members of the LRA high command but does construct agreed strategies that might move the process forward
1.3 The Cessation of Hostilities Agreement and the Juba peace process has contributed to hundreds of thousands of internally displaced people beginning the process of return. However, even since the peace process commenced, return to the northern districts of the Acholi sub-region still remains extremely limited. Only one per cent of the internally displaced population have returned to their village of origin and seventy per cent, more than 780,000 people, remain in camps. [5] Uncertainty over the prospects for peace and concerns for security stop many people from leaving the camps. Lack of basic services and restrictions on freedom of movement are also contributing factors.
1.4 The failure of the Ugandan People's Defence Force (UPDF) to resolve the conflict through a military solution arguably proves that any attempt to execute the warrants by force, will only lead to insecurity for the civilian population, displacement and further human rights violations in Uganda, South Sudan and DRC. It could also prompt the LRA to retaliate against civilians and humanitarian workers as has happened in the past, including immediately after the arrest warrants were announced. [6]
1.5. The arrest warrants have had an impact on the work of the Amnesty Commission to encourage soldiers out of the bush. The Amnesty Commission has a crucial role in securing peace by ensuring that LRA soldiers, many of whom were abducted as children, feel there is a process for them to leave the LRA, to demobilise and to begin a process which will enable them to return to their families. The relationship between amnesty and the ICC is awesomely complex
2. Is there a tension between the needs for peace and the requirements for justice and if so how can it be best addressed?
2.1 While peace is the priority for the conflict-affected community, justice is important in ensuring that peace is sustainable. It is regrettable that this debate has become characterized by the counterproductive language of justice versus peace. The question that needs addressed is not; 'what is the tension between justice and peace', but what types of justice would best serve a sustainable and just peace?
2.2 Analysts argue that the lack of accountability and impunity following previous regime change, and deep seated regional divisions within the country, are the root causes of the conflict in northern Uganda [7]. Therefore, the crimes committed by all parties to the conflict must be addressed. Perceived impunity for members of the Ugandan security forces involved in war crimes is no less damaging than perceived impunity for members of the LRA. Any process, which only addresses the actions of one side is likely to harbour problems for the future and would undermine the likelihood of securing a just and sustainable peace. Human Rights Watch's "Uprooted and Forgotten, Impunity and Human Rights Abuses in Northern Uganda" [8], documents crimes committed by the LRA and the UPDF in Northern Uganda. According to this report, the UPDF are allegedly guilty of wilfully killing civilians, torture, summary executions, rape and sexual violence [9]. Abuses by the LRA include the killing of civilians, child abductions, torture, mutilations, rape and other forms of sexual violence [10]. Justice has to be impartial to build a sustainable peace.
3. How, if at all, can the ICC, national and traditional measures combine to tackle impunity and further justice and reconciliation?
3.1 The conflict in Northern Uganda is highly complex; children have been forcibly abducted into the LRA whereupon they have become perpetrators of human rights violations. Indeed Dominic Ongwen, now indicted by the ICC, was himself abducted. Thousands of parents wait anxiously for a peace agreement, hoping that their child will emerge from Garamba to be demobilized, disarmed and reintegrated. However, many formerly abducted people remain marginalized by society, and isolated revenge killings for past atrocities have started to be reported in northern Uganda. Traditional and unofficial Ugandan approaches to justice appear to offer a model for tackling this unique dilemma, helping to promote truth telling and accountability whilst being committed to incorporating the confessor into society again. There are significant lessons that the Development Committee might learn from the remarkable resilience and generous capacity of the Acholi and other African peoples to reintegrate into communion those who have been guilty of serious wrongdoing.
3.2 It is important to acknowledge that this question is being addressed from within Uganda. Civil society organisations, the Government of Uganda and other stakeholders are currently developing a framework by which national and traditional processes will combine to challenge impunity and to further justice and reconciliation. Therefore, the key role of the international community should be to support the local actors in the development of such processes by providing the necessary funding and expertise and allowing the space to examine how best to proceed.
3.3 Local principles of justice and reconciliation that could contribute to a sustainable peace could include:
- Public acts and statements of apology and contrition to communities affected by the conflict by both the Ugandan Government and the LRA;
- Reparations paid to affected communities by the Government of Uganda in the form of improved services, clearly identified as compensation;
- Traditional ceremonies of reconciliation held between communities where tension and collective guilt have been created or exacerbated by the conflict, e.g. the Acholi and Langi peoples, possibly as part of a national truth-telling and reconciliation process;
- Extensive oral history and truth telling programmes made available to victims/perpetrators. These would need to take into account the protection of confessors from mob justice;
- Programmes that facilitate the creation of monuments to and commemorative ceremonies and events for the dead by their communities;
- Voluntary community service programmes for former LRA fighters, in which they would make reparation for their crimes but also be recognized as victims.
3.4 In bringing closure to the conflict in northern Uganda victims need to be recognised as the primary beneficiaries of any judicial processes. Punishment is only one aspect of the judicial process, careful listening to individual victims of atrocities may be more significant. We hope that the ICC, and those involved in national and traditional justice will be able to learn from the experience of truth and reconciliation commissions in both Africa and Latin America.
3.5 In both Northern Ireland and South Africa many serious crimes remained unpunished. In both situations a more rigorously judicial disposal of cases might have threatened re-igniting conflicts or endangering civil peace. We hope that the UK Government will be able to share the lessons of the Good Friday Agreement as regards the ending of acute armed conflict. Even from a judicial perspective there are occasions where accountability for terrible atrocities has to be attenuated in the interests of preventing such atrocities in the future.
4. How best can the grievances, against the Lord's Resistance Army and the Government of Uganda, be addressed?
4. 1 It is crucial that the people affected by the armed conflict have a voice in defining how grievances should be addressed. This requires effective consultation with the affected populations and will demand financial resources, time and space. Faith based communities and civil society have a crucial role to play in facilitating such processes, giving voice to the voiceless.
4.2 The Juba peace process has reached a critical stage. With the conclusion of Agenda Item II, Comprehensive Solutions, discussions are now focused on Accountability and Reconciliation. The very fact the parties are discussing this at all is a significant step forward in the prospects for peace. Initial reports from the peace negotiations suggest they have almost reached agreement on a set of shared principles. Substantial progress has been made in acknowledging that violations have been committed on both sides.
4.3 The text of the submission by the LRA/M peace delegation in Juba on the occasion of the launching of Agenda Item III - Accountability and Reconciliation, offers some hope that the LRA may accept an accountability mechanism. We therefore hope that national and traditional measures can combine to meet international standards of justice, which will satisfy the ICC. For the affected communities evidence demonstrates that national judicial processes are regarded as the most appropriate judicial system to address human rights violations committed in Northern Uganda [11].
5. How can the International community help create the conditions for sustainable peace and redevelopment in the North?
5.1. The International community must ensure that the processes, mechanisms and Good Offices supporting the peace process are well resourced - including support for the processes involving the war-affected population. Support for the process must continue to be expressed at the highest level and the importance of confidence building measures should not be underestimated. The international community must not be tempted to encourage a policy of deadline diplomacy; especially in view of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting to be held in Uganda, which will inevitably focus international attention on the crisis in Northern Uganda.
5.2 The international community, including the British Government, must use its influence to ensure the Ugandan Government remains committed to the peace process. Long term peace and development in the country as a whole requires increased commitment to fulfilling international human rights standards and principles of good governance.
5.2 Within Uganda, inequality between North and South has fed this conflict, and this imbalance must be overcome to build future national stability. The international community must engage the Government of Uganda on the Peace Recovery and Development Plan (PRDP) and make clear commitment to resource the PRDP as the peace process progresses. SMART benchmarks for the implementation of the PDRP should be developed in consultation with civil society and an independent monitoring mechanism should be established. The UK government should promote consultation, inclusive of civil society.
5.3 It is a frequently acknowledged observation that it takes as long for a society to emerge from a conflict as it has been in the conflict in the first place. In Northern Uganda this is 21 years. A peace agreement would mark only the first step of a sustainable peace. Concerted effort will be needed to support the long process of building a just and sustainable peace.
Notes
[1] Forgotten Voices, A Population-Based Survey on Attitudes About Peace and Justice in Northern Uganda, P. Pham, P. Vinck, M. Wierda, E. Stover, A. di Giovanni (International Centre for Transitional Justice, Human Rights Centre, University of California, Berkley, July 2005)(ICTJ Report), p. 23 Thirty-one per cent of respondents to the ICTJ survey specified peace as their immediate priority. Thirty-four per cent cited food (p. 25).This is arguably referring to IDPs wish to regain their livelihoods, such as farming and employment. The Government's strategy of 'protected villages' forced eighty per cent of the region's population into overcrowded IDP camps, where they have been dependent upon external humanitarian relief to support their basic needs. For IDPs to resume their livelihood strategies, sustainable peace is a prerequisite.
Peace First, Justice Later: Traditional Justice in Northern Uganda, Dr. L Hovil, Dr. J. R. Quinn, Refugee Law Project Working Paper No. 17 (Refugee Law Project, July 2005)(RLP Report), pp. 17-19.
[2] Page 23, ICTJ Report, ibid.
[3] Page 17, RLP Report, supra n. 1
[4] Such broadcasts have played a significant role in creating uncertainty about the chance for peace among the affected population.
[5] IDP Population Movement, April 2007, Inter Agency Standing Committee Working Group in Uganda
[6] After the arrest warrants were announced in October 2005, the LRA apparently began a new and deliberate tactic of targeting humanitarian aid workers, four were murdered in October and the same month, a handwritten letter apparently from the LRA was passed to local people threatening to kill any white person moving in the region. It blamed the ICC for the change in tactics. In October 2005 suspected LRA rebels shot and killed Caritas Gulu staff member, Okot Stalin. In November 2005 two British and two New Zealand tourists travelling in Murchison Falls National Park were ambushed by suspected LRA rebels, one member was killed.
[7] See for example, Behind the Violence, Hovil and Lomo, Refugee Law project Working Paper No. 11 (Refugee Law Project, February 2004)
[8] Uprooted and Forgotten, Impunity and Human Rights Abuses in Northern Uganda, Human Rights Watch, September 2005 Vol. 17, No. 12(A) (Human Rights Watch, September 2005)(HRW Report)
[9] PP. 24-35, HRW Report, ibid
[10] PP. 14-22, ibid.
[11] More than one third of those surveyed by the ICTJ held this opinion. Page 33, ICTJ Report, supra n. 1