Rebels responsible for waging a brutal 20-year battle in northern Uganda might be spared punishment by the International Criminal Court, according to a new agreement signed last Friday.
In terms of the deal the Ugandan government has agreed to handle the war crimes of the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) under an ”alternative justice mechanism”.
A proposed national tribunal will incorporate parts of the formal and traditional Ugandan justice systems. Though the agreement is a step closer to shielding the LRA from 33 indictments by the International Criminal Court (ICC), Uganda still has not announced whether it plans to ignore the ICC charges.
”The recently signed principles on accountability and reconciliation are, needless to say, a significant development for peace,” Ruhakana Rugunda, internal affairs minister, told journalists on Wednesday. The agreement is the third item out of five on the agenda for the landmark peace talks between the government and the rebels, which began last July.
The LRA has spread terror throughout northern Uganda by killing and disfiguring civilians and abducting an estimated 20 000 children to serve as soldiers, porters and sex slaves. Northern civilians have accused government soldiers of atrocities.
Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni asked the ICC to investigate alleged LRA crimes and the ICC subsequently indicted LRA leader Joseph Kony, his deputy, Vincent Otti, and two other commanders for war crimes and crimes against humanity.
While the accord says that Uganda has institutions capable of dealing with war crimes, a copy seen by the Mail & Guardian says it also ”recognises that modifications may be required within the national legal system to ensure a more effective and integrated justice and accountability response”.
The agreement says the government is ”committed to preventing impunity” and that it will aim to meet the requirements of the Rome Statute of the ICC.
”All those who admit crimes, show remorse, ask forgiveness and pay reparations will benefit from the justice mechanism,” Rugunda says.
The exact nature of the alternative justice system has not been specified. After the forthcoming month-long consultations with stakeholders, such as human rights groups and academics, Rugunda says the government will be closer to devising a model for the judicial system that will be applied. Members of the LRA, traditional leaders, conflict victims and scholars of the formal justice system will be included in the talks.
International affairs minister Oryem Okello says the justice model will be comparable with that used in neighbouring Rwanda to try those suspected of involvement in the 1994 genocide. However, the traditional Rwandan ”gacaca” courts have been accused of being inefficient and partial.
LRA leaders say they want the government to implement traditional local justice. The ethnic Acholi system, known as ”mato oput”, involves a ritual in which a murderer faces relatives of the victim and admits his crime before both drink a bitter brew as an act of reconciliation. Human rights groups say this process is not a sufficiently harsh punishment.
”Mato oput falls short of the international standards required, though there are some parts that could be beneficial,” says Judge Peter Onega, who serves on Uganda’s High Court and is the chairperson of the Amnesty Commission. The concepts of admission of guilt, forgiveness and reparations are included in the tradition, Onega says, adding that the key to the national tribunal’s success will be the combination of traditional and formal justice.
”Under the traditional system, they don’t talk of punishment, so that’s where the formal judicial system comes in.”
Paul Omach, political analyst at Uganda’s Makarere University, cautions against the view that alternative justice will expedite the peace talks.
”The ICC indictments are not the only obstacle to the peace talks. A bigger one is: Can the two parties develop a mutual trust?”
Omach says Uganda might have boxed itself into a corner if it cannot persuade the ICC to drop its charges.
Meanwhile, the accountability deal is unclear on specific punishments for crimes such as murder, rape and torture committed by the LRA. Ruganda says that it is ”premature” to speak about sentencing.
Negotiations in Juba, southern Sudan, are in recess and will resume on July 31. Disarmament and the societal reintegration of war survivors are next on the agenda of the talks