[allAfrica.com]  [Africa_2005]


Acholi Oppose LRA Trial

The Monitor (Kampala)
NEWS
July 18, 2005
Posted to the web July 18, 2005

By Tabu Butagira
Arua
THE Acholi are against the prosecution of the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA)
rebel commanders by the Hague-based International Criminal Court, the Refugee
Law Project (RLP) has reported.
In its latest working paper tittled, "Peace First, Justice Later: Traditional
Justice in northern Uganda," RLP says litigation against the insurgents would
undermine the ongoing peace efforts between the rebels and the government and
hamper reconciliation.
The paper is a collection of views from respondents interviewed by RLP in
various parts of Gulu, Kitgum and Pader districts - the epicentre of Joseph
Kony's LRA brutal attacks.
According independent estimates, the nearly two-decade old northern insurgency
has left thousands of people dead and over 1.6 million displaced with little
means of survival.
"This unspeakable suffering has fostered a feeling of marginalisation and a
general mistrust of the government by the people in the north," the paper which
was downloaded on www.refugeelawproject.org website, reads in part.
It will be launched by RLP Director, Mr Zachary Lomo, on Thursday.
Dr Paul Omach, a senior political science lecturer at Makerere University, will
discuss the paper in a presentation to be moderated by Mr Stefan Friedrichsen,
the project adviser of Civil Peace Programme at Makerere University.
The research findings indicate that Kony's kinsmen fear that prosecution of the
rebels could be a recipe for disaster through retaliatory attacks on civilians
by the bandits, especially when there is "obvious lack of commitment by the
government and the rebels."
"Peace must be realised before justice can be tackled," says the paper, which
blames the long running insurgency on uneven colonial policies.

   

  =============================================================================
  Copyright © 2005 The Monitor. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica
                         Global Media (allAfrica.com).
  =============================================================================