Kony and traditional reconciliation? Local leaders must petition International Criminal Court
The Uganda Government has announced its intention to appoint a legal team to advise it on ‘Mato Oput’, the Acholi traditional method of conflict resolution and reconciliation. The alleged intention is to explore how this approach can be used in place of the International Criminal Court. This is a promising development but one would have thought that by now the Government would a clear and well informed position on this as the approach has been flouted for years. What still remains as an obstacle to reaching a comprehensive peace agreement between the LRA and the Uganda Government is the case of the ICC warrants. The Uganda Government is being unreasonable by saying that they will only ask for a review of these warrants once the a comprehensive agreement has been signed. Logically, for the agreement to be signed the key players such as Kony and Otti must be fully engaged and they can’t unless the warrants are at least suspended. Surely, for the sake of peace, can’t the Uganda Government ask for temporary suspension pending a full review after an agreement has been reached? This would be a more constructive way forward.

Leaders such as Norbert Mao, the District Chairman of Gulu, also bear some responsibility for guiding the elders and traditional leaders in the war affected areas of Northern Uganda. Recently he rightly called for the inclusion of elders from Lango and Teso in the negotiations. I would have expected Mao as a lawyer by profession to have gone further and formed a team of lawyers, representatives of the war victims, religious leaders and elders to petition the ICC for a suspension of the warrants of arrest so that the negotiations can be given a chance to progress. Blaming President Museveni about setting deadlines for talks is not sufficient. Mao and other leaders must lead by action, and that action must move to the higher gear of engaging the ICC directly not through the Uganda Government.