Contradictions in the search for peace and justice in northern Uganda: examining the potential of the International Criminal Court and local peace initiatives
Date
2010-12-13
Authors
Wasonga, Joseph Otieno
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Abstract
Abstract
In December 2003, President Yoweri Museveni of Uganda referred the situation of northern
Uganda in respect to the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) to the International Criminal Court
(ICC). The LRA had been wreaking havoc on the civilian population since the beginning of
1987. The LRA actions included abductions, forced conscription of child soldiers, sex slavery,
rape, mutilation, torture, looting and destruction of property, among other crimes. These actions
fell within the ambit of war crimes and crimes against humanity punishable under international
law. In response to the referral, the ICC Chief Prosecutor, Luis Moreno-Ocampo intervened to
bring the LRA top leadership to justice. The referral was an opportunity to punish the LRA for
their atrocities and to bring an end to the protracted conflict which had caused so much suffering
to the people living in northern Uganda. The referral was also an opportunity for the ICC to put
its capacity to the test as the referral was the first for the Court, hailed at the time of its
establishment in 1998 as a milestone in the fight against impunity and in the pursuit of justice,
peace and stability.
However, a section of the local population, especially traditional leaders and broader civil
society, questioned the ICC’s appropriateness as a response to the protracted conflict. The
traditional leaders and civil society proposed alternative forms of justice as being more
appropriate in the context of the northern Ugandan conflict. In this respect, the Court’s
intervention appeared to be counterproductive. A sharp contrast was drawn between the goals of
justice and the prospects for peace. This thesis, therefore, interrogates the appropriateness of the
ICC’s role in the situation of northern Uganda in relation to sustainable peace and stability. The
thesis also assesses the effectiveness of the proposed local peace initiatives in a situation where
human rights had been grossly violated. In the process the thesis examines the potential of the
ICC and of the proposed alternative models of peace to achieve their respective goals in a
situation characterised by massive human rights violation. In so doing the thesis seeks to identify
the lacunae of these contending models of transitional justice and proposes a more holistic
approach to transitional justice.