The Archbishop of Gulu John Baptist Odama has appealed to Government to reverse the decision it took last week to suspend the blanket amnesty law and replace it with a limited opportunity of amnesty for only a few special cases.
Internal Affairs Minister Hillary Onek on May 23 signed a statutory instrument repealing Section II of the Amnesty Act 2000 that guaranteed amnesty to rebels who renounce rebellion and return home. Onek, who confirmed the development this week at Parliament, said that he was directed by the Solicitor General’s office to sign.
Archbishop Odama said there is an obvious evidence of the positive impact created by the Amnesty law, with over 20,000 former rebels renouncing rebellion since the law came into force about 10 years ago.
He criticized the Uganda government for only thinking of itself and yet the Lord’s Resistance Army war has spread across the borders to affect even neighboring countries like D R Congo and the Central African Republic. He said that the Kony conflict is a regional problem which should be tackled at a regional level.
Odama said that it is not yet too late for government to reverse the decision and reinstate the provision to leave room for more people still in rebellion to return home.
The Archbishop, who was instrumental in calling for negotiations as head of the Acholi Religious Leaders Peace Initiative, said there is a lot of campaign in South Sudan and Central Africa, led by a group of NGOs and governments there to convince rebels to come out of rebellion.
Odama has spent the last decade pushing for a peaceful settlement of the conflict in Northern Uganda. In 2008, he slept for two nights in Joseph Kony’s camp in the jungles of Garamba Forest in D R Congo, to try and convince the LRA leader to renounce rebellion.
He appealed to Government to consider the fate of unknown number of children who remain in the bush in the hands of rebel leaders.
He argued that if the Ugandan Government was not selfish it should have consulted such groups before repealing the amnesty clause.
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However, the Attorney General’s Chamber has argued that the blanket amnesty cannot continue forever.
Deputy Attorney General Fred Ruhindi this week said that there would be amnesty only to children abducted and who are not part of the rebel leadership. He said that for former rebels like Thomas Kwoyelo and Caesar Acellam would not now be entitled to the amnesty.
The two top LRA field commanders were captured by the UPDF soldiers in D R Congo and Central African Republic respectively. Kwoyelo has since his capture in 2009 challenged his trial before the War Crimes Court in Gulu, while Acellam is currently being held at the 4th Division Army base in the same area after his capture on May 12.
Ruhindi said that the Amnesty Law in Uganda was not in conformity with International legal standards and the Rome Statute.
But Archbishop Odama disagreed with him saying that the situation in Uganda needs a local solution.
He said Uganda should not just copy international ideas even when alternative locally generated solutions could work better.
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The Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Stephen Kagoda said this week that the new development takes immediate effect.
