500 Get Amnesty In Kasese
AT least 500 former rebels have been received at the Uganda Amnesty Commission office in Kasese since June this year, the biggest number that has ever reported in three months.
By John Nzinjah
AT least 500 former rebels have been received at the Uganda Amnesty Commission office in Kasese since June this year, the biggest number that has ever reported in three months.
“The rebel reporters are from various anti-government fighting groups. Some were active fighters in the Rwenzori region,†Monsignor Thomas Kisembo, an amnesty commissioner, said recently.
He was speaking during a meeting between the commission and the United Nations Volunteers at the commission’s office in Kasese town.
Kisembo said some of the reporters could have been part of a group of 700 rebels who had been reported stranded in forests in the eastern DR Congo.
“They are not all from Kasese district, but originate from various parts of the country,†he said, but declined to name the rebel groups they belonged to.
Kisembo said the former rebels who reported between June and August had not undergone any psycho-social rehabilitation. He said this could cause a resettlement problem.
“They have been sent to their villages without undergoing psycho-social rehabilitation,†he said.
Formerly, rebel reporters had to undergo a three-month rehabilitation course under a programme run by Give Me A Chance, a Norwegian Church organisation, which winded up the activity last year.
The meeting identified the community-based groups in Kasese, which could help the commission to rehabilitate rebel reporters and sensitise the communities about peace building. Participants challenged the commission to involve the civil society organisations.
Ends
AT least 500 former rebels have been received at the Uganda Amnesty Commission office in Kasese since June this year, the biggest number that has ever reported in three months.
“The rebel reporters are from various anti-government fighting groups. Some were active fighters in the Rwenzori region,†Monsignor Thomas Kisembo, an amnesty commissioner, said recently.
He was speaking during a meeting between the commission and the United Nations Volunteers at the commission’s office in Kasese town.
Kisembo said some of the reporters could have been part of a group of 700 rebels who had been reported stranded in forests in the eastern DR Congo.
“They are not all from Kasese district, but originate from various parts of the country,†he said, but declined to name the rebel groups they belonged to.
Kisembo said the former rebels who reported between June and August had not undergone any psycho-social rehabilitation. He said this could cause a resettlement problem.
“They have been sent to their villages without undergoing psycho-social rehabilitation,†he said.
Formerly, rebel reporters had to undergo a three-month rehabilitation course under a programme run by Give Me A Chance, a Norwegian Church organisation, which winded up the activity last year.
The meeting identified the community-based groups in Kasese, which could help the commission to rehabilitate rebel reporters and sensitise the communities about peace building. Participants challenged the commission to involve the civil society organisations.
Ends