‘Harmonise Amnesty And Terrorism Laws’

Sep 11, 2002

THE chairman of the Amnesty Commission, Justice Peter Onega, has asked the Government to harmonise the Anti-terrorism and the Amnesty Acts so that people accorded amnesty are not re-arrested in future under the Anti-terrorism Act.

By Charles Ariko and Richard Mutumba
THE chairman of the Amnesty Commission, Justice Peter Onega, has asked the Government to harmonise the Anti-terrorism and the Amnesty Acts so that people accorded amnesty are not re-arrested in future under the Anti-terrorism Act.

Onega said the laws contradicted each other because while the Amnesty Act was supposed to provide blanket amnesty to among others LRA rebels, the Anti-terrorism Act, on the other hand, classified the LRA as a terrorist organisation.

“I would like to request the legislators to harmonise the two laws. The Government should clarify the contradiction they create,” Onega said.

He was on Tuesday addressing the national conference on democracy and human rights on the topic “Forging a National Peace Policy in Uganda: A Review of the Recent Peace Treaties and Amnesty Legislation,” at the Sheraton Kampala Hotel.

The three-day conference was organised by the Foundation for Human Rights Initiative.

Onega said under the Anti-terrorism Act, peace negotiators with the LRA rebels could easily be charged with terrorism.
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