Don't punish Ongwen twice - clerics

Jan 27, 2015

FORMER LRA commander, Dominic Ongwen, should not be punished twice by the ICC because he is a victim of the LRA’s mass abduction campaign

By Pascal Kwesiga


FORMER Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) commander, Dominic Ongwen, should not be punished twice at the International Criminal Court (ICC) because he is a victim of the LRA’s mass abduction campaign, religious leaders from Acholi sub-region have said.

 

The clerics, under their umbrella organization – Acholi Religious Leaders Peace Initiative (ARLPI), said Ongwen should not have been taken to The Hague to undergo trial for crimes against humanity and war crimes.

 

Ongwen was reportedly captured by the Seleka rebels who handed him over to the US Special Forces Command in Central African Republic early this month. He made a pre-trial appearance before the ICC at The Hague in Netherlands on Monday.

 

He is likely to be charged with seven counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity allegedly committed during the time he commanded the LRA’s sinia brigade in northern Uganda.

 

The ICC indicted Ongwen, LRA leader Joseph Kony and other top commanders of the rebel outfit in 2005 after Uganda referred the conflict to The Hague-based court in 2003.

 

Ongwen, according to the religious leaders, should have been brought back to Uganda where he would be subjected to the Acholi’s Mato-Oput (reconciliation) rituals to cleanse him for “all he went through during his time in the LRA captivity”

 

“Ongwen, as a victim of circumstances, should not be punished twice, and should not have been taken to The Hague,” the religious leaders said in their joint January 20 statement.

 

The abduction of Ongwen in 1988 reportedly at 14 years of age, the clerics, noted was a failure on the part of the state in its constitutional obligation to protect the people and their property.

 

The statement was signed by the ARLPI chairman, Archbishop John Baptist Odama on behalf of Sheik Al Hajji Musa Khalil, the ARLPI vice chairman, Johnson Gakumba, the Bishop of the Diocese of Northern Uganda, Bishop Benjamin Ogwang of Kitgum Diocese, Bishop Emeritus Nelson Onono (Gulu Diocese), Rev. Msgr. Mathew Odong of Gulu Archdiocese, Bishop Emeritus Macleod Baker (Kitgum), Fr. Julius Orach (dean of Orthodox Church) and Rev. Msgr. Vincent Ojok.

 

Others are pastors Patrick Okecha and Lisa of the Born Again Faith Federation and Seventh Day Adventist Church respectively.

 

The clerics are wondering how Ongwen whose human rights and dignity were grossly violated by the rebel organization can be punished twice “as if what LRA did to him in all these years in captivity wasn’t enough”. They said LRA turned Ongwen into “a slave and a killing machine”.

 

“What are our motives in doing what we are doing to him at The Hague? We appeal to the government of Uganda and the International Community to reconsider the situations of our formally abducted innocent children of northern Uganda, like Ongwen, whose human rights have been grossly violated,” the clerics added.

 

Mato-Oput, the religious leaders said is the best cultural justice system of conflict resolution. In the event that Ongwen’s trial and prosecution gets underway at the ICC, the clerics said they will stand with him to ensure justice is delivered. 

 

They warned ICC that Ongwen’s trial and prosecution will block other children in LRA captivity from returning home.

 

The LRA has committed atrocities including killing people, maiming, abductions, turning children into soldiers and sex slaves in Northern Uganda, South Sudan, DR Congo and Central African Republic since the 1980s.

 

The spiritual leaders called on the government and the international community to resume the Juba peace talks to save lives of children still in captivity and bring the LRA insurgency to an end in a nonviolent manner. 

 

The Juba peace talks that began in 2006 collapsed in 2008 when Kony refused to sign the peace agreement.

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