Dominic Ongwen should be prosecuted

trueBy Samuel Oduny

Dominic Ongwen, senior LRA Commander, the one born in the season of the Ngwen, (white ants), a local delicacy in the Acholi districts, decided to cross over to the good side.

Already two local families are claiming him as their own, maybe they are targeting the humongous reward the US government promised for the capture of Ongwen or maybe they have their eye on some kind of ICC allowance?

I don’t know the motivation in play but I do know the cash will never arrive. Even the possibly correct recipients of Commander Ongwen’s head –bounty, Seleka, another rag tag rebel group operating in the Central Africa Republic, might not get the goodies from the Leadership of the Free World in Washington DC, USA.  But that is a story for a different day.

So, sisters and brothers, fathers and mothers, dear children, Dominic Ongwen jumped out of the cold into the frying pan of justice, what are we going to do now? 

Let it be known categorically, Ongwen made the right decision. He and his mates are on the road to nowhere. The LRA is not relevant for the future of Uganda and they are immaterial for any matters concerning the current and future administrations of Uganda.

Our system of governance cannot be changed anymore through the Kalashnikov or any weapons, big or small, any citizen might lay their hands on.

After a long struggle since Uhuru in 1962 we finally have some equitable system of governance in place, it might be vulnerable and it is certainly not perfect but nevertheless, as of now, our administration is mostly functional. 

Any armed resistance or motley rebellion will take you and me to ground zero. And believe me, I am still crawling back up, recovering of the madness of the Ugandan past which was not a pretty sight. If you have any doubts, just take a look at our Northern neighbors and shiver generously while observing the breakdown of South Sudan’s ruling party and liberation army SPLM/A.

Yes, my country man and women, Dominic Ongwen was abducted when he was only ten years old and after the compulsorily LRA molding he chopped some (a lot of) innocent heads on the way, fighting for an inexplicable cause (and it was a lost case from the start) in a conflict which was more a product of geopolitical conditions, orchestrated by politicians in far away capital cities, than the brainchild of Ngwen eating and Lujutu (potent local drink in the hamlets in Acholi land) drinking villagers in North Uganda. Ongwen and his former boss were puppets on a string or if lucky soldiers of sort in a game of chess they did not control.
Most of those issues will be beyond Ongwen’s understanding. Speaking on behalf of him, Dominic does not understand the complexity of modern life and politics, he had no chance to get any decent education and indeed he is a victim.

A fatality of colonialism, bad governance and in some cases post-Uhuru stupidity and more contemporary greed.

But in some way Dominic Ongwen did well, specially compared to many of his non-educated and poverty bitten peers.
He became a big powerful man, he survived the bush war for two decades and now he travelled to far away The Hague in Europe without ever applying for passport.

Even his air-ticket (one way I assume) out of Bangui was provided for by the higher authorities. On top of all goodies his new abode was featured prominently on our local TV and many back home felt a pang of jealousy seeing Dominic’s new home.

In a strange way Ladit Ongwen was the lucky one, rising to questionable fame in the gang of the LRA. He was diligent and efficient in his own ruthless fashion. And frankly speaking it is true that there was no way out of the LRA hell he was forced to be part of.

Life for the fittest in the cruelest way (un) imaginable

How low can we all go? I don't know, I was never put in those conditions but I think I will be ‘dehumanized’ in a minute or so (after a tiny bit of squealing) when the barrel is put on my head. Even I might tong-tong (chop) you or your lovely children, my dear reader.

Ongwen was lethally powerful but he is and was not in any way a leader representing any substantial community in Northern Uganda.

And at heart he was and is an ordinary villager, a commoner, member of an underclass who are still living in near medieval conditions while you are logging into comfortable modern life in Kampala or Gulu.

Subsistence farmers like Ongwen are abused by the world and live as ignorant (in political and real terms) as they have been for decades.

And that is his real victim status, born in poverty, duped by post colonial politics, despised by the economic powers except when they can sell him a sachet or two and buy his produce at give away prices and finally abducted while on his way to a two cent village school to get a one cent education.

The LRA brainwash and what followed thereafter was only the unavoidable addendum, never mind the horrors.
Without doubt he will get some top-notch lawyers though it is unlikely that his senior council will be homegrown as I heard that only five Ugandans qualify for presenting cases at the ICC. 

It makes me wonder what our Learned Friends have been doing all these years besides representing Bad Black and other notorious media criminals. But lets stick to the issue at hand.

Commander Ongwen is a mature man and he has to come clean for what he did for many years while he was living as an outlaw.

He needs to be put on trial to tell us what he did, why he did it and how he committed his deeds.
The community in North Uganda is entitled to hear the full story, never mind where the trial will take place and never mind the without doubt at times fumbling sentences which most likely will fail to express his particular human condition.

The ICC judges will arbitrate, after having hearing Ongwen’s say and after listening and understanding the voices of the victims and other parties involved. Lets hope the international judiciary will catch a glimpse (we should not be to optimistic!) of the root causes of conflict in Uganda and who knows, maybe our big man in Nakasero will give a statement to balance the issue at hand.

After all that, which will take some years, the ICC judges will either convict Ladit Ongwen to prison time or they will set him free. And we will know a bit more about the war in Northern Uganda.

Those Ugandans who want to release Dominic Ongwen now, before any credible independent judicial procedure, on the basis of a one sided Amnesty Law will ensure that both eyes of justice and its mouth will be shut forever.

They say justice is blind but at times it will need to see the crime before it can judge and it definitely needs a mouth to speak out. 

The Ugandans who want to keep Ongwen at home and give him amnesty are, possibly unknowingly and certainly naively  politicizing this issue and their way will blanket the real story forever.

I do support the quest for indigenous reconciliation and restoring of broken relationships through Mato Oput.  This mechanism, restorative justice based in customary proceedings and widely understood by the local community, is often better than a western type retaliatory treatment which punishes but does not reconcile victims and perpetrators and which leaves the cycle of violence, guilt, estrangement and renewed aggression in the society unbroken. 

But many of the alleged crimes were committed outside our own Acholi community and as Mato Oput is not a recognized and accepted system of traditional justice beyond the Luo community this will not be a viable option.

Also Mato Oput under-emphasizes the wider political root causes of this conflict, which are crucial for understanding the historical causes of the continuing sequences of violence in Uganda and in the wider region.

It lacks the power to enforce attendance of all parties involved, especially those which originate from outside our community and finally It is highly unlikely that the privileged and powerful will agree to sit with our villagers to drink the bitter medicine. 

The court case in The Hague could show us some of the naked truth (lets keep our fingers crossed!) about what happened in Northern Uganda and beyond.
What exactly happened in North Uganda and other theatres where the LRA clashed with national armies and civil populations?

Why was Ongwen abducted? Why could the government not provide protection to fellow citizens and why did they not stop the atrocities in the bud, especially those committed in Northern Uganda.

What triggered the conflict when Ongwen was still in his nappies and who played a substantial role in that process? What was the part of foreign powers in fuelling or sustaining the violence? What did Dominique Ongwen do and how far does his responsibility go?

And maybe most important, did the Ugandan history turn truly a new page and did it take a sustainable turn for the better? Or should we prepare for another apocalypse?

We are entitled to hear that story, with all the sordid and politically inconvenient details. We owe this to the victims and to the future of our children and country.

This time the government stepped up to its small plate, possibly with a bit of help from our American friends. And now is the time for us, the people affected, to assist the ICC and to testify on the events in Pagak, Lukodi, and Barlonyo where Ongwen was the commanding LRA officer but it is also the right time to speak out about the other atrocities that took place in Northern Uganda.

And the civilian and military elites in Kampala and Gulu should explain why this conflict could continue for decades in our beloved country. Ongwen’s trial could be the beginning of a fresh start for the country.

Exempting Dominique Ongwen from an independent judicial trial will add to injury to injustice or, as we say in Northern Uganda ‘adong medo i kom can’. Freely translated, it will be another slap in the face of the people of Northern Uganda.  

The writer is an NRM supporter and resident of Gulu who lived through the war in North Uganda.