ICTJ in the News

August 3, 2005

70% in north want conditional amnesty for Kony, says study

The Monitor (Uganda)

by Peter Nyanzi

Kampala

The majority of the people in war-ravaged northern Uganda want an amnesty to be extended to the rebels of the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) but not unconditionally, a new study has shown.

Researchers from the Human Rights Center (HRI) and the International Center for Transitional Justice and Makerere University Institute of Public Health conducted the study between April and May.

The study indicated that levels of exposure to violence in northern Uganda were "extremely high." At least 65 percent of the respondents interviewed in Gulu, Kitgum, Lira and Soroti districts said they supported the amnesty for the LRA.

However, only four percent wanted amnesty to be granted unconditionally, and the vast majority said some form of acknowledgement and/or retribution should be required of all those granted amnesty.

Of the 2,585 respondents, who were interviewed in the study, 40 percent had been abducted by the LRA, 45 percent had witnessed the killing of a family member, while 23 percent had been physically mutilated at some point during the conflict.

The report titled, "Forgotten Voice: A population-based Survey on Attitude About Peace and Justice in Northern Uganda," was published last week.

They sought to measure the overall exposure to violence in the region, understand the immediate needs and concerns of the people and capture opinions and attitudes about specific mechanisms for justice.

The respondents named the availability of food (34 percent) and a sustained peace (31 percent) as their top priorities.

The study further indicates that the extent and nature of the violence would require a variety of mechanisms to be implemented as part of a transitional justice strategy for northern Uganda.

Eight out of 10 respondents said they wanted to speak publicly about what had happened to them and many supported reparations for victims.

Seventy-six percent of the respondents said those responsible for gross human rights abuses should be held accountable for their actions.