{UAH} IDDI AMIN NEVER TARGETED LANGIs/ACHOLIs, THEY TARGETED HIM {---Series Sixty two}

Friends

 

One of the sides that we have in Northern Uganda is the side of those that are pounded murdered and raped, The UN took in a commission and they testified. What we are posting here is the paper called " Victims 'perceptions of accountability Reconciliation and Transitional Justice in Northern Uganda.

 

We are posting from page 23.

 

Parties Identified as Accountable for Causing Harm

Important regional differences were apparent in responses regarding parties considered accountable for the harms

experienced during the conflict. In Acholiland and Lango, opinion was divided relatively evenly over whether the

LRA or Government leadership was most accountable for harms caused.

An Acholi female who was formerly abducted explained:

 

For me it is Kony and Otti whom I hold most accountable for killing our loved ones,

sending their men to abduct us and when they take us to the bush, they make us

carry so many things beyond our capacity. They torture us, beat us and force us to

sleep with big men. And it is because of these two main people that we are in this

kind of pain, suffering and poverty.

 

Other Acholi respondents held Kony accountable for his refusal to return from the bush, despite the Government's

offer of amnesty. As one formerly abducted person said:

 

Joseph Kony as the leader of the LRA should be held accountable for the harms

caused to the people in the north. This is because he does not want to honour and

come out of the bush despite the amnesty law. If he came out, it would end the

rebellion and the sufferings of the people

 

Some Acholi respondents described President Museveni as most accountable because his actions had been

calculated. Other Acholi respondents emphasised the tribal origins, seniority and the respective education levels

in determining accountability. A relative of a murder victim in Gulu district said:

 

Museveni is not one of us Acholi. How do you think he can care for the suffering in

this region? But he must be held accountable because as the most learned president,

he should not be doing these bad things to the people of the region. Kony has not

gone to school, so his actions are those of an illiterate.

 

Where Langi respondents felt that Kony was most accountable for harms during the conflict it was due to his

brutal actions against civilians. As one Langi IDP said,

 

"Kony is most accountable because he kills civilians instead

of UPDF."

 

Another IDP said,

 

"Kony is most accountable because he started the war and his ordered the rebels

to inflict untold harm on the civilians."

 

Those Langi respondents who argued that President Museveni alone was

most accountable for harms during the conflict based their claim on the view that he had started and continued

to actively fuel the violence. One relative of a murder victim in Lira district argued that the Government and the

UPDF were most accountable for harm to the population

 

"because they failed to protect us in the camps."

 

A wife of a UPDF officer in Oyam district said,

 

"[the UPDF] solve the foreign conflicts in Liberia and Somalia, but they

have failed to stop the northern conflict for this long."

 

Langi respondents also referred to long-standing tribal animosities in describing those accountable for harms

caused in the region. One male youth in Lira District explained,

 

"We the Langi consider the Acholi to be the ones

who started the war. They are the ones who started the rebellion and killed us. This has caused a rift between

us and them."

 

Another Langi respondent explained,

 

"Museveni is the most accountable because he said, 'When

they are caning your co-wife you should not laugh because next time, the same cane can be used against you'."

 

This statement, repeated by several Langi respondents, translates as, "When something bad is happening to your

neighbour you should not be happy because the same thing could happen to you." Some Langi respondents

interpreted this as mocking them for past events. More specifically, it referred to the view among many Langi that

the Government was complicit in LRA massacres during Operation Iron Fist and that the murder of Langi was

revenge for the killing of Yoweri Museveni's forces in the Luwero Triangle in the early 1980s during the conflict

with the forces of President Milton Obote, a Lango. As one respondent from Lira District recounted,

 

"I was

abducted on the day of the massacre. I am not happy because when President Museveni came to commemorate

the massacre, he said 'When they are caning your co-wife you should not laugh because next time, the same cane

can be used against you.' This shows that he knew something about the massacre."

 

Views in Teso regarding the most accountable parties generally differed from those in Acholiland and Lango. In

particular, many Iteso respondents identified President Museveni as most accountable for harms to the population

during the conflict, because of the failure of the Government to protect civilians. Only a few Iteso respondents

claimed that Kony or the LRA should be considered most accountable. As an Iteso respondent said:

 

Kony is accountable because he confined people and caused low education resulting

in high school drop out, damage to people's property, schools and health centres.

He caused relationships to break, hunger and starvation and young girls and women

to be raped.

 

In Teso, respondents based these views on the Government's perceived failure to intervene effectively when the

LRA invaded the sub-region in 2003-04. One Iteso respondent in Amuria district said,

 

"Museveni is accountable

because he never responded by sending soldiers and heavy ammunition yet there was a written note from the

LRA rebels that had been delivered to our camp threatening us."

 

In this regard, respondents felt that President

Museveni's position made him more accountable for his actions than a rebel leader such as Joseph Kony.

Perceptions varied between types of victim groups on the question of who was the most accountable for the

harms suffered. A notable difference in views was found between formerly abducted females and males. Female

abductees across the three sub-regions argued that the LRA and Kony should be held accountable, while their

male counterparts more often identified the Government in this regard. An Acholi girl who was abducted by the

LRA said,

 

"For me Kony is most accountable because he tells his men to kill us and even our parents. They abduct

is and take us far away from our homes so that you may never come back. His men rape us when we are in the

bush and we are tortured each time we are abducted." A Langi male former abductee said: "President Museveni

is accountable because he should have improved on his leadership by accommodating the needs and terms of the

rebels. This could have stopped the war."

 

This difference may be explained by the fact that male abductees were forced to commit more crimes than female

abductees during their time in the bush. Therefore, they wished to distance themselves and the entire LRA from

crimes committed and accountability and instead identify the Government as accountable for harm caused to the

population, mainly for having failed to protect civilians. The males often referred to seniority and age factors that

in their view should determine who is accountable. A young male former abductee argued that

 

"age should be

considered as an important factor in determining the degree of accountability. The younger the perpetrator, the less

accountable is the perpetrator."

 

Another young man who was formerly abducted said that

 

"the chain of command

should be considered because those who were under orders to commit the crimes cannot be accountable to the

extent of the ones who ordered them."

 

Female abductees, on the other hand, perhaps having committed fewer

crimes, viewed themselves less as perpetrators and more as victims of LRA crimes and therefore identified Kony

and the LRA as accountable. As one female Acholi who was formerly abducted said,

 

"I hold Kony and Otti very

accountable for most of our sufferings because they have done so much harm to our society including massacres,

abduction, rape and so many other things."

 

Another female former abductee from Acholiland said:

 

For me, it is Kony and Otti whom I hold most accountable for killing our loved ones

and sending their men to abduct us. When they take us to the bush, they make us

carry so many things beyond our capacity, torture us, beat us and force us to sleep

with big men. It is because of these two main people that we suffer these kinds of

pain and poverty…. This is so painful…. They are the brains behind these bad acts

- if they would not think of killing, then their men would not kill.

 

Similarly, across the three sub-regions direct victims of LRA crimes, such as victims of physical violence, tended to

view Kony and the LRA as most accountable, reflecting the importance of respondents' individual experiences of

harm for their interpretations of accountability…………………………..}

 

Stay in the forum for Series sixty-three on the way   ------>

 

EM

On the 49^th Parallel          

                 Thé Mulindwas Communication Group
"With Yoweri Museveni, Ssabassajja and Dr. Kiiza Besigye, Uganda is in anarchy"
                    Kuungana Mulindwa Mawasiliano Kikundi
"Pamoja na Yoweri Museveni, Ssabassajja na Dk. Kiiza Besigye, Uganda ni katika machafuko"