Negotiated Peace, Denied Justice? The Case of West Nile (Northern Uganda)

Abstract

“Reconciliation” and “justice” are key concepts used by practitioners as well as authors of conflict-management and peacebuilding textbooks. While it is often recognized that there may be contradictions between the implementation of justice and truth-telling, on the one hand, and an end to organized violence, on the other, the ideal of a seamless fusion of these diverse goals is widely upheld by, among other things, reference to the rather utopianconcept of “positive peace” (Galtung). One difficulty arises from the fact that discourses usually focus on (post-)conflict settings that resemble a victory of one conflict party, whereas peace settlements are often negotiated in a context more similar to a military or political stalemate – a more ambiguous and complicated scenario. This essay discusses these problems against the background of an empirical case study of the peace accord between the government and the rebels in the West Nile region in north-western Uganda.

“Do not Disturb the Peace!” Identities, Livelihoods and the Politics of Post-War Discontent in Sierra Leone

“…The clashes were the latest incidents in a long list of popular expressions of discontent with livelihoods by groups whose collective identities in post-war Sierra Leone were partly engendered by the unsatisfactory outcomes of the civil war settlement in 2002. Although an increasing volume of scholarship has examined and offered theories on the articulations of such post-war grievances, and other issues in post-war societies in West Africa (see for example, Cubitt, 2011; Enria, 2015; Millar, 2012; Mustapha and Bangura, 2010; Shepler, 2014, 2010; Sola-Martin, 2009), and elsewhere, such as South Sudan, Uganda, Angola, Mozambique and Namibia (see for example, Amusan, 2014; Angucia, 2009; Blattman, 2009; Bogner and Neubert, 2013; Ensor, 2013; Lindemann, 2011; McDonough, 2008; Paris, 2004; Schomerus and Titeca, 2012; Spears and Wight, 2015), very little is still known about how the collective memory of war is appropriated in state-society relationships, and why and where various disaffections with livelihoods intersect or clash with the quest for order and security as societies that have experienced civil war strive to build peace.…”

Child Soldiers in Context

“…Government troops either consider that all their actions and deeds were legitimate and are therefore not liable to criminal prosecution, or, in the case of negotiations, they also demand an amnesty. Such expectations attached to the acceptance of a peace settlement mostly allow only "second best" solutions, but ones that are more realistic and practicable (Bogner/Neubert 2013b).…”

“…The political and social consequences of these processes have become an important field of research. They have been studied in projects carried out by Artur Bogner and myself relating to the post-conflict situations in northern Ghana and the West Nile region in Uganda (Bogner/Neubert 2016, 2013b; see also chapter 5, in this volume). Our empirical results show clearly how little we know about the local, familial and individual processes that take place in these post-conflict situations.…”

“…For details, and on post-war developments in West Nile generally, seeBogner/Neubert 2016, 2013b, 2013aBogner/Rosenthal 2014;Mischnick/Bauer 2009;Bauer 2013 Bauer : 173-180, 2009 Refugee Law Project 2004. 20 See Acholi Religious Leaders' Peace Initiative et al, n.d.; Amnesty Commission 2009.21 They sought to facilitate a negotiated settlement between the government and the LRA and to assist the surrender or desertion of LRA fighters or their 'reintegration', not least with a view to reintegrating the thousands of former child soldiers and abductees in Acholiland; see Amnesty Commission 2009; Acholi Religious Leaders' Peace Initiative et al n.d.;Allen 2006; Quinn 2013.…”

“…This chapter is an abridged version of.2 This chapter is based on the results of biographical and ethnographical interviews with ex-rebels, members of the civilian population and experts in the two regions. The collection of data on the local peace process in West Nile was completed in 2012 and was based on fifty-nine biographical narrative interviews and 71 ethnographic interviews, plus nineteen group discussions (see alsoBogner/Rosentahl 2014;Bogner/Neubert 2016, 2013b. For details of data collection in Acholiland, see ch.…”