Rebecca Ekwany
At least 32 ex-LRA rebel’s fighters have been granted amnesty.
The former rebel’s fighters were pardoned under the Amnesty Act of 2000. These individuals are part of a group of 144 LRA returnees who were repatriated from the Central African Republic (CAR) by the Ministry of Defence and have been undergoing rehabilitation since December last year.
The act offer amnesty to those engaged in armed violence against the government of Uganda.
The over 30 combatants denounced rebellion and were repatriated to Uganda from the Central African Republic (CAR) late last year.
They are currently receiving psychosocial support from SOS Children’s Village in Laroo-Pece City Division in Gulu City.
Since its inception in 2000, the Amnesty Commission has granted amnesty to 28,000 former fighters from various rebel groups, including 13,540 from the LRA, 6,500 from the West Nile Bank Front, 2,500 from Uganda National Rescue Front 2, and 2,600 from the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF).
Moses Draku, the Principal Communications Officer at Amnesty Commission Uganda, explained that the amnesty certificates shield the former fighters from prosecution for crimes committed during the rebellion. The returnees have undergone vocational training in various fields, such as carpentry and tailoring, equipping them with the skills to lead independent lives.
Draku emphasized that unlike previous returnees who received resettlement packages, this group will not receive direct handouts. “We are trying to empower them… with vocational skills to help them start a new chapter of their lives,” he noted. The rehabilitation process has been facilitated by NGOs like PAX and APRu, which focus on reintegrating LRA defectors from conflict areas in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and CAR.
Among the repatriated individuals are 88 children from Uganda, Congo, and CAR, still undergoing rehabilitation in Gulu City.
