The Haunting of Alice: Local Approaches to Justice and Reconciliation in Northern Uganda

Through the story of a former rebel fighter, this article examinessome of the justice and reconciliation challenges in northernUganda today. While talks between the Lord's Resistance Army(LRA) and Government of Uganda have generated the best chancefor peace in the 20-year conflict, the International CriminalCourt's indictment of rebel leaders threatens this process.The rebels refuse to disarm if indicted; the Chief Prosecutorrefuses to withdraw indictments as he believes withdrawal willfoster impunity. To resolve this dilemma, local cultural andreligious leaders advocate adapting local justice and reconciliationmechanisms to the situation, arguing that these will both holdrebels accountable and achieve peace. However, little is knownabout local justice processes or their potential to foster reconciliationin war-torn northern Uganda. On the basis of participatory research(2004–2006) with war-affected persons, the article seeksto address this gap, illustrating the potential and limitationsof such locally relevant mechanisms.