The Supreme Court has ordered for the trial of former Lord\'s Resistance Army (LRA) rebel commander Thomas Kwoyelo. The Attorney General had appealed to the Supreme Court against a Constitutional Court decision that Kwoyelo had a right to receive amnesty like other former LRA rebels under the Amnesty Act.
Government has embarked on a process to reintroduce amnesty for repentant combatants. The official pardon extended to combatants who renounced rebellion against government ceased last May following the lapse of Part 2 of the Amnesty Act.
MPs have welcomed the proposal to extend the act. Judith Frank Akello, the Agago district Woman says the extension will benefit the whole country and not just Northern Uganda.
The Amnesty Commission is facing a dilemma of failure to offer a service it was established to do: helping combatants who have denounced rebellion secure pardon.
The committee chairperson Milton Muwuma says they are going to meet returnees including former combatants in the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) and the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) rebels during consultations. In May 2012, Internal Affairs Minister Hillary Onek signed a statutory instrument repealing Section II of the Amnesty Act 2000 that guaranteed amnesty to rebels who renounce rebellion and return home.
The employees of Amnesty Commission and the thousands of people mostly former combatants who benefit from its activities have reasons to smile following news that it will get a new lease of life.
The Archbishop of Gulu John Baptist Odama has appealed to Government to reverse the decision it took last week to suspend the blanket amnesty law and replace it with a limited opportunity of amnesty for only a few special cases.
Government has cancelled the law granting blanket amnesty for former rebels upon renouncing rebellion. Internal Affairs Minister, Eng. Hillary Onek confirmed that he had signed the lapse of the law on May 23 but refused to discuss the details of how and why he chose to do it at this time.
