Peacemaking vs. Modernity

The Bitterroot Flower

I know many of you are aware of what's been happening between the residents of Gulu in Northern Uganda, and The Lord's Resistance Army. In case you aren't, here is an overview of the conflict and a brief movie about something that is being done to help.

An article in the times caught my eye with this headline: "Uganda Peace Hinges on Amnesty for Brutality." The article basically lays out the conflict between bringing Joseph Kony to justice for his crimes or giving him and his generals forgiveness.

The situation is that Joseph Kony is cornered and his army is a fraction of what it once was (only 2,000 fighters). He and his generals are responsible for some of the most vile, reprehensible, and evil violence a person could imagine let alone perpetrate on another human being. Most of it involving children. But now he has signed a cease-fire agreement and the honoring of the agreement hinges on him getting forgiveness for his crimes (which the International Criminal Court has seen as crimes against humanity).

Here is an excerpt:

"The victims of this war are so desperate to put the nightmarish days behind them that they want to forgive, just as much as they want to forget. Typical is Christa Labol, whose ears and lips were cut off by bayonet-wielding prepubescent soldiers she now says she would welcome home.

“Only God can judge,” Mrs. Labol said through a mouth that is always open.

Mr. Kony has said he will [surrender] but only if he is not prosecuted.

The International Criminal Court has issued arrest warrants for Mr. Kony and four of his commanders. Ugandan government officials have said they will ensure that the rebels get amnesty if they surrender. But the rebels have said the amnesty must come first. It is an impasse that possibly only the international court can break, but the court, established in 1998, has not indicated what it will do.

The Acholi people have their own solution. It is the mataput — the word means drinking a bitter root from a common cup — and it is a traditional reconciliation ceremony. Peace is more important than punishment, Acholi elders say, and they would rather have Mr. Kony return to Gulu for a mataput than rot in some European prison. Although the fighting may be over, it seems a new battle has begun: tradition versus modernity.

“In our culture, we don’t like to punish people,” said Collins Opoka, an Acholi chief. “It doesn’t really get you anywhere.”

Let that sink in for a second.....

A friend Joe had a post where he was talking about the unheaded words of Jesus as it pertains to being "peacemakers." He also spoke of being a "pacifist with problems," (post here) and I couldn't help but think about this situation in light of his post.

Mrs. Labol convicts me and makes my faith feel shallow. The society I live in (a modern and "civilized" one) makes no room for an occurrence like this and my own heart doesn't really have room for this kind of "peacemaking" either. Who knows what will happen. I am sure not everyone feels that Kony and his generals should be forgiven, but the fact that there are enough people who do feel that way (the Government of Uganda for goodness sake) that the New York Times is reporting on it is pretty amazing.

If forgiveness is given, and peace is achieved that is when the story will get even more interesting. A conflict and humanitarian crisis that the world pretty much ignored for 20 years could very well have an outcome that would look foolish and inconceivable to the outside world, but could in fact become the most important and powerful example of what the world needs, and how Governments and people might actually begin to live in peace. But it more than likely will be ignored and disregarded as something unrealistic in a "modern" world. I think about the words of Paul, "But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong."