Peace After Kony: Traditional Justice and Reconciliation in Northern Uganda
In northern Uganda, the Acholi people are rebuilding their society through traditional justice mechanisms after three decades of war with Joseph Kony's Lord's Resistance Army (LRA). This documentary photography project, published in Altaír Magazine, explores how communities implement indigenous reconciliation practices like mato oput to heal from one of Africa's longest and most brutal conflicts without formal peace agreements or government support.
Since the LRA's last attack in 2009, nearly two million internally displaced people have returned to their communities to find a society fractured by violence. According to Human Rights Watch, the conflict displaced almost 2 million people, while UNICEF documented over 20,000 children abducted and forced into military service. The Uppsala Conflict Data Program estimates nearly 9,000 deaths, though the true number may be higher.
This photojournalism investigation documents how Acholi traditional leaders, known as rwots, guide community reconciliation through ancestral justice systems that prioritize forgiveness and compensation over punishment. The work captures the stories of key figures including Rwot Poppy Paul, a traditional leader who participated in failed Juba peace talks; Komagut Deo, researcher at Refugee Law Project documenting massacre sites; and Jackie Akello, who leads cultural preservation and support for sexual violence survivors.
The project reveals how mato oput ceremonies—where communities share traditional drinks and plant roots—create space for perpetrators to seek forgiveness and offer compensation to victims. This traditional justice system operates independently of the International Criminal Court and ordinary legal systems, addressing cases involving former child soldiers like Dominic Ongwen, now facing ICC trial despite being abducted as a child.
Through documentary photography, the work examines specific post-conflict challenges including the 1996 Alima Disco Massacre memorial, where the LRA killed 42 civilians, and ongoing land disputes in Mucwini, where the 2002 massacre of 56 people from the Pajong clan led to displacement and compensation conflicts that remain unresolved 17 years later.
The investigation documents how trauma affects entire generations, revealing northern Uganda was identified by the London School of Economics as having the world's highest post-traumatic stress rates in 2008. The work captures stories of survivors like Mary Patience, whose brother was abducted and remains missing, and Timkitcha Lawrence, a former child soldier now working on peace documentation.
The project explores how the Acholi Cultural Women Group provides safe spaces for sexual violence survivors—women who faced rape, forced marriage, unwanted pregnancies, and amputations—to rebuild their lives through traditional crafts and cultural preservation. These women often face family rejection and social stigma that extends the conflict's impact beyond formal hostilities.
Through collaboration with organizations including the Refugee Law Project, this documentation reveals how communities create memorial spaces that honor collective suffering while preserving Acholi cultural identity. The work examines how traditional memorial practices, like planting kituba trees for important deaths, offer culturally appropriate alternatives to stone monuments.
The investigation exposes the limitations of traditional justice in addressing structural issues including lack of schools, healthcare, and environmental degradation. Without government support or formal peace agreements, communities rely entirely on indigenous mechanisms to address conflict legacies while facing ongoing marginalization from Uganda's central government in Kampala.
The project captures the intersection of traditional knowledge and contemporary peacebuilding, revealing how Acholi communities construct alternative narratives to counter state criminalization of their entire ethnic group. From rural memorials to urban displacement camps, this work documents a unique experiment in grassroots reconciliation that offers lessons for post-conflict societies worldwide.
Kitgum, Uganda. 2019. Co-authored with Victor González Clota.
This investigation into traditional justice and post-conflict reconciliation in northern Uganda was published in Altaír Magazine as part of comprehensive coverage of African peacebuilding processes and indigenous conflict resolution mechanisms.
