A commitment to peace and reconciliation

The diocese of Bishop Nelson Onono-Onweng is a partner of MS-Uganda working for peace and reconciliation in the northern Uganda.

Bishop Nelson Onono-Onweng, photo: Adam Amsinck

“I have a Christian obligation to speak for peace, reconciliation and non-violence. These are the values that I also connect with MS and the development work.”

Nelson Onono-Onweng, 58 years, is an Anglican bishop in the conflict-ridden northern Uganda. His diocese is supported by MS for its peace efforts. We meet him in a modest office slightly outside the town of Gulu. He works from here to find a peaceful solution to the conflict between the denounced rebel army, Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), and the government of Uganda. This is his home area. He hails from the village of Lukome ‘which is situated right behind that mountain’, he similes and points. On many occasions, the bishop has been honoured for his peace efforts, including a peace prize from UNESCO in 2001.

“I have a Christian obligation to speak for peace, reconciliation and non-violence. These are the values that I also connect with MS and the development work.”

Nelson Onono-Onweng

The conflict between the rebel army LRA and government soldiers has lasted for 17 years. On one side, the rebels plunder villages, abduct children and use them as child soldiers, and on the other side; the government has opted for an uncompromising military solution to the conflict.

Photo: Adam Amsinck

Machines of evil

“We have not managed to protect the children who have been carried off to the rebel army. Now they are soldiers and we will kill them. We say that they are terrorists and they have become machines of evil. But they are our own abducted children,” says Bishop Onono-Onweng, who has many times met the LRA leaders in order to understand their rebellion.

“In relation to the rebels, we simply conclude that they have no demands. Therefore, we do not need to make an effort in finding a non-violent solution. We need a mediator who can make LRA speak and build confidence. We need to shed light on the darkness that LRA is in today. As religious leaders, we have tried to go into the conflict and build bridge. But there has been confusion – especially after the government army attacked the sanctuaries where we were to meet and talk to the rebels. Now LRA says that the religious leaders are laying a trap for them,” says bishop.

“Since June 2002, there has not been any meaningful dialogue with LRA. You can not build mutual confidence when you dread that the other person will kill you,” he says.

The conflict can be read in depressing statistics: 67% of Gulf’s population lives under the poverty level. 3/4 of the civil population lives in camps for internally displaced persons and survives on relief aid from the United Nations (UN). The Bishop often visits the camps and stays there overnight.

Photo: Adam Amsinck

Waiting time culture

“My attitude is that people should do something for themselves in the camps – not just waiting for relief aid from UN. There is a waiting time culture in the making that we should change. We should create hope and confidence, and break that culture,” he says.

“Look at the camps, they are full of children. Many girls become pregnant at 13 or 14 years . There is nothing else to do. But what can we do? People have lived in the camps for years. There are children – and we know that children’s personality is shaped in the first seven years of life – who have not experienced anything else than living in a camp,” says Bishop Onono-Onweng who is a spokesman for thousands of civil people.

“My advocacy activities are based on what people tell me in the camps. I bring the message up through the system. I listen to the people and put forward their problems before the government in the capital. My appeal to the world is to let people know that we are suffering and we need help, and that a military solution is absolutely not in our interest,” says bishop.