I posted a while back about peace talks between Kampala, Uganda and the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA). That post discusses the value of amnesty in a peace deal.
Peace talks had gone sour between the government and LRA leaders, as is typical with any peace negotiations. But I am happy to see that the talks are back on. It causes me to question again the use of amnesty to avoid more killing. I still hold to the same outcome - that amnesty of the unjust to ensure further killing is better than many more people's lives taken just to bring a small few to "justice".
What Kony and others probably don't realize is that they will have to leave Uganda to spare their lives anyway, as family and friends of the murdered will likely take after them. Uganda is in an area of Africa where punishment is quick, severe and deadly. Punishment by the public is most at its cruelest, lighting teenagers on fire for doing drugs, etc.
So I say promise amnesty and grant it. As Christians we can pray for Kony's justice, but though it is lofty, we ought to be praying for his salvation, reconciliation and rehabilitation. We are instructed to pray for our enemies and as such it is an upside-down request from Jesus, but a transformative approach to ethics.
Kony and his band are wicked men for sure, but peace is a higher reward for Uganda than the heads of Kony and his men. Pray for the children who suffer under the LRA's existence. Pray for the families that have suffered. Pray for peace in Uganda.
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