When dealing with a terrible post-conflict environment there are often few good choices as to how to deal with those who have committed human rights atrocities. In negotiation processes people are unlikely to put down arms without some hope for amnesty. Think of the negotiations that led to the end of Apartheid in South Africa. The military and police and security forces were not going to give up the fight without guarantees. The National Party represented those forces and knew that many of its own political leaders would face the dock as well if they allowed negotiations to go forward without implementing some protections. Rather than a blanket amnesty, however, South Africa came up with the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) process whereby those who committed gross violations of human rights could gain amnesty in exchange for telling the truth about their past misdeeds. The TRC process was imperfect and in many cases deeply unsatisfying. But it probably was the best option on the table, the least-worst option in a situation where there were simply no truly good options.
So while many surely cringed when they read that the parliament in the Democratic Republic of the Congo had passed a law granting amnesty to the militias in the country’s anarchic eastern regions, it might be wise to think of the TRC example. These militias have been directly responsible for the chaos and bloodshed. Many of them have their origins in the 1994 Rwandan genocide. The law grants amnesty for acts committed since 2003 and does not exempt war criminals from prosecution. Nonetheless, even with these caveats there are going to be a lot of people upset over what all but assures that few will be held to account for the suffering of many. But this may well be, like the TRC process, the least worst option. Granted, perhaps the DRC could use its own TRC-type process, but doing so requires a tremendous allocation of resources, an infrastructure that will allow the process to go forward, and both sticks and carrots that the DRC might not realistically be able to marshal. If the goal is to get beyond conflict, it seems to me that there needs to be a grand gesture to encourage a change of the intellectual and psychological terrain. Perhaps amnesty qualifies as such a gesture even if few of us can be truly happy with the outcome.
A few months ago, I wrote about the early stages of the conflict in Ukraine through the lens of Sun Tzu’s The Art of War. While it appears likely that the war will carry on into the foreseeable future, enough time has passed for us to make an honest assessment of each side’s relative […]
The Ukrainian Army has made dramatic strides in the last few weeks. Ukraine’s tactical commanders have outfoxed their Russian counterparts, and by issuing a feint towards the south the UA has been able to earn substantial gains in the north of their country. The impact of these efforts have been compounded by the steady stream […]
In mid-May the Irish political party, Sinn Féin, won the plurality of seats in the Northern Ireland Assembly. Many American readers might not fully understand the significance of Sinn Féin’s political victory- but rest assured that subjects of the United Kingdom and a wide range of political movements the world over have heard the message […]
The first wave of the Russian offensive in Ukraine has fallen short of Russian autocrat Vladmir Putin’s ambitions. Most analysts deduced that Putin had hoped to achieve a decapitation strike of the Ukrainian government- taking Kiev and replacing Ukrainian President Vladimir Zolinski with a pro-Kremlin voice. Kiev has been threatened repeatedly through the course of […]
On the weekend of March 26th, the notorious MS-13 gang went on a massive killing spree in El Salvador which left more than 70 people dead by Sunday. Even for a country where powerful gangs hold massive sway, this recent tragedy stands out considering that it was the bloodiest day on record since the civil […]
