Institute for Peace and Security Studies

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Browsing Institute for Peace and Security Studies by Author "Angoma Okello, Sunday (PhD)"

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    Practicing Restorative Justice in Ethiopia: The Case of Gumaa Traditional Conflict Resolution Mechanism among the Sebeta and Burayou Oromo
    (Addis Ababa University, 2016-05) Hailu, Melatwork; Angoma Okello, Sunday (PhD)
    Restorative Justice System came as a new approach and way to respond to crime and developed as an alternative move towards complimenting the failure of traditional criminal law which mainly focuses on punishment. Restorative Justice (RJ), by fostering dialog among the victim, the offender and the community ultimately leads to reconciliation and restoration whereas, the Ethiopian Criminal Law from the very first inscription in Fewuse Menfessawi up to the current criminal law is highly embodied with the theory of punishing and retribution of offenders. The law takes the state as the chief victim of the crime and disregards the actual victim and the community. This shows that the concepts and notions of RJ are not primarily included or incorporated in the criminal law. Though the formal legal system fails to give enough space to restorative justice system, its principles and values are highly loaded and embodied in the traditional conflict resolution mechanisms which are widely exercised in the different parts of the country. Gumaa, as one of the institutions of conflict resolution of the Oromo people, has been practiced and widely exercised on almost equal footing with the formal legal system. As a system, it is mainly based on oral narration that passes from generation to generation and lacks inscription and structural arrangement. However, its objectives, principles and values are related and they overlap with that of RJ. Thus, this research examines the nexus, compatibility and divergence of the three criminal legal systems: Restorative Justice, Ethiopian Criminal Law and gumaa. It attempts to substantiate arguments and comparisons through their objectives, principles and values. Furthermore, the study points out how the informal legal system (Gumaa affects the formal legal system in terms of its practice and acceptance by the people at large. Based on these findings, the research shows the need for implementing a mix or a kind of hybrid criminal legal system which incorporates the existing formal and informal legal systems. Moreover, it emphasises the need for the enhancement of gumaa as it seems to be the best, most compatible and so up-to-date conflict resolution mechanism.
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    The Role of IGAD’s Hegemons in the South Sudan Peace Talks
    (2016-07) Mesfin , Elshaddai; Angoma Okello, Sunday (PhD)
    South Sudan is the world‘s youngest state that held hope for peace, prosperity and development as its independence was announced in July 2011. Yet, two years on the country descended into chaos. The failure of the South Sudan People‘s Liberation Movement (SPLM) to transform itself into a popular movement on the dawn of independence brought with it reasons for disagreement between its members. The culmination point was the outbreak of a war in December 2013 between forces loyal to Vice President Dr. Riek Machar Teny and President of South Sudan Salvaa Kiir. The dispute was soon framed under ethnic fault lines plunging the world‘s youngest state into a bloody civil war. The Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) was soon mandated as the mediating body to resolve the differences between the two contending personalities as well as manage the unfolding South Sudan crisis. Yet, it failed to do so being itself entrapped in a war of interest vis-a-vis the new state between its dominant member states. While Ethiopia, Kenya, and Sudan appointed each a Special Envoy for the IGAD Led South Sudan Peace Talks; Uganda deployed its troops in Juba to reassert itself as the big player in the neighbourhood. As such, the South Sudan Mediation Process became a platform of struggle between the four countries to surge out as a hegemon in both the mediation and by extension the Horn of Africa (HoA) region. This struggle stalled the Peace Talks for nearly two years with a standoff between Ethiopia and Uganda on the best way forward for the new South Sudan. Yet, an apparent surge of regionalism as a result of international pressure and revitalization of the mediation process under the IGAD Plus propelled a Compromise Deal (CD) on August 17 2015. This study, through the analysis of reports, articles and books as well as a series of unstructured interviews with key informants and respondents who worked in the peace process, analyses the interests of each of those four hegemons vis vis South Sudan. It then looks at the different roles that are derived from these interests before concluding on the ways forward of IGAD and its viability as a mediating platform in the region.