National peace centre launches conflict, reconciliation exhibition
The former Leader of the Opposition in Parliament, Prof. Morris Ogenga Latigo (L) and DP leader Nobert Mao study one of the items on exhibition last week. PHOTO BY Brian Klosterboer
What you need to know:
This exhibition is the first of its kind in northern Uganda and the NMPDC has plans to build an entire museum in Kitgum in the near future.
The National Memory and Peace Documentation Centre (NMPDC) has launched an exhibition that describes more than two decades of conflict in northern Uganda and highlights ongoing efforts towards peace-building and reconciliation.
Community members, academic researchers, and leaders gathered in Kitgum District last week to celebrate the opening of the exhibition in conjunction with the Third Annual Institute on African Transitional Justice (IATJ), a six-day programme sponsored by the Refugee Law Project.
The NMPDC
Originally funded by the United Nations Peacebuilding Fund in collaboration with the Kitgum District local government, the NMPDC is now solely funded by the Refugee Law Project, which hopes that the site can be used as a national platform for documenting the past and ensuring a peaceful future.
Mr Alfred Omony Ogaba, the former Kitgum RDC, praised the exhibit for using images, stories, and artifacts so that “in the end, whoever goes through this will have the resolve that there shall be no return to the violence witnessed in the past.”
This exhibition is the first of its kind in northern Uganda and the NMPDC has plans to build an entire museum in Kitgum in the near future.
The proposed museum is expected to be a space for Ugandans to share stories of conflict and reconciliation without imposing a political agenda.
The president of the Democratic Party, Mr Norbert Mao, who attended the opening of the exhibition, called upon the government to make a contribution to this “pillar of the national healing process.”
