Uganda and Tonu ci Koka and others as practised in the communities affected by the conflict shall be promoted, with necessary modifications, as a central part of the framework for accountability and reconciliation.’ The PRDP’s Strategic Objective 4, ‘Peace Building and Reconciliation’, broadly proposes a place for traditional justice practices, calling for a focus on ‘building informal leadership among men and women to engage with local authorities and civilians in the reconciliation process’ through ‘localized conflict management mechanisms’.3 The call for an appraisal of traditional justice may in part relate to the limited responsiveness of existing national and international formal justice mechanisms in addressing Uganda’s numerous legacies of conflict, and to the way in which the broader colonial legacy of Ugandan law alienates much of the country from the existing justice system.4 Although both Juba and the PRDP acknowledge that traditional justice practices have a role to play, the nuances of their operation and applicability remain unclear. Moreover, the ability of these mechanisms to address injustices committed in the course of decades of violence is increasingly challenged by the conflict’s own state of flux. These issues are heatedly debated in the Justice, Law and Order Society, tasked as it is with the responsibility to design a fitting transitional justice policy for the country. This policy debate is part of a broader narrative currently being charted in Uganda as the country struggles to confront a history of conflicts and moves towards national reconciliation. While the whole enterprise of traditional practices in addressing ‘modern’ injustices may go unresolved, there is evidence that tradition still enjoys a degree of local application in areas affected by conflict and that the values and principles embodied in these practices have a future role to play in national transitional justice mechanisms. Jurisprudence of traditional justice mechanism: A new common sense over an old idea? There is a growing trend internationally of integrating traditional justice mechanisms into the mainstream of the administration of justice in transitional justice processes. Truth-telling exercises, such as the one instituted in South Africa, cannot address the largely rural communities’ sense of restoration and Uganda, Peace, Recovery and Development Plan, Article 4.4.1. This and the following paragraph draws on Conflict, Justice and Reconciliation in Teso: Obstacles and Opportunities – Briefing Note No. 1 (2008). See <http://www.static.reliefweb. int/report/uganda/uganda-conflict-justice-and-reconciliation-teso-obstacles-and-opportunitiesbriefing>. Accessed 15 Apr. 2013. 3  4  International Conference on Transitional Justice, Zimbabwe 59